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Selling my Ecommerce Business

amp0193

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I just finished this short book. I recommend reading it before you sell. It was interesting to me at $2.99.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BN2KD1J/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20


That was an interesting read, especially after having gone through the process, and having some (but not all) of the author's feelings reflected in my own experience.

One thing that was 100% relevant in my case was "boredom covering up for incompetence". I had maxed out my first and only product line. I had no idea what the next step was or how to make it happen. But what I said was that I was bored with the business.

I still would have sold. The time was right, for many reasons. It was a +ev decision when all the risks and other factors were considered.

A really interesting idea the book presented was "what if you kept the business, and used the money you were going to pay in taxes on the sale, or something new like hiring a CEO or GM". I did pay a shit ton of taxes, and that hurt. Something I'll think about in the future.
 
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amp0193

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But I have to ask. Have you figured out insurance yet?

Never did for that biz. I also didn't try that hard.

I made sure I was insurance'd up from the beginning with my new venture.
 

biophase

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One thing that was 100% relevant in my case was "boredom covering up for incompetence". I had maxed out my first and only product line. I had no idea what the next step was or how to make it happen. But what I said was that I was bored with the business.

I had that same thought too reading that. Basically you think your business is stuck at $1M in revenue because you can't get it to $5M so you think you've maxed out your niche and can't go anywhere. So you sell, thinking that you can do better in a larger niche. When the reality is that you just don't know how to do it.
 

Lenin

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I took all day to read everything about this thread.
Actually, many new things for me, I'm already starting with my FASTLANE business. I have had a small services business for 9 years, but it is like a self-employment.
I ONLY HAVE TO THANK YOU @amp0193 AND I WILL KEEP LEARNING FROM YOU !!
I am at the beginning of my path.
 
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amp0193

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I took all day to read everything about this thread.
Actually, many new things for me, I'm already starting with my FASTLANE business. I have had a small services business for 9 years, but it is like a self-employment.
I ONLY HAVE TO THANK YOU @amp0193 AND I WILL KEEP LEARNING FROM YOU !!
I am at the beginning of my path.

Thanks for taking the time to read... I'm glad it was helpful for you!

Any chance of scaling that service business, or you have something else you're working on?
 

AdamB

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What a fantastic thread. Thank you for documenting all of this.

Inspirational.
 

amp0193

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amp0193

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How is your current business going? The one that you made reference to throughout this thread.

Going very well. Covid actually blew up the demand in a big way. Got lucky there. Shaping up to be a much bigger business than this one was.
 

AdamB

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Going very well. Covid actually blew up the demand in a big way. Got lucky there. Shaping up to be a much bigger business than this one was.

Great stuff.

Did you only sell one product in the business you sold?
 
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@amp0193 Now that it's been a few years, do you ever keep in touch with the buyers or check on the business that you sold to see how it's doing now? Any idea if the buyer was able to grow things or if the business started to decay after you stopped running things?
 

amp0193

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@amp0193 Now that it's been a few years, do you ever keep in touch with the buyers or check on the business that you sold to see how it's doing now?

No.

Any idea if the buyer was able to grow things or if the business started to decay after you stopped running things?

I told them everything I would do if I was going to keep running the business and they did none of it.

Within the first month they had a much better looking website. They launched one new product. They got social media going. For the most part though, it looks like they just let it coast.

Probably made their money back and then some I'm sure.
 
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Jiersk

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Just read the entire thing, some great information, especially the concept that it's very important to keep the end goal in mind from the beginning.

Also the book keeping. Gonna be a fun weekend...o_O

Thanks for sharing your journey!
 

amp0193

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Just read the entire thing, some great information, especially the concept that it's very important to keep the end goal in mind from the beginning.

Also the book keeping. Gonna be a fun weekend...o_O

Thanks for sharing your journey!

Book keeping is super important. Pain now instead of much worse pain later. And if you do it right, you’ll even get insights how to make your business better
 

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How has your process been looking for buyers, and what kinds of buyers are you finding? Have the brokers been helpful in terms of bringing in differentiated buyers? Are you primarily focusing on listing sites?

I've been thinking a lot about confidentiality and buyer match in this process - congrats on building a successful business!
 
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Keeton

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I have my reasons, and then I have my reasons.

My stated reason for selling the business will be to dedicate my full attention and resources to the new business (which should have products in production and a professional website online by the time this business is listed). It's true, and I hope that will be satisfactory enough.

Amazon revenue peaked in March/April, but I've got some new SKUs on the way, that will hopefully reverse, or at least maintain that trend in June.

Off-line wholesale revenue is set for explosive growth, so I'm going to try to play that up at every opportunity.



Thanks for this insight. I think I'm covered here too, as my best selling product has had a BSR of 1000 or less, for 2 years running now, and I've got the #1 organics locked down on all my keywords.



I can only hope for an easy all-cash deal. I really would rather not do any seller financing, and I think that my price will be low enough that I won't need to.
How much are you trying to sell the business for?
 

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