Featured Listing: Amazon FBA Store

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

My background is in e-commerce. I’ve worked for Fortune 25 companies in this space. I started after my wife gave me the nudge to finally spread my wings and see I really understood how to build a business.

As an e-Commerce business, where are your products made?

Domestic and foreign, depending on the product and vendor

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

Primarily PPC directly on Amazon but we’ve dabbled on Google Ads, Facebook Business, Reddit, LinkedIn, ETC

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?

Yes – with no expectation of growth an owner could maintain this at 20hrs/week. Personally, I would hire a part-time employee to manage this instead to completely free up your time.

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

See my other answer. Currently, about 20 hrs of contribution and some of that is processing, so some physical space (even your home could work) is needed. The two virtual assistances out of the Philippines handle the majority of time-sucking tasks. We trained them specifically to offload that work.

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

Holy smokes. We grew fast, but we could have grown like a wildflower with some cash behind us. Opportunities – we have three untapped accounts, two of which are 100,000+ catalogues that for no other reason could be dropship or arbitrage. Marketplace expansion is also a quick hop. Walmart & eBay are set up and we have just begun migrating the catalogue. While this isn’t the same as Amazon; we expect a 15-20% lift in sales just by the added exposure. New product launches and expanded catalogues within our current vendor group also provide natural growth. One other small thing – we have three seller accounts that the buyer will inherit, for reasons that will be disclosed upon closer discussions. This is invaluable on Amazon.

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

August 2018, started with a credit card, and two vendor accounts with no terms. Today, $2M+ revenue, 5 registered vendor brands that we manage (unmonetized), and 10 vendors split nicely throughout the year in the seasonal product offering.

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

Amazon primarily. Walmart and eBay in some cases.

What marketing channels are most profitable for the business?

Amazon PPC / Brand advertising. We use a tool called Quartile, which is an AI-based learning tool that syncs with our account via API

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

Our ACOS YTD is 15%, but frankly, we’ve run tests on whether you even need to run advertising, and in short, if you simply wanted to coast with current sales, you could pull back on spending by 90% and see very little decline given the winning hero products we sell

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

2 VA’s, 1 PT for local dropship/returns, myself (I had to train the local PT person.

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

This has been a very fun business, but it’s simply outgrown my ability to manage the cash flow. I could take on new partners or new debt, but this business needs to be run by someone with more free cash flow than I currently do. I’m handing off a unicorn business to the right person. This is not some random fly by night FBA business, I built sustainability and a real architecture to scale. Now it needs your money. I have 4 young children, a never-ending list of projects and side hustles, and it’s my intention to move my family across the world within a year.