E-commerce business valuations, independently prepared.

What the figure usually turns on

• Seller's discretionary earnings, properly normalised

  Owner salary, one-off agency spend, personal costs and founder-operated fulfilment all get added back or costed in at market rate. Most online businesses under £1m sell on SDE, not EBITDA — using the wrong base is the single biggest cause of a wrong figure.

• Channel and platform concentration

  A business that takes 90% of revenue through one Amazon marketplace carries platform risk a buyer will discount for. Owned traffic, an engaged email list and a working direct site all pull the multiple upward.

• Contribution margin after true acquisition cost

  Blended ROAS, returns, marketplace fees, pick-and-pack and shipping subsidies are modelled properly. Gross margin before advertising tells a buyer almost nothing.

• Repeat purchase and product concentration

  Repeat rate, subscription revenue and lifetime value support a higher multiple. A single hero SKU carrying most of the profit is a risk buyers price for, especially where the supply is not exclusive.

• Stock and working capital

  Saleable stock at cost, ageing and dead lines, plus the cash a buyer must inject to hold the same trading rhythm. Getting this wrong turns an agreed headline price into a renegotiation at completion.

Why online businesses get valued badly

Broker appraisals and online calculators multiply last year's profit by a sector figure and stop there. E-commerce breaks that approach: the earnings base needs rebuilding before any multiple is applied, and the risk sits in the channel, the supplier and the stock rather than in the P&L.

We rebuild maintainable earnings, price the concentration risk explicitly, and set out the working capital a buyer needs. Every assumption is written down so an acquirer, funder or HMRC can test it.

We don't sell businesses

Marketplace brokers give free valuations because they want the listing. That number is a sales tool, and it is usually revised down once the market has been tested.

We take no commission and no success fee. The report is the product — which is why it holds up in negotiation, in diligence and with HMRC.

This is for you if…

• —You're preparing to sell or exit and want a defensible number before you speak to a broker or aggregator.
• —You've had an offer from an acquirer and need it tested independently.
• —You're buying an online business and want the asking price stress-tested.
• —You need a valuation for a share transfer, an EMI scheme, a divorce or an HMRC submission.