Buying a business has always been intimidating. The experience feels very permanent and tangible, and in some ways is more intimidating than setting up the business itself. It’s also a very in-person, physical experience; you’re able to see operations in full swing or physically interact with the business that you might one day be part of.
Today, however, more and more businesses are moving online and the entire process of buying a small business has followed suit. This is especially true when purchasing businesses that only exist online, as is the case with most brands today. eCommerce is a rapidly growing industry today and is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the vast expanse of the online market.
It may seem like on the surface, there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference between selling or buying a physical business from an online one. They both offer a selection of products or services and have external and internal teams in place to ensure a smooth-sailing operation. On that front, the line of differentiation is very slight. However, it’s worth noting that there are many important things to note that are unique to each and can make a world of difference in the actual sale. In order to make the transition easier, brokers exist as a sort of middlemen to help smooth things over.
If you are new to selling a company, hiring a broker could be the best option for you.
An Overview of Flippa
Founded in 2009 by Mark Harbottle and Matt Mickiewicz under the name “Sitepoint Marketplace”, Flippa has since expanded its brand and now operates on four locations based around the world. They specialize in helping you sell your web-based business to targeted buyers. This can help take a lot of the stress off you and get you better offers in the long run. They gained their separate identity in June 2009.
Flippa is a marketplace known for buying and selling online businesses, with two headquarters based in Melbourne and San Francisco. It serves as an online medium to connect buyers and sellers of websites and other online businesses. The company reportedly has 120,000 registered ‘buyers’ with access to over $8,200,000,000 in available funds.
It’s a valuation tool, a marketplace, and an assessment service for online businesses. Flippa advertises itself as the number 1 marketplace to buy and sell a number of online facets: affiliate sites, blogs, e-commerce stores, SaaS businesses, apps, and digital Services.
If you go on their website, buyers can browse through online businesses available for sale across various categories and make bids or place offers to purchase ownership of those sites. Flippa showcases both high-level companies boasting considerable monthly net profits, as well as beginner sites that can be bought for under $2,500.
The company derives its business revenue primarily through its marketplace, along with the sale of domain names as well. The marketplace’s most expensive sale up to date was planetrx.com which sold for US$1,200,000. Other notable websites and domains sold through the Flippa marketplace include Mark Zuckerberg’s former website Facemash, shipyourenemiesglitter.com, and Retweet.com.
How Does it Work?
If you’re looking to sell your business via Flippa, make sure to utilise its free valuation tool right on its website. It allows you to choose to market your business on your own or list with a broker. Listing your asset for sale on Flippa takes only 15 minutes, and you’ll immediately be matched with potential buyers.
The whole process is as simple as navigating to their website and entering into a conversation with Flippa‘s valuation bot, which runs 24/7. They have access to the largest marketplace for buying and selling online businesses and boasts more historical sales data than anyone else on the web. Consequently, the valuation you receive is a good indication of the price you might achieve for your asset.
Once you have your business valuation completed, you can also take the stress out of selling by letting Flippa find you a broker. This can be helpful to sellers who don’t have lots of time or don’t know where to start with the whole process. A professional broker knows how to present your company in the best light, which is imperative for maximizing the sales price you can expect to achieve. Take advantage of this through Flippa.
The company is in partnership with 45 brokers located in different parts of the world, specializing in various types of businesses and price ranges. You can work with brokers based in Lithuania, Singapore, Austria, Sweden, Australia, the UK, Thailand, and the US.
If, however, you are listing your company at Flippa without a broker, the steps are quite different. You must first figure out how to list your company in the marketplace, taking extra measures to make sure you have the right copy and materials to save yourself more time in the long run. The first thing is figuring out how to list your company in the marketplace. You then need to make an online Information Memorandum, a kind of sale listing vital to market yourself to potential buyers. The more thorough the Information Memorandum is, the more likely you are to be matched with quality buyers.
After listing your company, buyers will start to contact you on Flippa. Once you find the right buyer you will complete the contract of sale and exchange assets. All of it is taken care of on Flippa’s interface making it much easier than traditional methods.
For anyone actually in the business, they know full well how hard it is to get your labor of love off the ground and turn it into a successful endeavour. There are many options for getting the most out of their marketplace and for your business – but trust that no matter what step of the process you are on, Flippa has something to help you.
