Selling Your eCommerce Business with Pacific Business Sales
Pacific Business Sales has over 20 years of experience as business brokers selling eCommerce businesses throughout California. We understand the critical factors in successfully selling eCommerce businesses.
At Pacific Business Sales, in addition to selling your business for maximum value, we work closely with tax strategy CPAs and Financial Advisors with a range of tax strategies that can minimize and/or defer the taxes on the sale of your construction and contractor business.
Many business owners’ chief concerns are preserving the company and culture and job security for the employees. We help ensure your business continues to prosper by working closely with you, the seller, in picking the right buyer for your business. As eCommerce Business Brokers we aid business owners located in Orange County and serving Los Angeles County, San Diego County, the Inland Empire, and throughout California in selling their eCommerce businesses for maximum value to a new owner who will preserve their legacy and continue pursuing company goals and standards.
We can deliver more cash at closing through our extensive knowledge and experience in obtaining SBA financing, plus our team of tax advisors can help you minimize tax liabilities from the sale. Our immense experience in the eCommerce industry in Orange County, LA County, and throughout California provides us with unparalleled knowledge about the market for eCommerce businesses and business valuations. As such, we can help sell your company regardless of the niche it falls under.
What You Can Expect Selling Your eCommerce Business
With an Experienced Business Broker
At Pacific Business Sales, we adhere to a strict standard when it comes to the sale of your business. As an eCommerce business broker, we guide you through the entire process of selling your business, Due Diligence, financing, closing, and planning for the transition. Whether you are located in Orange County, Los Angeles County, San Diego County, the Inland Empire, or anywhere throughout California contact us for the best result for the sale of your eCommerce business.
Our seller’s confidentiality is of the utmost importance to us as e-commerce business brokers. Our ads are general with no specific information about the company. There is no detailed information indicating which company is for sale or where the exact location of the company.
Buyers do not receive any confidential information unless they have signed a Confidentiality Agreement (NDA) and completed our Buyer Profile, which includes information about their financial situation, experience, and credit score.
It’s one thing to have your ad appear in front of thousands of people, but that has no value if they don’t click on it.
We create appealing headlines and informative ad copy for eCommerce companies that entice prospective buyers to click for more information about your business.
We also feature all of our ads to appear at the top of the business for sale websites rather than buried among the generic ads. We invest in the advertising of your business to get you the best results.
We send email blasts to our database of over 3,500 buyers, as well as the BizBuySell buyer database, which includes buyers who have demonstrated interest in manufacturing-related firms like yours.
The initial meeting with prospective buyers is with us, and it is essentially a pre-screening to establish their abilities to run your business and, frankly, how interested and serious they are. Following the initial meeting, we plan a meeting with you, the buyer, and ourselves to review the business’s specifics.
Many of the fundamental questions are addressed during our initial meeting; nevertheless, buyers frequently ask these questions again because they like to hear the answers directly from the seller.
Many of our initial buyer-seller interactions are held through Zoom, with the second meeting in person for purchasers who choose to move forward. Of course, after our meetings, the next step is to prepare an offer.
We create a comprehensive Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM) for each company we represent. The CIM is your company’s prospectus and marketing pamphlet, which buyers receive after signing the NDA and is crucial in their decision-making.
Our CIM includes:
- Synopsis of your services/products
- Company history
- Recast company information financial statements
- Staff roster (with names redacted)
- Equipment list
- SBA financing structure
- SBA Lender pre-approval letter
Our Purchase Agreements use the CABB (California Association of Business Brokers) Asset Purchase Agreement or Stock Purchase Agreements. Our firm has experience with both Asset Sales and Stock Sales (please keep in mind that an Asset Sale is a transaction type, not an asset liquidation – see our page Stock versus Asset Sale.
In our experience, a Stock Sale can be crucial for you since, in some circumstances, a Stock Sale may be required if the company has government contracts. The buyer purchases the corporation via a stock sale, and the corporate EIN and most essential contracts associated with the corporate entity stay intact.
We work with the buyer to develop the offer, which we then deliver for signature via PandaSign. When the buyer signs the offer, we go through it with you, explain the contents, and prepare a counteroffer if necessary.
Due Diligence is a vital phase in selling a eCommerce business.
During Due Diligence, the buyer and, in many cases, their CPA will examine the company’s tax filings, profit and loss statements, bank statements, and other records to ensure that the revenue and earnings are accurate.
The buyer will also examine the whole company to ensure that it is a well-run and stable business. We facilitate Due Diligence by aiding both the buyer and seller throughout the process and keeping it on track. Escrow is opened once Due Diligence has been completed, and the due diligence contingency has been eliminated.
We understand eCommerce businesses, their operations, the unique financial statements, and we are experienced in dealing with inventory due diligence for these businesses.
Most importantly, we understand how to maximize the value of eCommerce enterprises and successfully sell them!
Your eCommerce Business Broker must understand your company, speak your language, understand how to structure offers and transactions for a construction or contractor business, plus know how to obtain SBA financing.
Our team at Pacific Business Sales is led by Bill Grunau who has over 20 years experience ecommerce businesses and our firm uses SBA financing on over 90% of our transactions – which means more cash at closing for our sellers.
SBA financing is used in over 90% of our transactions, including SBA financing for eCommerce businesses of all sizes and sorts.
We only work with SBA PLP (Preferred Lender Program) banks, which have financed many SBA transactions for ecommerce companies with our firm. We are familiar with their underwriting rules and requirements, and we have had long-standing connections with these banks.
What is the significance of this to you as a seller? Simply put, CASH at the end! You do not have to finance the sale with a Seller Note if you use SBA financing. We have obtained SBA financing for up to 90% of the purchase price and with a 10% buyer down payment.
SBA financing will also cover the buyer’s acquisition of your A/R (accounts receivable). That means you’ll be compensated in cash at the end. Banks frequently require a minor Seller Note of 10% of the deal in addition to the SBA loan, and in this situation, you would receive 90% cash at closing.
We offer a free comprehensive Market Value Analysis of your business using the same methodology and professional valuation software used by SBA Valuation Analysts.
We have excellent comparable sales data for eCommerce businesses sales directly from the SBA closed transaction database. With our Market Value Analysis, you can be confident that SBA financing will be approved at the value we recommend.
A critical component of selling an e-commerce business is verifying that the buyer is competent in running the company and, more importantly, concluding the transaction. eCommerce firms are in high demand and very popular with buyers; as a result, we receive a large number of inquiries for eCommerce companies.
Pacific Business Sales is a ecommerce Business Broker specializing in selling eCommerce businesses like yours located in Orange County and throughout California. We carefully analyze prospective purchasers for financial qualifications and the abilities of the buyer to run the business. Buyers with little industry knowledge may make an offer, but based on our experience, they rarely conclude.
We look for buyers who have the capability, are most likely to close, and who would run an eCommerce business with a successful outcome; preserving your legacy and providing job security to your employees.
FAQs for Selling a eCommerce Business
Resources
What is DE and EBITDA? →
Discretionary Earnings or DE and EBITDA are common earnings terms used frequently in business sales, but what exactly do these figures mean and how are they calculated?
7 Steps in Preparing to Sell Your Business →
Taking steps in advance to prepare to your business for sale can increase the value of the company as well as reduce the time it takes to successfully sell your business.
How to Get Through Due Diligence →
If you are working with a professional Business Broker in Orange County they will guide you through the process and advise you on how to prepare.
Financing the Sale of Your Business →
Generally, there are two forms of financing for the sale of a business in Orange County and other areas, 1) an SBA loan or 2) a Seller Note. The combination of both is used quite frequently.
Developing an Exit Strategy →
Developing an Exit Strategy is the best proactive action you can take as a business owner to build your business and increase the value for the eventual sale of your business.