Introduction
Many digital stores are offering great services on the net today. However, the buyer or seller might find out the hard way that sometimes, one should have proper knowledge of a platform before making use of it for his or her services. Below are seven top online markets ranging from Flippa to Shopify Exchange and others, with the features, pros, cons, and a complete walk down through these platforms.
DIGITAL STORES
1. Flippa
Flippa is one of the most popular and thriving online markets, it offers a very reachable and easily relatable platform and is best for the purchase and sale of small online businesses. The platform is an avenue for the buying and selling of online businesses, apps, websites, and domains. It as well offers much detailed information and insights into the listed online businesses on the platform, especially in areas of traffic, financial analysis, demographics, and many others.
Features include
- There are various categories and sections on the platform and with filters and tags such as age, price, and type users can easily find what they seek.
- Flippa has a valuation tool, this basically evaluates, covers specified details, and rates the business.
- It also runs an Escrow service for transaction services, which allows reviewing and validation of assets by buyers before releasing the seller’s funds.
- Loans are also available to a small businesses as long as they have the qualifications of not less than $50,000 and a 690 credit score.
Pros
- On Flippa, users can buy a Due Diligence Report of online businesses, aiding in a well-informed choice as it covers financial analysis, seller analysis, legal and operation analysis, pricing analysis, traffic analysis, industry, and competition analysis, sales and marketing analysis, and risk assessment and management.
- Because of the opportunity of loans, owners of businesses could get a major headstart or helping hand in the operation of their businesses.
- The coalition with Escrow service provides a top-notch secure transaction that protects all payments.
- All buyers and sellers, every user is verified through valid and legitimate government-issued IDs.
Cons
- Needs a full paid plan of SEMRush to unlock the full report.
Price
There are fixed as well as flexible pricing plans on Flippa.
- Fixed Pricing:
- iOS and Android apps – $15
- Starter/ Template websites – $15
- Domains – $10
- Established websites – $49.
- Flexible pricing is best known as success fee which is dependent on what the user earns.
- Users earning up to $50,000 – 10%
- Users earning $ 50,001 to $ 100,000 -7.5%
- Users earning over $100,000 -5%
- Partner brokers – 15%.
2. Digital Exits
Digital Exits is a marketplace known for the buying and selling of large tech businesses. Basically what it does is work as a website broker to help sellers sell online businesses with profits running as high as $250,000 to $5,000,000 yearly. There is also a team of advisors available for maximizing the value of the user’s business, they also manage the entire deal from the beginning till the full migration of business.
Features include
- Access to international deals with investors all over the world and has completed quite a number of deals with over 100 buyers in five continents including Europe, Asia, North America, South America, and Australia.
- In-house copywriters gather information relevant to the business from interviews with the business owners, afterwards a top-notch summary, a catchy story is drafted and overall editing of the prospectus is made to make the business much more appealing to buyers.
- Specializes in assisting the sale of large tech businesses.
- It also has the backing of a selected group of premium buyers with a great buying capacity.
Pros
- Most of the details are handled by the advisors and staff including answering the questions of the buyers on behalf of the seller.
- Because of sensitivity, the buyers sign an NDA to keep the information of the seller’s business secure and private.
- The buyer can run the business through the period of transition effectively because of the advanced features the platform offers.
- As the market offers thirteen different market channels to source out the right buyers and for its already selected premium buyers, selling is made very easy, as easy as just a click.
- It also gets bank financing for making the business attractive for buyers with less net worth.
Cons
- Unfortunately, it lacks active customer support.
- There are limited website options.
Price
- Basically, the vendors are to be contacted for fee and pricing details.
3. FE International
FE International is an online market best for buying large-scale online businesses. Advisory services are provided to several investors who want to buy and sell online businesses, it also provides easy access to already established pre-qualified investors. FE International also has a current listing with details such as yearly revenue, asking price, and net profit and majorly notifies “under offer” listings so that users can easily avoid the frustration of researching businesses that might be sold the very next day.
Features include
- With a private listing, there is a protection of business interests during the process of sales and only verified and serious buyers can view the details of the business.
- Providing a well-detailed prospectus with sections such as financial performance, traffic, and market trends, they are professional brokers.
- FE International has over fifty thousand pre-qualified online investors on the platform.
Pros
- With offices in New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and London, FE International has a wide following and is globally recognized.
- Users can sell to buyers easily without the extra worry about laws and compliance of different states.
- Transfer of business is performed privately and confidentially on behalf of the user.
- There are available qualified business brokers who assist during the entire purchase and sale process.
- With advisory service, a professional evaluation is made of the user’s business.
Cons
- Only higher ticket items, anything less than a higher 5-figure range are not permitted.
- The charge of 2.5% can be expensive, running to a maximum of $1000.
- The User Interface can be quite clunky at times.
Price
- 2.5% of the final sales amount. There is no other listing fee and the buyer will have to contact the supplier for the valuation fee quote.
4. Side Projectors
Here, a large inventory of side projects is offered, coming of different business types such as e-commerce, blogs, website themes, Saas, mobile apps, browser extensions, etc. The platform is best known for the buying and selling of unfinished side projects. Buyers can filter options based on the type of projects they want – target market, project status, submitted date, asking price, etc. As it includes finished and unfinished projects, there is also a detailed summary of how the project was created, the reasons for sale, and how the buyer can take it further.
Features include
- Membership is charged at $3 per month. A member gets real-time alerts, no ads, customized project email alerts, messages, and many more
- The user can increase the project’s listing visibility by sponsoring it for $10 daily, this helps secure a guaranteed home page spot on weekdays and with a minimum of two sponsors a day, a project can stand out.
- There is an option of co-founding. This is for specified listed projects who are looking for a co-founder for entrepreneurship aspirations.
Pros
- The moderators view and review all projects before making them public.
- Buyers and sellers can be contacted through direct messaging.
- It promotes high-quality listing on the home page, in newsletters, and even on social media like Facebook and Twitter.
- Users can get real-time project deals on Slack.
- Searching for projects is made easy because of the detailed types and categories available.
Cons
- A buyer’s permission is required if one wants to buy a site and this is very tedious.
Price
- It does not charge any listing or buying commission as it is just a medium to bring buyers and sellers together and does not handle payments.
5. Shopify Exchange
Launched in the summer of 2017, Shopify Exchange is fairly new. It deals with e-commerce businesses running on the parent company, Shopify. There are categories ranging from industry type, location, business type, sales channels, etc on the platform and users have the option of browsing only established businesses.
Features include
- Creation of public or private listing for Shopify business.
- Transaction well secured and safe with anonymous messaging and Escrow money transfers.
- Many handpicked staff are easily accessible to users.
- It reflects inventory value for e-commerce businesses.
- Users can easily view metrics like average revenue and monthly premium without clicking on the business.
Pros
- Detailed scrutiny to get accurate analytics and traffic details by the platform.
- Provision of a free valuation tool for placing the right price tag on a business.
- Provision of a free buyer’s guide to aid the buyer gets a good business of his choice.
- The seller has the option of hiding the business and URL through a private listing till it is sold.
Cons
- Only for Shopify stores.
- The seller’s fee is not visible till the seller puts up his item for sale.
Price
- The service fee is basically based on the site’s sale price. The service fee covers the Escrow fee and an estimated Exchange fee.
6. Latona’s
Latona’s was launched in 2008, they were formerly domain name brokers but have expanded over the years to accommodate more. They are best for selling profitable online businesses. Also, they major in merger and acquisition brokerage and buying and selling of high-value businesses.
Offering an extensive range of listing, from online boutiques to lifestyle and news media platforms to Amazon stores, Latona’s covers it all.
Features include
- It offers a payment plan platform where buyers can accept or offer a particular payment plan or go with a one-time lump amount payment.
- It has a unique filter that tells users, especially buyers which business has an SBA loan potential.
- Buyers with a budget can easily get their desired business as there is a listing under the $300,000 category.
- Provision of a broker for every M&A to take care of all the buying and selling needs of users.
- With Latona’s intent, the intellectual property lender helps the users get cash for existing digital assets.
Pros
- It has an extensive buyers’ network.
- Buyers also sign an NDA to protect valuable business information.
- Users can pin on their dashboard their personal favourite listing.
- It offers simpler contract assessment, management, and control through smart integration.
- Access to dedicated brokers who guide transactions made on the platform.
- The vendors conduct the sales and transfer processes on behalf of the user.
Cons
- Lengthy registration and due process.
Price
- Free.
7. Empire Flippers
Empire Flippers are the winners of the Inc 5000 awards for the fastest growing companies in America three years in a row. By minimizing friction out of the dealing process by personally vetting buyers and sellers, they are the sure platform for users seeking a personalized buying and selling experience. Listing on Empire flippers reflects monetizing methods, monthly net profit, expected price, and niche.
There is also a team available for the smooth migration of business after purchase.
Features include
- A 5% refundable deposit of the value of the business to be purchased is to be made. Once this is done, there is access to all data needed before the actual final purchase is made.
- Users have access to an extensive library of podcasts of several business leaders and industry experts in order to make the right choice.
- There is an available search on monetization methods like affiliates, ads, dropshipping, etc.
Pros
- Empire Flippers oust all fake listings before they go live so users can make a real data-driven decision on legitimate business.
- The team negotiates on behalf of the user to structure deals profitable to both parties.
- For sellers, the platform promotes listing to many potential investors.
- Renegotiation of deals that earns less than 50% of the promised amount.
- A new listing is available every week.
- Conference calls can be set up between buyers and sellers on the platform for better communication.
- There is call support to help buy and sell quickly.
- Transfer of business can be done on the seller’s behalf, which saves stress.
Cons
- It is very expensive and there is no guarantee that the website will sell.
- The 5% deposit which must be paid to access business data can also be an obstacle.
Price
- Empire Flippers have a fixed price for first-time sellers – a $297 listing fee and $97 listing fee for repeat sellers.
- Sellers receive 85% – 98% of the final sales price.
Conclusion
Sometimes, for one to find a platform that works for him or her, there are multiple trials. So it all boils down to diligence and research.