Sell your e-commerce business.

Traffic you paid for vs traffic you own

An owned-site store—Shopify, a custom cart, a wholesale portal—sells on contribution after ads, on repeat purchase you can show, and on whether the brand still works if paid social gets more expensive. Buyers underwrite channel mix: email and direct versus marketplaces you do not control, and versus Amazon if that is a second storefront. A pretty theme with one Facebook campaign doing the year is a media bet, not a retail company.

SKU count is not value. Dead inventory and a hero product that is 80 percent of sales are the usual split. We want the contribution by channel and by SKU, not a blended “online sales” line.

Inventory, 3PL, and brand rights

Who holds the goods, on what terms, and whether the 3PL or pick-pack room assigns. Private-label tooling, recipes, and trademarks have to be in the selling entity. A brand that is still the founder’s personal LLC and a factory relationship that is a WeChat thread will be restated. Wholesale and DTC are different customers; do not hide one inside the other.

Returns, chargebacks, and subscription-box or membership add-ons need their own history. Outstanding gift cards and store credit are liabilities.

Platform, suppliers, and the week after closing

Admin seats, domain, pixel, and payment processor underwriting all move. A supplier who never signed anything can rebid the day they hear a new name. Prepare a 12-month P&L by channel, an inventory file with age, and a one-page note on who can place a reorder. That is enough to have a serious conversation about whether the store is a brand or a campaign. Chargeback history, theme and app licenses, and any exclusive that expires on a calendar year should sit in the same folder. A buyer will not discover a dying exclusivity after they have already modeled next spring.