Amazon FBA Business for Sale: Guide & Tips in 2023

With the rise of Thrasio as the fastest profitable company to reach unicorn status, Amazon aggregators rose to prominence in 2019 – 2022. As their popularity grew, more and more people learned that they could sell their Amazon FBA business or find Amazon businesses for sale and acquire them.

Each of these aggregators were built to buy and grow Amazon private label brands. That begs the question though, what is an Amazon private label business?


BATTLE-TESTED RECOMMENDATIONS

Empire Flippers – Market Leading Brokerage

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I was an early buyer on their platform when they first launched and have actively bought and sold many websites from them. They have a top-notch team that will help you through the entire process.


What is Amazon FBA?

Amazon private label is the business model where entrepreneurs source products under their own brand name and sell them through the Amazon marketplace. 

Most sellers (90%+) use the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program. When enrolled in this program, Amazon will store all of your inventory, ship out orders, and handle all returns – making these businesses very logistically simple.

Most sellers start their FBA businesses from scratch but it is possible to buy an Amazon FBA business. There are dozens of FBA businesses listed for sale at any given time through online brokers.

Buying and Flipping an Amazon FBA Business: Case Study

I have personally acquired and grown an Amazon private label business with a 1000% return on investment over 2.5 years. While I can’t reveal the exact numbers, let me walk you through it.

In December 2019, I found an Amazon FBA business for sale on Flippa. I submitted a letter of intent (LOI) and ultimately bought the business officially on January 5, 2020. When I acquired it, the trailing twelve months’ revenue was in the $100,000 range. In 2020-2022, I grew revenue by 400% and net profits by 500%.

While I owned it, I was making money from the monthly cashflow and when I sold it, I was able to cash in on the increase in valuation. Most FBA businesses are valued on a 2-3x multiple of annual net profit. By increasing net profit by 5x, I increased the valuation by 10x.

Acquisition Revenue: $100,000
Profit: $20,000
List Price: $40,000 (2x multiple)
CashflowYear 1: $100,000 net profit
Year 2: $120,000 net profit
Total: $220,0000
ExitRevenue: $400,000
Profit: $100,000
List Price: $250,000 (2.5x multiple)

As can be seen from the table above, buying an amazon FBA business can be a great investment.


Should You Buy vs Build an Amazon FBA business?

When looking at Amazon FBA businesses for sale, the biggest question you should consider is whether it makes sense to buy the business or simply build it from scratch.

Are you better at starting from scratch or growing an existing business?

First you should decide your style. Many people are very good at developing unique products from scratch and launching them on Amazon. They are good at coming up with an idea and working on it to see it through to reality. 

Others, however, are much better at fixing or growing an existing business. They see simple ways to improve operations, reduce costs, and grow profits.

When you buy an Amazon FBA business, what you are really buying is the Amazon listings so evaluate those closely.

How long would it take you to amass that same number of reviews?

There are many FBA businesses for sale that have been selling since 2016 and have gotten thousands of reviews. It’s now much more difficult to get that many reviews quickly so a large review count can be a big incentive to buy.

What is your budget?

When compared to content sites, Amazon FBA businesses are typically much more expensive. Price tags for Amazon FBA range from $100,000 – $3,000,000+. A high quality Amazon FBA business for sale will typically be the mid 6 figure range. If you don’t have the budget or financing to purchase that size of business, buying an FBA business may not be for you.


Where to Buy an Amazon FBA business?

You can find Amazon FBA businesses for sale through a variety of online brokers or contact them directly.

Empire Flippers

Empire Flippers is one of the largest online brokerages today and the first place I would look if I wanted to acquire a FBA business through a brokerage.

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There are dozens of FBA businesses for sale currently.

Empire Flippers does conduct a due diligence process on each business before it’s listed on the marketplace but it’s essential to conduct your own due diligence as well.

Flippa

The largest open online business marketplace in the world, Flippa has thousands of listings of different ecommerce businesses for sale. The term “open marketplace” means that any seller can list their business for sale – the Flippa team does not do any due diligence prior to listing.

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While there are thousands of listings on Flippa, buyers should be extra careful. Be sure to verify everything that is in the listing is true.

That being said, Flippa is one of the best places to find mispriced deals – just be prepared to dig through dozens of listings before potentially finding one.

Quiet Light

Quiet Light is a renowned online business brokerage specializing in the sale of Internet businesses ranging from $200,000 to the 7 figure range.

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I’ve personally used Quiet Light before and they are one of my favorite brokers. Their service level and due diligence is unmatched by others in the industry.

One thing I particularly like is that each of the brokers you will work with own (or have owned) their own online business. They have experience in your shoes and can help both buyer and seller achieve their goals.

Website Closers

Website Closers is an investment bank franchise that specializes in online businesses for sale. While they typically have less listings than brokerages such as Empire Flippers or Flippa, their listings tend to be higher priced.

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They send out emails throughout the month with their new listings for sale. Staying up to date on their list is a great way to expand your search and find a FBA business for sale.

Private Sale

With Amazon making seller’s contact information public, many aspiring buyers try to perform cold outreach to Amazon FBA owners in the hopes of avoiding an online business brokerage.

A private sale can be incredibly tough to get through because you have to find businesses that fit your criteria, establish trust, agree on terms, go through due diligence, and complete the sale. All without the help of a trusted 3rd party.

That being said, a private sale is perhaps the best opportunity to find a mis-priced Amazon FBA deal and avoid a brokerage fee (typically 10-15% of purchase price).


How To Value an Amazon FBA Business?

If you look on Empire Flippers, you’ll see the combination of the monthly net profit and the monthly multiple determine the list price. In smaller Amazon FBA businesses, the monthly net profit is normally called Sellers Discretionary Earnings.

Seller’s Discretionary Earnings is the “net benefit to the owner of the business”. It includes the owner’s salary but it can also include any costs that a new owner may not incur. Examples would be business travel, a one-time website redesign, and other one-time expenses that a new owner won’t have to pay.

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Determining an Appropriate Multiple

The harder part is determining an appropriate multiple. Current multiples for Amazon FBA business are in the 2.75 – 3.25x annual net profit (33 – 39x monthly) range but they can vary significantly based on the business characteristics.

How old is the business?

First, determine how long the Amazon FBA business has been in business for. A business that has been successfully selling for multiple years gives confidence that it will continue selling well for years to come. A longer time in business deserves a higher multiple.

How big is the business?

Generally, the higher the net profit, the higher the multiple. There’s a clear cutoff in the 200-250k SDE range. Below $200,000-$250,000, businesses typically get a lower multiple in the ~2.5x annual range. This is because there’s not enough net profit to hire an operator for the business. You’re essentially buying a job.

Above $250,000 in SDE, Amazon aggregators start to look seriously at the business. This interest pushes the multiple up to the 3.5-4x annual SDE range.

Is there any IP/trademark protection for the business?

While commonly overlooked, having a strong IP moat against competition can boost your multiple above a standard FBA business. Buyers like to buy strong, defensible businesses and an utility or design patent can help you prevent competition and maintain high margins throughout the years.

How is revenue/net profit trending?

The biggest factor in determining the multiple though is the overall trend of the business. A business that is rapidly growing may demand a much higher multiple than a business that is stable or declining.

The absolute worst thing that can happen is that your business starts declining. In these cases – unless there is a strong reason for the decline – typically the business will receive a lower multiple.

  • How old is the business?
  • How big is the business?
  • Is there any IP/trademark protection for the business?
  • How is revenue/net profit trending?

How to Evaluate an Amazon FBA Business for Sale?

Before buying an Amazon FBA business, be sure to go through an extensive due diligence process. Below are some of the factors I evaluate when looking at a FBA business.

Amazon Account Health

The absolute first thing you should check upon getting access to Seller Central is the Amazon Account Health. You can see it here.

Every potential buyer should look very carefully to see if there’s any warnings against the account or if the account health overall is bad. While Amazon has gotten better at this in recent years, at any time they reserve the right to suspend or cancel your Amazon Selling account – which could cripple the business.

Amazon FBA Listing Metrics (Traffic & Conversion Rate)

Next, you want to evaluate each Amazon listing on a listing by listing basis. The two metrics that are essential to know for each listing are

  • Unit Session % – this is essentially the conversion rate of the listing.
  • Sessions – this is the number of people who see the listing.

At it’s core, an Amazon FBA business comes down to Traffic x Conversion Rate X Average Order Value. Traffic is shown by the sessions. It’s essential to track this over time to determine if traffic to your listings is increasing or decreasing over the previous months.

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Conversion rate is shown by Unit Session %. While the ideal Unit Session % is heavily dependent on category and price, the standard Unit Session % is between 10 – 15%. 20-25% is above average and 30-40+% is amazing.

Listing Reviews

After analyzing the Business reports, the next thing to analyze is the review structure of the top listings. You are looking for 3 things primarily: the overall rating, the number of reviews, and the top reviews at the bottom of the listing.

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The overall rating should generally be 4 stars or better. Most products on Amazon are 4 stars so you’ll see a significant decrease in conversion rate if you slip from a 4 star to a 3.5 star rating.

The larger the number of reviews the better. Think as a customer. When browsing on Amazon would you choose a listing with 25 5 star reviews or 2,500 5 star reviews? Most people will choose the product with the most reviews.

One overlooked but very important aspect is the reviews at the bottom of the listing. Customers don’t look through all of the reviews – they’ll just skim the top 2-3 reviews. If those are bad, it can affect your overall conversion rate.

Amazon Advertising Strategy

To generate traffic to their Amazon listings, more than 50% of Amazon FBA sellers use paid Amazon advertising. Before acquiring an Amazon FBA business, it’s important to analyze their current Amazon advertising strategy and see if there’s opportunities to improve it.

Total ACOS = Advertising Spend/Total Revenue

A standard Total ACOS level for most Amazon FBA businesses today is anywhere from 7.5% – 10%. Anything above that could mean you could save significant cost by reducing the advertising and increase net profit.

Analyzing the Profit and Loss: Revenue and Margins

After analyzing the Amazon side of the business, look at the profit and loss statement. Sometimes this is prepared by the broker or other times, the seller will prepare one directly.

Look carefully to see how revenue, gross profit, and net profit are trending over time. What is the trend in the last 3 months? 6 months? 12 months? 2 years?

Are margins increasing or decreasing? Ideally, you want revenue to be increasing and margins to stay steady.

Growth Opportunities

When evaluating the business as a whole, look for potential growth opportunities. Is there an opportunity to improve the listings? Can you revise the advertising strategy? Or could you even launch new products to grow revenue?

Most buyers buy an Amazon FBA business so that they can grow it making finding growth opportunities one of the most important parts of the due diligence process.


Perfect Amazon FBA Business Metrics

To summarize the due diligence process above, here’s what I would consider a “perfect” Amazon FBA business for sale.

  • Good Amazon account health
  • 5+ products with no 1 product accounting for 30%+ of revenue or net profit
  • IP protection, 1,000+ reviews per product, and >= 4.0 star ratings
  • Stable or growing category
  • Amazon advertising spend is 10% of overall revenue
  • Revenue and net profit are trending up over a 6 and 12 month timeframe.

Now, it’s worth noting that no FBA business has every one of these things – and if it does, it most likely is not for sale. It’s important to distinguish which metrics are the most important to you and which can be overlooked.


How to Transfer an Amazon FBA Business

When buying an Amazon FBA business, you are buying the Seller Central account used by the previous seller. Once the Asset Purchase Agreement, is signed, sign into the account and change the below:

  1. Change the contact information
  2. Retake the tax interview
  3. Change the credit cards and bank accounts associated with the account

The process is fairly simple but it’s worth having somebody watch you while you transfer the account. If you use Empire Flippers, they will help oversee the entire account transfer.


BATTLE-TESTED RECOMMENDATIONS

Empire Flippers – Market Leading Brokerage

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I was an early buyer on their platform when they first launched and have actively bought and sold many websites from them. They have a top-notch team that will help you through the entire process.


FAQs about Buying an Amazon Business

How much does it cost to start an Amazon business?

An Amazon business can be started for as little as $3,000 – $5,000 depending on the first product you chose to launch. The majority of the cost will be the first inventory order. Minimum order quantities generally mean inventory will cost $2,000 – $4,000 at minimum. The rest will be spent on graphic design for the Amazon listing and advertising once the product is launched.

How much does it cost if I want to buy a FBA business?

Most Amazon FBA businesses cost $100,000 – $1,000,000 to buy depending on their size. It’s rare to find an Amazon FBA business for sale for under $100,000 but it can be done. The bulk of Amazon FBA businesses are listed for sale in the $300,000 – $700,000 range.

How much do Amazon FBA sellers make per year?

Amazon FBA sellers can make anywhere from $10,000 to $250,000+ per year in net profit. It simply depends on the size of their business. An aspiring seller may only make $10,000 – $20,000 in net profit their 1st year but they could be making $250,000 by the 3rd year selling. It can be a matter of persistence and trial and error until they discover what works and what sells on Amazon.



Analyzed by Jon Elder

Jon has sold over $10 million in sales on Amazon since 2014 and exited 5 Amazon brands for millions. He now helps Amazon sellers experience the same level of success through 1:1 coaching. He is happily married with two kids in Texas!