After reviewing 16 business brokers, we selected Business Exits as our favorite broker for selling your ecommerce business. Their team knows how to value an ecommerce business, market it to buyers, and secure you the best possible deal. Continue reading this guide to learn more about Business Exits and the other top options we’ve selected as you prepare to sell your ecommerce business.
Top Broker to Sell Your Ecommerce Business: Golden Eggs
Researching the world of brokers that specialize in selling ecommerce businesses, we found several quality options. But a few rose above the rest in being particularly helpful or useful for common needs, earning the title of our Golden Eggs.
Business Exits has an incredible track record helping $2-$50 million revenue companies get top dollar in a sale. Fill out a brief questionnaire to start the ecommerce valuation and selling process.
Synergy Business Brokers has an exceptionally well-rounded portfolio and commitment to getting the best exit price for its clients. Contact Synergy Business Brokers for a business valuation.
Ecommerce Business Broker Review Process
Below, you’ll find our detailed reviews for several business brokers, aligning them with common use cases. We hope to help you find your ideal solution by categorizing the best options for each situation in a clear way that speaks to your particular needs from a broker.
During our research, we identified three primary use cases for employing a broker to sell your ecommerce business:
- Getting top dollar from your business sale
- Detailed exit planning (in addition to securing the sale)
- Exhibiting discretion and protecting your privacy during the valuation and sale processes
Then, from the brokers we researched, we determined which ones present the best services and capabilities for each category. That way, you can find exactly which brokers are the best options for you, depending on which of the use cases is most relevant to your situation.
In our product reviews that follow, you’ll find all the key details explaining why each broker fits its use case and all the benefits they have to offer.
The Best Broker to Sell Your Ecommerce Business for Getting Top Dollar
You might be able to sell your ecommerce business on your own and get something close to the price you expected or hoped for. But doing so takes a lot of time and effort while also adding unnecessary pressure on yourself. These brokers work hard to vet buyers, field offers, and negotiate a sales price you’re comfortable with.
Business Exits
Business Exits specializes in brokering businesses with $2-$50 million in revenue. Its team of specialists consists of entrepreneurs who know what it takes to run a profitable business of any kind—particularly ecommerce businesses—and understand what it takes to secure the highest-value exit.
Business Exists lets owners tap into their premium database of over 20,000 buyers. These vetted investors already have experience buying profitable companies and working with Business Exits, specifically, to purchase businesses in its portfolio, which has contributed to Business Exits’ sterling 91% closing rate.
You’ll also get help with marketing your business before exiting rather than just trying to sell it out of the gate. A comprehensive marketing package goes out to Business Exits’ buyers within approximately one month of accepting your company and signing an agreement, getting your business in front of that promising base of buyers quickly.
You don’t need to do anything yourself to advertise your sale when you choose Business Exits. Instead, your broker team maintains its advertising campaign and contacts the best-matched buyers directly to try to close your deal for the price you want. Then, when offers begin coming in, you get full control over viewing each offer, dropping any that you don’t think are good fits, and choosing the one you want.
Synergy Business Brokers
Synergy Business Brokers prioritizes its relationships with buyers and sellers. Ultimately, the brokerage works to get the highest amount possible for an ecommerce business by using its marketing prowess and connection to ready-and-willing buyers to close sales that please both parties.
Synergy Business Brokers closes deals using a detailed process that’s repeatedly proven successful for business owners. After evaluating your ecommerce business, Synergy Business Brokers will provide suggested sales prices. If those are to your liking, the brokerage creates multiple campaigns across its top channels, including LinkedIn, YouTube, and its own website. The company also directly contacts its network of thousands of buyers to drum up interest in your company. As a result, your ecommerce business gets in front of various types of buyers, some of whom may be willing to pay over your asking price.
During conversations with buyers, Synergy Business Brokers answers any questions based on the information you’ve provided and that which they’ve found during their evaluation. They take a personalized approach, tailoring pitches and conversations to explain why your business could be the right choice for them.
Additionally, this brokerage does not collect an upfront fee for its brokerage services. By not getting paid until your ecommerce business sells, you can rest assured that Synergy works diligently to ensure that you get the price you want in as short of a period as possible.
Store Coach
Store Coach specializes in selling online businesses, boasting a 92% closing rate. Its founders have built and managed ecommerce businesses themselves, allowing them to understand what both sellers and buyers of those businesses look for during a sale.
The company works with sellers from the moment they decide they want to exit their business through the buyer transition phase to ensure a seller’s satisfaction with the sale.
You can begin working with Store Coach without paying anything up front. Instead, you’ll pay the brokerage a percentage based on the final selling price, but only after the sales process is complete. Better still, fees go down if your sale price hits certain thresholds. For example, sales of between $500,000 and $1 million incur a 12.5% commission, while sales between $1 million and $2 million are charged 10%.
Store Coach features the businesses it sells on its own marketplace as well as multiple other marketplaces to gain more visibility, including marketing to its email subscribers and placing your listing in other top newsletters for investors.
Once you gain positive leads from Store Coach’s marketing efforts, the brokerage helps you negotiate deals until you land on one that you’re excited about.
The Best Broker to Sell Your Ecommerce Business for Exit Planning
Planning your exit from your ecommerce business is just as important as the business’s sale. Beyond just setting a timeframe for sale, you need to carefully plan the steps leading up to it and consider other factors that are part of transferring ownership, like the handling and transference of digital brand assets and inventory. Some brokers take on the additional role of business consultants, advising you of necessary revenue goals to hit before jumping to sell your ecommerce business.
Dealflow Brokerage
When it comes to planning your ecommerce business sale before it happens, Dealflow Brokerage is one of the best places to make it happen. Exit planning is one of its primary offerings. The company works strictly with websites and online businesses and knows precisely how they operate and what they need to do to prepare for a sale.
Business owners can contact Dealflow Brokerage as far in advance of their sale as they’d like to work with its consultants, selecting from a few exit planning packages.
Dealflow Brokerage offers a do-it-yourself plan with an in-depth guide of the planning process, which works as an affordable solution for smaller businesses. Or, you can get their basic exit plan, which allows Dealflow Brokerage to build a custom strategy that maps the process from the moment you reach out through the final sale.
Finally, you may choose a paid option with one-on-one coaching for creating and executing a detailed exit strategy. This package costs a fee for an initial report Dealflow creates on your business’s current standing, then $600 per month for ongoing consulting. Large businesses with many moving parts will likely want to consider this option to get expert assistance that ensures a successful plan and process.
Dealflow Brokerage is transparent and communicative with business owners working with them. You’ll receive milestones, action items, and regular audits to keep on track. And, if you do decide to commit to selling your ecommerce business after planning your exit, you can transition seamlessly into selling through Dealflow Brokerage after completing each milestone, granting you access to its massive network of over one million investors and buyers.
Dotexit
As its name suggests, Dotexit emphasizes the planning that leads up to selling your ecommerce business. The company spends a lot of time working out the kinks of a company’s exit plan by offering a strategic, detailed approach for sellers to increase the likelihood of a successful sale.
Dotexit works mostly with ecommerce sellers and buyers. Its team of professionals has the necessary ecommerce knowledge to understand what it takes to plan a successful exit in this category.
What’s really appealing is that Dotexit offers a 100% free business valuation for any seller interested in working with them. If you decide to move forward with the sale after the valuation, Dotexit will lay out a plan to tie up any loose ends before selling and guide you through the rest of the process.
You won’t pay anything for your exit strategy, either. Dotexit works with you until your business is ready to sell. Then, you’ll pay the brokerage commission only once the sale is complete.
The Best Broker to Sell Your Ecommerce Business for Discretion and Privacy
Just because you’re considering selling your business, that doesn’t mean you want any buyer or random party knowing about that or getting a look into private elements of your or your company’s information. Privacy and discretion are crucial for keeping your identity, proprietary information, or ultimate intentions away from prying eyes and preventing any of that from affecting a smooth sale and transfer of ownership.
Synergy Business Brokers
Once you agree to sell your ecommerce business with the help of Synergy Business Brokers, the firm gets right to work putting your business on the market, advertising it, and finding the best potential buyers. However, it does this without making your brand’s identity public.
From the start, your consultation remains confidential, meaning the brokerage doesn’t need to hear any identifying details about your business before you’re ready to sell to give you an estimate. The brokerage will even sign a confidentiality agreement upon your request, just like it asks potential buyers to do.
Only once you agree to your estimated valuation and potential selling price does Synergy Business Brokers require that information for documentation purposes.
Once your company goes to market, its identity still remains private. The firm provides an overview of your company with the necessary details to help buyers decide if it’s the right investment for them. However, any buyer interested in moving forward must sign a non-disclosure agreement and be vetted by Synergy Business Brokers to receive additional information.
In fact, most information can be kept private until the closing and transition period begins near the tail end of the selling process.
Quiet Light Brokerage
Quiet Light Brokerage specializes in online businesses, relying on a team of experts who have been involved in buying, growing, and selling various digital companies. Their intimate knowledge allows them to successfully help business owners like you sell your ecommerce company quickly and securely.
The brokerage is relatively exclusive, taking on only about 10% of the sellers that contact it for help. Doing this ensures that the team partners with the businesses that it understands best and knows what to do to sell, including how best to keep your information private.
All interested and vetted buyers must sign confidentiality agreements before the brokerage divulges any information about your ecommerce business. This comes with signing a Letter of Intent (LOI) showing that the buyer is truly interested in purchasing your company.
You can tailor the LOI and confidentiality agreement to include any information you feel is necessary to protect, such as techniques or trade secrets used to create a proprietary product. The Quiet Light Brokerage team can provide additional forms and guidance to keep important information under wraps until the sale is final.
Further Reading
We’ve created additional resources that could help you as you prepare to sell your ecommerce business, too. Check out the following reviews and guides that dig into domain and business brokers, domain appraisals, business strategy, and more.
- Best Business Brokers Compared
- Best Domain Appraisal Services Compared
- The Complete Guide to Buying an Ecommerce Business
- Best Domain Brokers
- Best Business Plan Software Compared
- The Complete Guide to Business Partnership Agreements
- 7 Easy Steps to Sell an Ecommerce Business
- 7 Easy Steps to Sell a Website
- 8 Easy Steps to Sell Your Shopify Store
