Buying an online business comes down to one choice: how much of the work do you want already done? You can buy an established store with a sales history, buy a ready-to-launch starter store with none, or build one yourself. Each costs something different, carries different risks and needs different checks. This post walks through all three so you can tell which one fits your money, your time and your appetite for risk.
Three ways to own an online store
| Established business | Starter store | Build it yourself | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | Proven sales and profit | The build and setup | Your own time, plus tools |
| Sales history | Yes, to be verified | None | None |
| Relative price | Highest | Middle | Lowest in cash |
| Time to launch | Already running | Short | Longest |
| Main risk | Paying for income that doesn't last | The store doesn't find customers | Never finishing, or building the wrong thing |
| Main check | Verify every figure | Check the supplier and the build | Check your own plan |
Buying an established online business
An established business has a record: orders, customers, traffic, maybe an email list and reviews. You pay for that record. The price is usually set as a multiple of the business's monthly or yearly net profit, often called seller's discretionary earnings. Multiples vary widely by size, age, niche and risk, so be cautious of anyone who quotes a "standard" one.
The appeal is that you are buying something you can measure. The danger is that the numbers you are shown are not the numbers you will get. Revenue can be inflated, a supplier relationship may not transfer, traffic may come from one source that disappears, or the owner may be the business.
Before you pay for an established business, you need to:
- Verify revenue and profit against platform reports and bank statements, not screenshots.
- Find out where the traffic comes from and how much depends on one channel.
- Confirm who supplies and ships the products, and whether that account comes with the sale.
- Get a written list of every asset: domain, store account, email list, social accounts, supplier accounts, content.
Our due diligence checklist covers each of these in order, and how to value a website explains the pricing method in detail.
Buying a starter store
A starter store is a new online store built for a buyer. The products are loaded, the supplier is set up, the pages are written and it is ready to take orders. What it doesn't have is a history.
That last point decides how a starter store should be priced and sold. With no sales, there is no profit to multiply. A starter store is worth what the build is worth: the time, the setup, the supplier relationship and the work you don't have to do. If anyone shows you projected income for a store that hasn't sold anything, that projection is a guess.
A starter store makes sense when you want to own a store soon, don't want to spend months building one, and can't or don't want to pay the premium for a proven business. You take on the job of finding customers yourself.
What to check:
- The supplier. Is it a real distributor with its own warehouses, or a dropship marketplace? Our dropshipping vs inventory guide explains why this matters.
- Exclusivity. Is the store sold once, or is the same store sold to many buyers?
- The domain. Who owns it, and is it transferred to you?
- What's handed over. Get it in writing.
Building your own store
Building from scratch costs the least cash. You pay for a platform, a domain and some apps, and put in your own time. You choose every product and every page.
The cost is time and the things first-time builders don't know yet. Finding a supplier that will work with a new store, choosing products, writing descriptions, setting shipping rules, tax settings, policies and payment processing all take longer than most people expect. Many people who set out to build a store never launch it.
Building suits you if you enjoy the setup, have time to spare and want to learn every part of the business. It suits you less if you mainly want to own and run a store.
Where to buy an online business
- Open marketplaces such as Flippa list a wide range of businesses at many sizes. Vetting varies, so your own checks matter more.
- Curated brokers such as Empire Flippers vet listings before they go live and tend to handle larger businesses.
- Private sales through contacts or direct approaches can avoid fees but leave every check to you.
- Store builders sell new, ready-to-launch stores rather than established ones.
Fees, vetting and buyer protections change, so read the current terms on each company's own site. We compare the two best-known marketplaces in Flippa vs Empire Flippers, and the Shopify-specific checks in buying a Shopify store.
How to choose
Three questions narrow it down quickly:
- How much can you spend without needing the store to pay it back fast? An established business asks for the most, and you still need money left for marketing after you buy.
- How much time do you have? If the answer is evenings and weekends, building from scratch will be slow. Buying gets you to the part where you sell sooner.
- Do you want to pay for proof? Proven income costs more, and you have to verify it. If you would rather pay less and do the growing yourself, a starter store or your own build fits better.
Mistakes first-time buyers make
Whichever route you choose, the same few mistakes come up again and again:
- Spending everything on the purchase. A store needs marketing after you own it. If the purchase uses up your budget, you have a store and no way to bring visitors to it.
- Trusting screenshots. Revenue and traffic figures should come from the platform and the bank, viewed live or exported by you, not images sent by the seller.
- Ignoring the supplier. The products, prices and shipping times all depend on who supplies the store. Find out before you buy, not after the first late order.
- Buying the niche you don't care about. You will spend a lot of time writing about, answering questions on and promoting the products. Interest in the subject makes that work easier to keep up.
- Skipping the handover list. If an asset isn't written down as part of the sale, assume it isn't included.
Why buy an online business at all
Online sales keep taking a larger share of retail. The Census Bureau estimates e-commerce made up 17.1 percent of US retail sales in the second quarter of 2026, up from 16.3 percent a year earlier. An online store also costs far less to open and hold than a shop, a comparison we lay out in online store vs retail store.
None of that guarantees any particular store will do well. It does mean you are building in a part of retail that is growing.
Where we fit
We sell starter stores. Each one is built in a niche, pet supply, hunting, fishing and camping or health and wellness, sold to one buyer, and launched on a domain that buyer chooses. We don't attach income claims to them, because a new store has no history to base them on. If an established business suits you better, our buying guide is written to help you check one from anyone.
Tell us what you're looking for and we'll tell you honestly whether one of our stores fits.
Common questions
Is it better to buy an online business or start one?
It depends on your budget and what you want to pay for. An established business costs more because you are buying its sales history. A starter store costs less and saves you the build, but has no history. Building yourself costs the least cash and the most time.
How are online businesses valued?
Established businesses are usually priced as a multiple of their monthly or yearly net profit, also called seller's discretionary earnings. The multiple varies widely by size, age, niche and risk. A new store has no profit to multiply, so it is priced as a build.
What should I check before buying an online business?
Verify revenue and profit with platform and bank records, find out where the traffic comes from, confirm who supplies and ships the products and whether that account transfers, and get a written list of every asset being handed over.
What is a starter store?
A starter store is a new online store built and set up for a buyer, with products, supplier and pages in place, but no sales history. You are paying for the build and the setup, not for proven income.
Where can I buy an online business?
Common routes are online marketplaces such as Flippa, curated brokers such as Empire Flippers, private sales, and builders who sell ready-made stores. Each has different vetting, fees and buyer competition, so read their terms on their own sites before you commit.