Featured Listing: CONFIDENTIAL

About the business

Tell us a little about yourself. What’s your background? How did you start the business?

For a long time, I have been an Etsy seller. As a seller, I realized that I needed additional SEO tools to make my products more visible in the marketplace. There were several tools on the market but they did not cover all my needs as a seller. That’s why I decided to develop my own app using Etsy API. Being a developer, I created this business and was really happy with it as I created all the tools I needed for successful selling on Etsy. The most valuable tools for me were “Trends plus” – to find popular products on the marketplace, “Keywords” – to choose the best keywords for ranking higher in the search results, “Listing Analysis” and “Keyword Analysis” – to analyze the performance of listings and finding weak areas to improve; and also I created other useful tools for analyzing the market and detecting trends. I realized that I can share my app with the public so people can also use my tools. I contacted Etsy and they approved public access to my app. So now every Etsy seller (or even any person who has an Etsy account and just plan to start a business) can integrate his account with my website and use our tools for his business (or future business). The website offers a free version as well as a paid version containing advanced tools, based on a monthly or a yearly subscription.

As a SAAS business, what kind of service do you offer?

I offer SEO tools based on a monthly or a yearly subscription.

What can you tell us about your Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Our Customer Lifetime Value is about 3 months. Moreover, there are a lot of sellers using the app for more than a year. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) differs depending on the specific methods. The cheapest cost may be about $5.

How have you marketed the product and where are your customers originating from?

85% of customers are USA based, the rest – are from all over the world.

Is the asset on your listing owner-operated, how much time does it take to run the business, who else is needed on the team, and what is automated?

All things related to the website are automated. Your task will be only finding new customers. But utilizing Seller-Way own Affiliate Program you can pass that task to new affiliate members.

What does someone need to do to continue operating the business in its current form?

The task of a new owner will be finding new customers to grow the business.

Growing the business

Can you list a few opportunities for a potential new owner to continue growing the business?

The business may be more profitable in the future due to the constant growth of Etsy Sellers Number during the last year( In the quarter 2021 Q2 Etsy has 5.23 million active sellers, which is up by 67% year-over-year from 3.14 million). Attracting interested people to Seller-Way own Affiliate program will give you more opportunities to run this business on autopilot.

What has been the evolution of this asset since its launch?

The first version of the website contained basic tools. In December 2020 there were developed additional advanced tools to attract more buyers in January 2021. Working on marketing you can increase the number of interested people to rise future profits.

How does this business make money? What are the current revenue streams?

Currently, the website has changed the number of customers on rolling recurring memberships, mainly USA based.
A Monthly Plan costs USD $19.99 and auto-renews, while an Annual Subscription costs USD $99.99 per year.
The business makes money from selling subscriptions. But you can also make more money if you use AdSense and from Sponsored Content on the website.

What marketing channels are most profitable for the business?

All types of Social Media.

How does the business currently acquire customers and what is your breakdown for marketing costs?

All types of Social Media are the most effective ways of attracting customers. Now I spend no time maintaining this project and it goes on autopilot. But if you decide to get this project you will need some time commitment to creating a good marketing strategy to make this business grow further. I will share the most profitable methods with a new owner.

How big is your current team? How many people does it take to run this business?

Just me (a developer). If you decide to grow the business to increase the revenue you may need to hire a marketing specialist or do all the tasks by yourself.

What’s the reason for selling your business on Flippa?

I stopped to maintain the project and intend to sell Seller-Way because we do not have PayPal in our country (or other payment systems that could allow accepting all the international payments).

Due to that reason, a lot of payments were lost (moreover, 1 lost customer means we lost several possible months of his subscription taking into consideration a Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) stated above, not just 1 payment).

Such a situation inhibits the growth of the business so I stopped making investments in marketing. Due to this reason, I do not wish to put in the time to grow the business further.

I would like to concentrate on another local business instead and would gladly pass this business to a new wise entrepreneur.