Is buying an online store right for you? Eight honest questions

Buying an online store is right for you if you can spare the money without needing it back quickly, can give the store regular time every week, and are ready to do the marketing yourself. It is the wrong move if you need income from it soon or would be risking money you can't afford to lose. These eight questions will tell you which side of that line you're on, before you spend anything.

We sell online stores, so we have a reason to say yes to everyone. We'd rather you didn't buy one than bought one that doesn't fit. Answer these honestly, ideally in writing.

1. Can you afford to wait for a return?

A new store has no sales history, and nobody can tell you when it will start paying for itself. Even an established store can dip after a change of owner. If you would need the money you spend back within a few months, an online store is the wrong place for it.

The right money for a store is money you can leave in the business while it grows. If buying would mean borrowing against your house, using an emergency fund or taking on debt you can't cover from your income, stop here.

2. Do you have a marketing budget after you buy?

This is the question first-time buyers skip most often. An online store gets no passing trade. Every visitor comes from search, ads, email, social media or links, and most of those take money, time or both.

Before you work out what you can spend on a store, work out what you can spend bringing people to it over its first months. If the purchase would use up everything, you would own a store with no way to fill it. It is often better to buy a less expensive store and keep money back for marketing than to buy the most expensive one you can stretch to.

3. How many hours a week can you give it?

An online store fits around a job better than almost any other business. It doesn't need opening hours, and with a distributor shipping orders, you never pack a box. But it is not hands-off. The regular work is:

• Answering customer questions and sorting out problems.
• Checking orders have gone out and stock is accurate.
• Writing product pages, guides, emails and social posts.
• Running and adjusting ads, if you use them.
• Looking at what is working and changing what isn't.

Be specific. "Some evenings" tends to become no evenings. A fixed few hours on set days is a better plan than a vague intention to fit it in.

4. Are you willing to learn marketing?

You don't need experience to own an online store. You do need to become reasonably good at bringing in customers, because that is where most of the work is. That means learning the basics of search engine optimisation, email, social media and, often, paid ads.

If the idea of writing, testing and measuring sounds like a chore you'd avoid, be honest with yourself about it. Some owners pay others to do it, which works, but it adds to what you need to spend. Our guide to SEO for a new online store gives a fair idea of what the search side involves.

5. Do you care about the niche?

You will spend a lot of time with the products: describing them, answering questions about them, writing about them and watching what sells. Owners who know or enjoy the subject tend to keep that up for longer and do it better.

A hunter or angler running an outdoor store knows what customers mean when they ask about a reel or a tent rating. A pet owner knows the questions other pet owners have. That knowledge shows up in your pages, your emails and your customer service. We build stores in pet supply, hunting, fishing and camping and health and wellness, and we'd rather you choose the one you'd enjoy running than the one you think will sell fastest.

6. How will you handle a slow start?

Most new stores start slowly. The first weeks can bring few visitors and fewer orders while search engines discover the site and your marketing finds its feet. How you respond decides a lot. Owners who keep working through a quiet stretch, adjusting what they try, give the store a real chance. Owners who expected fast results often stop just as the work would have started to pay off.

Ask yourself what you'd do after a month of very few sales. If the honest answer is "give up," wait until you're ready to commit for longer.

7. Do you want proof, or a clean start?

There are two ways to buy. An established store has a sales history, which you pay extra for and have to verify. A new, ready-to-launch store has no history, costs less, and carries none of a previous owner's problems. Neither is better for everyone. We compare them in new online store vs established and in buying an online business.

If you choose proof, be prepared to check it properly with a due diligence checklist. If you choose a clean start, be prepared to build every customer yourself.

8. Does everyone affected agree?

If you share finances or time with a partner or family, talk it through before you buy. A store takes money and evenings. It goes better when the people around you know what to expect and support it, and much worse when it becomes a source of argument.

Scoring your answers

There's no points system, but there is a pattern:

• A good fit: money you can leave in the business, a marketing budget on top, a few fixed hours each week, interest in the niche, and patience for a slow start.
• Not yet: any one of those missing. Usually it can be fixed by saving for longer, cutting the budget for the store itself, or waiting until you have time.
• Not for you: needing income from it within months, or risking money you can't afford to lose.

"Not yet" is a perfectly good answer. The store will still be an option when the timing is right.

Who online stores tend to suit

The people who most often do well with an online store share a few traits rather than a background. They are patient, willing to learn, and treat the store as a business rather than a lottery ticket. That covers side-hustlers building something alongside a job, career changers who want a business they control, veterans looking for work they can do from anywhere, and people who want an online store instead of the lease and staff a shop needs. We compare the two in online store vs retail store.

What to do next

If your answers point to yes, the next step is deciding what kind of store to buy and how to check it. Read buying an online business, and use the due diligence checklist on any store you consider, from us or anyone else.

If you'd like to talk it through, tell us what you're looking for. If a store isn't right for you yet, we'll say so.