Whether you’re a seasoned investor or a beginner looking to make your first foray into the online business world, Empire Flippers offers a curated marketplace that matches buyers with high-quality, vetted online businesses. In this article, we’ll explore the key features and advantages of Empire Flippers, helping you make an informed decision about buying or selling with this popular marketplace.
What is Empire Flippers?
Empire Flippers is the leading curated marketplace for buying and selling online businesses. To date, they’ve sold over $465 million worth of online businesses and have over $10 billion in verified buyer liquidity ready to deploy on deals.
With their extensive experience in the online business industry, Empire Flippers understands the needs and challenges faced by savvy business people looking to invest in online assets. They offer a range of services, including business vetting, a free valuation using their proprietary valuation tool, and a smooth migration process for buyers.
Empire Flippers also provides helpful content and resources for potential buyers and sellers, such as articles on affiliate marketing, passive income, and building successful online businesses.
With their commitment to transparency and fair pricing, Empire Flippers ensures that both buyers and sellers receive a fair price for their digital assets. Whether you are a business owner looking to sell or an investor looking for a quality asset, Empire Flippers is a reliable choice in the online business brokerage industry.
Empire Flippers Track Record and Team
Empire Flippers has built a solid reputation as one of the leading brokers in the online business industry. With their extensive experience and expertise, they have successfully facilitated the sale of thousands of profitable online businesses.
The team at Empire Flippers is led by co-founders Joe Magnotti and Justin Cooke, both of whom are savvy business people with a deep understanding of the online business marketplace.
What sets Empire Flippers apart is their impressive track record. They have consistently achieved a high success rate in selling businesses, ensuring that sellers get the best possible value for their digital assets. Here are a few stats that highlight how Empire Flippers stands out in the industry:
- Empire Flippers has sold over $465M worth of online businesses
- Average Sale Multiple: 31.6x (based on a fixed pricing period) and 32.3x (based on a trailing twelve-month multiple)
- Number of $1M Businesses sold: 74
- Average Sale Duration: 86 days
- Total Verified Buyer Liquidity: $9,980,548,580
Empire Flippers’ commitment to excellence has been acknowledged through numerous awards and press recognition.
They have been featured on reputable platforms such as Forbes, Moz, Business Insider, and Inc, further solidifying their position as a trusted and credible online business broker. They also have been selected as one of the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies in the U.S. for six consecutive years.
What Types of Businesses Does Empire Flippers Offer?
Empire Flippers has businesses appropriate for new online business buyers all the way to capital-backed Amazon Aggregators.
Empire Flippers offers a wide range of online businesses across various industries. Here are the most popular types of businesses that you can find on their platform:
1. Amazon FBA
2. Amazon KDP
3. Niche Websites/Content-Based Businesses Monetized via Amazon Associates and Ads
4. E-commerce
5. SaaS (Software as a Service)
6. Digital Products
7. Service-Based Businesses
Overall, Empire Flippers covers a diverse range of business types, catering to both seasoned entrepreneurs and first-time buyers. They offer a comprehensive selection of online businesses that provide various income streams and opportunities for growth.
Buying a Business through Empire Flippers
Empire Flippers’ marketplace typically hosts hundreds of listings at any given time. Whether you want an Amazon-based business or a niche site, Empire Flippers has been a long time favorite for established and first-time buyers.
Here are some of the most important things to know about buying a business from Empire Flippers:
How to do Due Diligence on a Potential Purchase
While Empire Flippers vets all the businesses that are listed on their platform, they also emphasize the responsibility of buyers to conduct their own due diligence before buying a business.
Buyers must verify their liquidity — aka their capital available to buy a business, in order to unlock listings and view the business’s URL, Profit and Loss (P&L) statements, and Google Analytics data. This ensures that only serious buyers with the capital ready to buy the business are reviewing the business’s important metrics.
Empire Flippers encourages buyers to do their own research and ask relevant questions during the buyer-seller call. This call provides an opportunity for the buyer to gain more insight into the business, its operations, and potential growth opportunities. It’s also the chance for the buyer to get to know the seller and build rapport, an important element in creating a friendly negotiation process.
It is essential for the buyer to use this call to address any concerns they may have and gain a clearer understanding of the business’s potential. It should also be noted that other buyers will be conducting the same calls with the seller. Buyers should be efficient with their time on these calls to ensure they don’t lose out on a good deal.
What Payment Methods Are Accepted For Buying a Business?
Flexibility and security are key when it comes to making substantial financial transactions. As such, Empire Flippers accepts the following payment options to cater to different buyer preferences:
- Wire Transfer
- Cryptocurrencies
- Credit on File
Empire Flippers offers buyers a chance to reach out to the seller to set up a buyer-seller call to discuss questions with them before making an offer. For highly competitive deals or for very confident buyers, there is a “Buy Now” button allowing buyers to wire in the funds for the business.
Of course, multiple buyers could click “Buy Now” for a business, in which case the first offer (with cash in the bank) wins. Empire Flippers tries to minimize “wire races” for buyers and allows buyers to keep credit on file. With money kept on file at Empire Flippers, it’s ready and easily accessible to be deployed on fast-moving deals. Buyers can have peace of mind that their payment will be processed smoothly, without the risk of losing the “wire race.”
It is worth noting that all payments made through Empire Flippers are held securely in escrow. This means that funds are held by a trusted third party until all the necessary steps in the buying process are completed and both parties are satisfied. This ensures that buyers can have confidence in handing over large sums of money, knowing that their funds are protected until the transaction is finalized.
Selling Your Business with Empire Flippers
Empire Flippers is a marketplace geared towards helping online business owners sell their businesses for the most money possible.
If you’re interested in selling with Empire Flippers, here are the important steps you should understand first:
Listing Your Business on the Empire Flippers Marketplace
To list your business with Empire Flippers, you should understand the criteria to sell on the Empire Flippers marketplace.
Below we’ve included Empire Flippers’ listing criteria and the necessary qualifications to make it through vetting:
- An online business that makes $2,000 per month or more in net profit over a 12-month average
- Google Analytics on the website for at least 3 months (Clicky is also acceptable).
- Businesses must have a SOLID track record of at least 12 months of revenue/earnings
- Adsense / Amazon Associates / Affiliate / Advertising sites must be on the same domain for the previous 12 months.
- There must be no evidence of actively manipulating with penalizations, deleted accounts, 301 redirects short-term earnings etc. (If there are 2 instances or more, the website/business will immediately be rejected)
- Service/Client businesses must derive over 50% of their income from multiple clients, can’t just be relying on a single customer.
- The business cannot be related to pornography, gambling, payday loans, hacking, illegal substances, any form of criminal activity, or sell physical products that are CBD or hemp oil-related. Plus, any site promising cures through herbal remedies/other dubious claims, or anything that leans in the direction of these categories, will not be accepted (which will also be determined during the vetting period).
- Generally, Empire Flippers does not accept businesses in the “adult” niche. Businesses in the sexual wellness space may be considered if they believe they have the buyer pool.
- In addition to the above categories, any website with fake SEO, IG/Facebook/Twitter followers etc. will immediately be denied.
- EF may reject a business they deem as being unfit for the marketplace or if they don’t believe they have the buyer pool for the current business due to the structure or P&L.
If your business passes the vetting process, Empire Flippers will work with you to set a listing price. They take into account factors such as monthly profit, profit margins, and industry trends. While the listing price is set by Empire Flippers, it is negotiable, allowing sellers to find a fair price for their online business.
If you list your business with Empire Flippers, you have an exclusivity period of 60 days. This means for two months you are not allowed to list your business with any other broker or marketplace. While it may sound restrictive, an exclusivity period is fairly normal for the industry and 60 days is one of the shorter exclusivity periods in the industry.
Listing your business exclusively with Empire Flippers offers several benefits. Firstly, it increases your chances of a successful sale as potential buyers know they can only find your business on their platform. This exclusivity brings focused and motivated buyers who are more likely to make an offer. Additionally, Empire Flippers provides excellent customer service and a seamless sale process, making the deal process straightforward for sellers.
Vetting Process for Sellers
The vetting process for sellers on Empire Flippers is thorough and meticulous, ensuring that only high-quality online businesses are listed for sale. Over 90% of businesses are rejected in vetting, meaning sellers submitting their businesses to be listed with EF must provide accurate and verifiable information to ensure they don’t get their business rejected.
The vetting team reviews the following during the vetting process:
- Revenue
- Expenses
- Traffic sources
- Customer base demographics
- The legitimacy of both the seller and the business
Accurately vetting the business takes 2-4 weeks. During this time the vetting team will follow up with verification questions and requests for documentation. Participating in this process is important for sellers because it allows Empire Flippers to put together an accurate (and better) valuation for the business.
Migration Process
Migrating the business to the new owner is one of the key differentiators that sets Empire Flippers apart from other brokers.
Migrating the business properly to the owner is critical because any hiccups in the process could cause legal troubles or create technical issues for the business. The migrations process allows the buyer to ensure that the business will perform as expected. Upon a successful migration of the business, the seller is paid out the sale price for the business.
Empire Flippers offers a streamlined migration process for selling online businesses. This process involves four stages: the Pre-Inspection Phase, Inspection Period, Post-Inspection Phase, and Payout Phase.
During the Pre-Inspection Phase, the buyer is given admin access to revenue-generating assets in order to inspect performance. This is so the buyer can begin to monitor performance of the asset.
The Inspection Period is a 14-day period where buyers analyze and monitor business performance. It is important for the business to generate at least 50% of the expected revenue during this phase. Performance under this threshold allows the buyer to either renegotiate or cancel the deal, protecting their investment.
After the Inspection Period, the Post-Inspection Phase involves:
- Sending all remaining proprietary assets
- Calculating profits and expenses owed back to each side
- Confirming that all assets are with the buyer
Finally, in the Payout Phase, the business ownership officially transfers to the buyer, and Empire Flippers facilitates the secure transfer of capital for the business to the seller.
Pros and Cons of Using Empire Flippers
Pros of Using Empire Flippers to Buy or Sell a Website/Online Business
1. Experienced Team and Support Throughout Deal: Empire Flippers has been a leader in the industry for years, and their team has a deep understanding of the nuances of buying and selling online businesses. Having an experienced team to support every part of the deal process, from vetting to migration, alleviates the majority of the grunt work of deal-making for buyers and sellers.
2. Buyer and Seller Protection: Empire Flippers provides protection for buyers and sellers throughout the deal process. Access to business data is hidden in the listing process from unqualified buyers, protecting the business from copycats. The migration inspection period ensures the buyer will get the business performance they expected and that the seller is properly paid. Having layers of protection in the process makes the sale legal and safe for both parties.
3. High-quality, vetted businesses: Having businesses pre-vetted before being listed on the marketplace allows buyers to save time and the effort of having to rule out poor-quality listings (as one might have to do carefully on other marketplaces).
6. Migration and Transfer Process: Empire Flippers is one of the only brokers offering migrations as a part of their deal process. Their dedicated team of experts manages the transfer of digital assets from the seller to the buyer, ensuring a seamless transition and minimizing disruptions to the business’s operations.
Cons of Using Empire Flippers to Buy or Sell a Website/Online Business
1. High listing fees for sellers: It’s free to list a business with Empire Flippers, but when the business sells Empire Flippers takes a commission of 15% from the sale of the business. This is relatively high compared to other brokers but it does reflect the high level service that goes into the deal process.
2. Competitive marketplace for buyers of certain monetizations: If a buyer wants a strong FBA asset or successful content site in a competitive niche, they may find strong competition for that deal on EF’s marketplace. That’s because Empire Flippers often works with Amazon aggregators, private equity firms and high net worth individuals who are skilled buyers with capital to deploy on deals. Empire Flippers may not be the best fit for brand-new buyers on competitive deals (though there is plenty of other deals that suit less experienced buyers).
3. High sales prices price out budget buyers: With a minimum of $2k monthly earnings, the threshold for sites is much higher than other platforms. A large number of sites on EF’s marketplace are listed above $100,000, meaning new or budget buyers may struggle to find a business within their price range.
4. Limited availability of certain types of online businesses, depending on market demand: Some monetizations will not appear on the marketplace in large volumes. SaaS, for example, may list on other marketplaces more frequently than on Empire Flippers. Buyers looking for specific niches or monetizations may not always find what they are looking for with EF.
The Final Review: Is Empire Flippers a Good Broker?
All in all, we believe Empire Flippers is a great broker for experienced buyers and sellers of online businesses.
The team provides excellent support throughout the process and their platform provides strong protection for both buyers and sellers. The strength of their processes surrounding vetting and migration makes the deal process much more hands-off for buyers and sellers alike, all while instilling a sense of trustworthiness in the businesses being brokered.
If you’re interested in selling or buying with Empire Flippers, create an account here or feel free to reach out to the advisory team over at Acquiring Digitial. Acquiring Digital has deep experience conducting deals with Empire Flippers and can help advise you on how to get your most profitable acquisition or exit.
