Answers
What is a due diligence checklist for buying an Amazon FBA business?
Short answer: Screen-share Seller Central for 24 months of sales, disbursements and Account Health, match disbursements to bank deposits, rebuild profit from supplier invoices and ad spend, check how much one product carries, confirm supplier terms and trademarks transfer, and count inventory at closing separately from the price. Then test what the cash at closing pays back.
What should you check before buying an Amazon FBA business?
An FBA business is a brand, a set of product listings, supplier relationships and a stock position, all running inside Amazon's rules. The 14 checks below cover sales, profit, concentration, the account and the stock. Do the sales and account checks by live screen share of Seller Central, with you choosing what to click.
How do you check FBA sales and profit?
- Business Reports: 24 months of sales and units by month.
- Payments and disbursements: what Amazon actually paid out, matched to bank deposits (how to verify FBA sales).
- Profit rebuilt by you from supplier invoices, freight, Amazon fees, storage fees and ad spend, not from the seller's spreadsheet.
- Advertising: spend and advertising cost of sales by month in the ads console, and the trend.
- Returns and refunds by product.
How concentrated and competitive is the business?
- Product concentration: what share of sales the top product carries.
- Reviews and ranking of the main listings over time, and the number of competing sellers.
- Seasonality: compare the same months across two years.
What should you check about the account, brand and suppliers?
- Account Health: no open policy warnings, listing suppressions or past suspensions.
- Trademark and Brand Registry: who owns the mark, and whether it moves with the sale.
- Supplier terms: written prices, minimum orders, lead times, and whether the supplier will deal with you.
- Inventory at closing: counted and valued at landed cost on the closing date, not estimated.
- Owner hours and any staff or agencies involved.
- Transfer plan: how the Seller Central account or listings move, in writing, with a handover period.
What does the cash at closing pay back?
A composite FBA brand asks $90,000 on $3,000 a month of profit, with $30,000 of inventory on top and $9,000 a month of cost of goods. The listing reads as 2.50× annual profit. In the FBA inventory and price check, the cash at closing is $120,000, the all-in multiple is 3.33×, and payback on all the cash you put in is 40 months, with about 3.3 months of stock cover.
Composite example, run through the FBA price check with inventory
| Asking price | $90,000 |
|---|---|
| Inventory at landed cost, on top of the price | $30,000 |
| Monthly profit | $3,000 |
| Monthly cost of goods sold | $9,000 |
| Multiple as listed | 2.50× |
| Cash needed at closing | $120,000 |
| All-in multiple, inventory included | 3.33× |
| Payback on the price alone | 30 months |
| Payback on all the cash you put in | 40 months |
| Months of stock cover | 3.3 |
Inventory is an asset you can sell through, so it is not lost money, but it is cash you need on day one. Agree in the purchase agreement how stock is counted and what happens to slow-moving units.
Frequently asked questions
Is inventory included in an FBA business price?
Often not. Many FBA listings price the business and add inventory at landed cost on top. Ask which, and count the stock on the closing date.
What access do I need to verify an FBA business?
A live screen share of Seller Central (Business Reports, Payments and Account Health), the advertising console, supplier invoices and the bank statements disbursements reach.
What is the biggest risk when buying an FBA business?
Dependence: on Amazon's rules and fees, on one product, and on one supplier. Measure each and price it before you offer.
Sources
- FirstPass Memo, red-flag checker rules, our own rules, published as /rules.json
- FirstPass Memo, seller question bank, October 2026 (general checklist), our own questions
- FirstPass Memo, online-business listing benchmarks, October 2026, our own data, CC BY 4.0
- Escrow.com, Fee calculator, US dollar transactions, read 7 October 2026
Related
- How to verify FBA sales
- What is an FBA business worth with inventory?
- FBA inventory and price check
- Red flags when buying an FBA business
- Buying an Amazon FBA business
- Glossary of listing terms
- More questions buyers ask
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Composite examples are invented and labelled. Figures from other sites are quoted with a link and the date we read them; FirstPass figures are asking prices and seller-stated profit, not sale prices. Informational screening only, not investment, legal or tax advice.