E559: Is It Better to Sell or Hold Onto Your E-Commerce Business in 2024?

Dave and I discuss the reasons why e-commerce valuations have significantly decreased this year, Mike's run at the World Series of Poker event, and the potential valuation of content websites.  Today's episode is sponsored by Clearco, a company that provides ecommerce businesses with working capital to fund inventory, marketing, shipping and logistics, and more! Check them out today!  It's been almost a year since I last sold off one of my e-commerce businesses.  Since then, a lot has changed. Amazon's new fees were implemented, interest rates have skyrocketed, and FBA Aggregators are few and far between.  I invited Dave over today to discuss how Amazon may or may not have had a hand in directly affecting the valuations of e-commerce businesses, and why the market hasn't recovered from 2 years ago. Here are some of the big takeaways from this episode:  The Big Takeaways E-commerce valuations have decreased mainly due to the uncertainty caused by Amazon's fees and policies. Who knows when Amazon will come out with more fees that'll impact profitability?  Google's latest algorithm update has hit a LOT of content websites, leading to decreased traffic for everyone involved which directly impact its valuations.  If your e-commerce business is sold at a 2x multiple, it might not be enough for you to retire. Wouldn't it be better to hold onto your business instead?  Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction and Sponsor 02:56 - Mike's Run at the World Series of Poker 08:13 - E-commerce Valuations 20:07 - Valuations for FBA Businesses 21:06 - Valuations for Off-Amazon Brands 22:01 - Uncertainty in Content Site Valuations 28:14 - Decision to Hold onto a Profitable Business 31:08 - Dave's Funny Story  34:21 - eBay's Attempt to Change As always, if you have any questions or anything that you need help with, reach out to us at [email protected] if you're interested.  Don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoy our content. If you have any questions, send us an email at [email protected]. We'd love to help you in any way we can.  Thanks for listening! Until next time, happy selling!