Statistics

Online business for sale statistics, October 2026

Short answer: small online businesses listed for sale in autumn 2026 asked roughly 2.2–2.4× annual profit, about two to two and a half years of payback, and most listings leave out facts buyers need, such as customer concentration and recent trend. Every figure below is from our own dated datasets, free to cite under CC BY 4.0.

Updated 16 October 2026 · By Joan Murphy (pen name) · How we check · Corrections

Citable figures

• 44% of 88 live Empire Flippers listings raised at least one high-severity red flag (2026-10-14 to 2026-10-16).
• 54% of listings reporting a revenue trend showed it negative (47 of 87).
• 100% of the 88 listings did not disclose customer or revenue concentration.
• 49% showed the last three months' profit below the 12-month average.
• 33% stated owner hours above 10 a week.
• The median Empire Flippers listing in the index asked 2.4× annual profit (28.8 months' payback).
• On other marketplaces, $10k–$150k listings asked a median 2.23× annual profit, 26.8 months' payback (n=36, All business types, Sept–Oct 2026).
• 36% of those $10k–$150k listings that stated an age were under 12 months old.
• SaaS listings in that sample asked a median 2.39× annual profit (n=20).

Sources and method

• Listing Red-Flag Index 2026-W42: 88 public Empire Flippers listings, each with its own teardown.
• October 2026 benchmarks: WebsitesForSaleOnline public API, $10k–$150k, Empire Flippers excluded.

All prices are asking prices and seller-stated profit, not sale prices. Suggested citation: "FirstPass Memo, firstpassmemo.com/stats (accessed [date])".