Goodbye To My First Online Company

[Darius]

Hey guys, yesterday was the day that I listed my first online company for sale. It's been a great learning experience and a fun run.

You can read almost every little detail about how I started this eCommerce store from scratch here (INSIDERS): https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/insiders-the-journey-begins-everday-hookah.46150/

To start the New Years off with 100% of my focus on one idea, I've decided to list it for sell on Flippa. I'm not going to lie, as time went on, I began to get less and less interested in this niche (which shows in the traffic and revenue reports). It might also have something to do with seeing opportunities that get me to my goal much faster

Nonetheless, it's still been fun. One more stepping stone closer to where I want to be in life.

Feel free to check out the listing on Flippa here:
https://flippa.com/3427458-ecommerce-store-with-45k-revenue-2-9k-list-12k-uniques-mo-1-nr

In the listing you can see the profit and loss report since the store was started, as well as google analytics information.

This forum helped me start this company, so it's only right that the forum gets to see it leave.

 

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[Ses]

I am sorry if this does not fit into this thread, but how did you manage to use wordpress to accept orders with only a few clicks? (which plugins did you use?)

Good luck on selling your business!

 

[tafy]

Hope you get a good price and that you share your new business with us on the forum

 

[Lathan]

If I could afford this I would buy it right now. Looks like it would be an awesome way to learn the ropes of ecommerce. Good luck

 

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[Emanuel]

First and foremost, congratulations on your business! I hope your next one will be even better!

Unfortunately those graphs are not helping you at all. I would have tried to get your profit back up before selling your business (assuming you want to get a good price for it and not simply to get rid of it).

People don't care about how much potential the site has. They care about profit. When they see the site is going down in traffic and sales (the opposite of what you'd expect from a good business) they will be very skeptical and most likely won't bid (or they'll underbid). I think you'd be lucky if you got more than $1500 - $1600* for it the way it currently is.

edit*: upped the price by $1000 since I didn't see the $2k inventory initially

 

[jmac]

@Darius Nice work and good luck with the sale!

I just passed this on to someone I know that sells Hookah products at their store in Jersey City NJ, maybe he'll be interested.

I am curious about the following:

-How many email subscribers do you have? (assuming over 2k since you pay for MailCheat(Chimp)).
-How frequently were you emailing the list?
-Why are your merchant fees so high? (over 15% of gross revenue in Nov. 2014).
-The only SEO you did was focus on quality blog posts and social media links? You didn't do any PR or guest blogging?
-Number of orders? AOV?

I have sold an Ecommerce business in the past as well and I think having crystal clear documentation on procedures would help the sale price. Maybe a document on how to check orders for Fraud so the next owner can avoid chargebacks would be reassuring (i.e., we learned from that). I also would check out EmpireFlippers or websiteproperties.com as brokers that would help you tighten up your description and package before you list it for sale to maximize the price. @Emanuel is right about profit being the most important thing. I had a Facebook page with over 1 million fans and "it's potential" had no value in selling my business, potential owners just wanted to know how much money we were making net profit per month.

I am new to the forum and am hoping I can show results just as you did with my participation. Thanks so much for sharing!

 

[Darius]

Unfortunately those graphs are not helping you at all. I would have tried to get your profit back up before selling your business (assuming you want to get a good price for it and not simply to get rid of it).

I care more about getting rid of it, than what it sells for. By holding onto it and spending more time getting the profit back to the way it was, I would actually be losing money.

 

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[Darius]

@Darius Nice work and good luck with the sale!

I just passed this on to someone I know that sells Hookah products at their store in Jersey City NJ, maybe he'll be interested.

I am curious about the following:

-How many email subscribers do you have? (assuming over 2k since you pay for MailCheat(Chimp)).
-How frequently were you emailing the list?
-Why are your merchant fees so high? (over 15% of gross revenue in Nov. 2014).
-The only SEO you did was focus on quality blog posts and social media links? You didn't do any PR or guest blogging?
-Number of orders? AOV?

I have sold an Ecommerce business in the past as well and I think having crystal clear documentation on procedures would help the sale price. Maybe a document on how to check orders for Fraud so the next owner can avoid chargebacks would be reassuring (i.e., we learned from that). I also would check out EmpireFlippers or websiteproperties.com as brokers that would help you tighten up your description and package before you list it for sale to maximize the price. @Emanuel is right about profit being the most important thing. I had a Facebook page with over 1 million fans and "it's potential" had no value in selling my business, potential owners just wanted to know how much money we were making net profit per month.

I am new to the forum and am hoping I can show results just as you did with my participation. Thanks so much for sharing!

email subs: 2.9k
frequency: 1-2 a month (maybe)
Merchant fees in Nov: had my first real issue with fraud and chargebacks. To keep it simple, fees got added on.
SEO: I didn't really focus on SEO much. I just created a blog post every now and then, and worked on social media. I didn't focus on any link building (I think I experimented a little with this when I first created the company), pr, or guest blogging.
AOV- around $23-25. Number of orders total?

I talked to the guys at Empire Flippers & a few other brokers. They thought they could get low 4 - low 5 figures for it. The range was wide, the time frame in which it would have taken was too long.
The more time I spend on this company, the more money I lose (even if the company makes more profit). Got to make those +EV choices.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Good luck @Darius -- hope you get a decent number for the sale.

 

[jmac]

@Darius Thanks for the details, looks like a good opportunity for someone to turn around from where it is now.

Is your next venture going to be E-Commerce? Best of luck with it.

 

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[Darius]

Good luck @Darius -- hope you get a decent number for the sale.

Thanks brother. Looking forward to starting another Progress Thread.

 

[Darius]

@Darius Thanks for the details, looks like a good opportunity for someone to turn around from where it is now.

Is your next venture going to be E-Commerce? Best of luck with it.

I doubt my next one will, but the one after that probably will

 

[Emanuel]

I care more about getting rid of it, than what it sells for.

Then why the $15 000 buy it now price? That's nowhere near what it's worth in its current condition.

Good luck on your next one!

 

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[Darius]

Then why the $15 000 buy it now price? That's nowhere near what it's worth in it's current condition.

It looks nice when viewing the listing from a category page.
Look for my site: https://flippa.com/websites/most-active

The BIN price doesn't hold much weight when you don't set a reserve (As long as 1 person bids, it will get sold to the highest bidder at the end of the auction).

 

[Darius]

Also, this is not a thread of me trying to sell my company on here.

This is meant to show a beginning and end.
As well as show anybody who's unsure of what to start or what to do, to just get in the game. Experience trumps reading all day.

Something I learned from Billy, that proved itself true again recently, is to "Get in the game and start playing. Once you get in the game, you can see opportunities that those sitting on the sidelines cannot see. Even if your initial plan does not succeed, you will have probably found more opportunities in the process" (paraphrased)

Ps: Sorry Billy if I butchered your quote lol

 

[DeletedUser394]

Darius the pro. Good luck man, hope you get a good price. You know your stuff!

 

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[Jamesdoesmith]

drop your shipping fees, SEO the mess out of it, Throw around some good marketing.


Maybe drop the merchant fees.

Easy business to start churning up good profit. This can be automated very easily. Hope you get a good sale out of it. Hope the buyer not only sees the leg work you are doing but what a few tweaks could do to this business 5 years from now.

 

[empireflippers]

Hey Darius,

As others have mentioned, the seriously declining revenue/profit won't work in your favor for this sale...not to mention you've chosen to sell at a pretty bad time of year. (Sub-$20K buyers are less frequent during holidays)

I've put this on our watch list to see what you end up with.

I understand the cost of waiting, but I do think it would have been a better move to sell in Jan/Feb. You would have either had the chance to bounce back with your revenue/profit or at least stabilize the earnings you do have over the last couple of months.

I do think you could have listed this with brokers at right around $10K, but probably would have had to accept a reduced over. (Probably $7K - $8K on the sale) As you've mentioned, it wouldn't have been quite as quick/easy as some other listings, most likely. It's possible it would have sold within a month, but I'm guessing 1-3 months would have been more likely.

I think your listing is well-written and admire your interest in listing at such a low starting price with no reserve! A ballsy move that will definitely get more eyeballs to your listing.

Keep posting in other forums you think might have buyers for this one. Giving Flippa some help in attracting some buyers might sneak in a few extra bids...and extra value to your ultimate sales price.

Best of luck, man!

Justin
Empire Flippers

 

[HighestVantage]

This was the first post I've viewed as a member and it's really inspiring to see a post about coming full circle. It's great that time spent on this is losing money to you now.

 

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[FoxFire21]

I just burned a half hour on your site haha. Very cool hope the sale goes well. Good luck on your future ventures.

 

[Darius]

Hey Darius,

As others have mentioned, the seriously declining revenue/profit won't work in your favor for this sale...not to mention you've chosen to sell at a pretty bad time of year. (Sub-$20K buyers are less frequent during holidays)

I've put this on our watch list to see what you end up with.

I understand the cost of waiting, but I do think it would have been a better move to sell in Jan/Feb. You would have either had the chance to bounce back with your revenue/profit or at least stabilize the earnings you do have over the last couple of months.

I do think you could have listed this with brokers at right around $10K, but probably would have had to accept a reduced over. (Probably $7K - $8K on the sale) As you've mentioned, it wouldn't have been quite as quick/easy as some other listings, most likely. It's possible it would have sold within a month, but I'm guessing 1-3 months would have been more likely.

I think your listing is well-written and admire your interest in listing at such a low starting price with no reserve! A ballsy move that will definitely get more eyeballs to your listing.

Keep posting in other forums you think might have buyers for this one. Giving Flippa some help in attracting some buyers might sneak in a few extra bids...and extra value to your ultimate sales price.

Best of luck, man!

Justin
Empire Flippers

Hey Justin,

Thanks for the advice. I talked to Mike last week about the site. He gave some good/similar insight as well.

 

[Jamesdoesmith]

How "automated" would you say this business is? Do you handle all the shipping of product?

 

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[Hong King Kong]

Good luck Darius! Hope you get the price your asking price.

 

[Darius]

Sold! - $3k

Ridiculous I learned so much from this whole process from beginning to end.

Could I have sold it for more if I held onto and spent more time growing it? Possibly.
Could I have listed it at a better time of year? Possibly.
Is 3k a life changer? Nope.

But none of that matters as much as the education I've received from it.
I feel like I got paid to learn how to make more money. It's amazing.

Go out and do something! It gets better the more you do it.

I'll make sure the next company I sell is more appealing with numbers

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Sold! - $3k

Congrats, man, glad to hear the experience paid well beyond the cash.

 

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[andrew m]

dumb question, did you have trouble authenticating the buyers age when selling them? Generally you have to be 18 to buy anything hookah/smoke related. Wasn't sure if you would be held accountable for something like thing