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What are your thoughts on the potential of buying a e-commerce site ?

by Margaret Low Tremolieres
9 replies
Hi, I am a keen learner and particularly anything relating to internet marketing and all internet of things. Like everyone on this forum, I am learning everyday and whenever possible.

Of late, my husband has been suggestingto me about purchasing an e-commerce website since I am so keen on iOT. I am unsure if this is the most viable thing to do and it also depends on what kind of e-commerce sites.

Any worthy thoughts between purchasing an e-commerce site versus tapping on a 3rd party site ?

Thank you in advance !
#buying #ecommerce #potential #site #thoughts
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    Assuming you have extra income lying around, purchasing an eCommerce website is one of the best ways to ensure that you have a winner and aren't wasting time on an idea that never pans out.

    You've got to be real careful; though, there are quite a few things to consider before pulling the trigger on a website purchase:

    1) Is it an "evergreen" website or one cashing in on the latest fad? An evergreen website is one that sells something that will ALWAYS be in demand. The fad website may only be worth money for a year or two until it burns out.

    2) How long is the website's track record? If the website has been around several years and you can see a steady sales trend (or even better, an uptrend in sales over the years), it's probably a safe bet.

    3) What is the trend? Have sales been going up over time, holding steady or starting to decline? Even if the excuse sounds valid, a downward trending website is a red flag!

    4) How do they get traffic? Multiple traffic stream websites are very valuable. Ones that generate all of their traffic from profitable advertising are also worth looking at. Although free traffic from search engines is definitely a big plus, you have to be careful if it is the only source of traffic. One algorithm change and your business could crash and burn.

    5) The SEO profile is especially important for a site that gets the majority of its traffic from organic search. Make sure you look at their backlink profile. Black hat strategies that work today almost always result in a massive drop in rankings sometime in the future.

    6) Is there room for improvement? This has always been my favorite thing to look at. I made my name in this industry by flipping websites - buying ones that had decent numbers but I could see lots of things to improve that would result in 2-3-4 times more business. In other words, the current site owner has undervalued his/her website based on current sales because they don't know how to make the site generate more income.
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    • Profile picture of the author Matthew Stanley
      Awesome outline, Dave. In my time on WF I've learned anything you post on this topic is worth bookmarking/re-reading. Obviously there are meaningful differences, but imo a lot of the framework you lay out above applies to physical franchises as well...
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  • Profile picture of the author Profit Traveler
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    As you research be sure to include Empire Flippers. They are a website broker and they vet each and every website before it becomes live.

    They also have some awesome ongoing articles on the entire industry that may be helpful.

    Websites like Flippa are also good to research because sellers share alot of details how they built their stores and got them to their current revenue point and even suggestions on how to improve after the sale. Assistance from seller after sale is also good to watch out for.


    Take other aspects into consideration like the current trends and forecasts for 2021.
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  • Profile picture of the author DURABLEOILCOM
    All that glimmers is not gold. Ask yourself "Why would you sell a successful online business?" There's always a reason why people are trying to get out of a business and I will give you a hint... It is most likely not a good one.
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    • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
      Originally Posted by DURABLEOILCOM View Post

      All that glimmers is not gold. Ask yourself "Why would you sell a successful online business?" There's always a reason why people are trying to get out of a business and I will give you a hint... It is most likely not a good one.
      We've sold more than 100 of our own eCommerce stores over the years. There are plenty of reasons to sell a business that are not at all nefarious:

      1) You are a website flipper and not at all interested in running an online store. In other words, you do this as a business, buying low, improving the site and then selling for a much higher price than you bought it for. There are plenty of people and even companies who make 6 figures or more that use this business model.

      2) Your business is all about building websites from scratch, getting them profitable and then selling them. Again, this type of person has no desire to run an online business. They enjoy the challenge of creating profitable businesses and then selling them.

      3) You built many websites and don't have time to run all of them. You keep the ones that you like the best and can manage and sell the rest (we built nearly 100 profitable websites in a year at one point, kept 20 and sold the other 80).

      4) You are not really passionate about the niche and are bored with the site. You want to move onto other projects.

      5) You need the lump some for a reason - could be a new house, family emergency, other business investment or you are at retirement age and have plenty of money to live on - especially with the sale of the business.

      I'm sure there are many other reasons but those are the first 5 that came to mind.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Originally Posted by Margaret Low Tremolieres View Post

    Hi, I am a keen learner and particularly anything relating to internet marketing and all internet of things. Like everyone on this forum, I am learning everyday and whenever possible.

    Of late, my husband has been suggestingto me about purchasing an e-commerce website since I am so keen on iOT. I am unsure if this is the most viable thing to do and it also depends on what kind of e-commerce sites.

    Any worthy thoughts between purchasing an e-commerce site versus tapping on a 3rd party site ?

    Thank you in advance !
    Having been around this business for a decade, here's what I recommend:

    - Don't get into the business unless you have five figures to invest... the more the better and I'd be thinking $30K-50K or higher

    - Brad Gosse is the first person I'd find (on all social media, and has an account here, owner of Vector Toons) and get a call booked with

    - Dave H certainly brought up important points about traffic sources, niche and lifespan in this thread; I'd talk with him as well

    - Pete Devkota is an email marketing pro to speak with--and I know a ton of those, being a 25-year copywriter myself, but he is focused on and has the specific experience working with successful ecommerce store owners to raise their revenues even higher (find him on FB).


    You have many traffic, conversion, inventory & supply chain (even if you sell products others ship on your behalf), cash management and other subjects to learn about as a site is not operated on "autopilot".
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  • Profile picture of the author 55sadhikar
    I would suggest you to master the no. 1 skill in digital marketing which is paid traffic. Understanding paid traffic is like going for a "bank heist". You go and loot the bank whenever and whetever you want to. Only difference with it is it's legal.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sajedur725
    yes..i read this forum..and i try to buy this e-commerce site..
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    • Profile picture of the author DWolfe
      Originally Posted by Sajedur725 View Post

      yes..i read this forum..and i try to buy this e-commerce site..
      You read the post ? If you did you would of noticed the Original Poster is not selling anything !
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