Listing teardown · Ecommerce
Teardown: $29.8K Per Month eCommerce Business in the Art Niche (Empire Flippers #97317)
Short answer: a first-pass read of a live public listing, asking $215,015: 1 red, 4 yellow and 5 green flags from the checker's rules. Every figure comes from the public listing page; nothing here has been verified with the seller.
How to read this. Flags are questions to answer, not findings. A red flag means the listing's own figures or text need an explanation before you spend money on diligence; it does not mean anything is wrong. Sellers often have good answers. Listing details can change after the date above.
Snapshot (as listed)
| Asking price | $215,015 |
|---|---|
| Stated multiple | 2.1× annual SDE |
| Average monthly revenue / profit | $29,773 / $8,532 |
| Latest month revenue / profit | $45,587 / $9,560 |
| Payback (ask ÷ monthly profit) | 25.2 months on the average; 11.9 months on the last 3 months |
| Reported margin | 29% |
| Age | about 148 months |
| Monetization | eCommerce, Amazon FBM |
| Owner hours (seller-stated) | 5 a week |
| Top traffic channels | Paid Social 46%, Direct 28%, Organic Search 16% |
Red flags
- Marketplace-reported revenue trend -34%. Profit trend -20%.
Yellow flags
- Volatile monthly profit (CV 1.08). Monthly profit ranged $-4,832–$23,632.
- Platforms the listing relies on or mentions: Amazon, Meta/Facebook, TikTok. Ask how much revenue and traffic depends on each, and whether there has been any past policy or algorithm impact.
- Customer/revenue concentration not disclosed.
- Generic reason for sale. The Seller would like to explore other opportunities.
Green flags
- The listing shows connected data providers: Shopify, Google Analytics, Amazon Seller Central. These reduce, but do not remove, the need to reconcile figures to bank deposits.
- About 148 months of operating history (first revenue 2014-06, per the listing).
- Last-3-month average profit $18,000 is 111% above the 12-month average.
- Seller states about 5 hours a week of owner time (to confirm against the task list).
- Post-sale support is offered: The seller is willing to offer 60 days of post-sale transition support via email and scheduled phone/video calls.
Questions to ask the seller
- What is causing the year-over-year decline and what has been tried?
- Explain the low months (refunds, annual-plan timing, one-off costs?).
- What would happen to revenue if Amazon changed its policy/API tomorrow? Any past incidents?
- What share of revenue comes from the top 1 and top 3 customers (or traffic/affiliate partners)?
- Why sell now, and what would you do with the business if it doesn't sell?
- Provide a month-by-month P&L for the last 24 months with every cost line.
- What exactly transfers (domains, code, accounts, trademarks, email lists, contractor relationships)?
- Has the business ever had a platform ban, penalty, chargeback spike or security incident?
What to verify
- Store and payment-processor reports (Shopify/WooCommerce, Stripe, PayPal, marketplaces) reconciled to bank deposits
- Landed cost per SKU, ad spend and refunds month by month, so the margin can be rebuilt
- Inventory on hand, its valuation and whether it is included in the price
- Supplier, 3PL and contractor agreements and whether they are assignable
- Ad-account history (CPA, ROAS) and analytics by channel for the listing's 12 months
- Trademark, domain and marketplace-account transfer requirements
Payback at the asking price: 25.2 months on the stated average profit, 31.5 months if profit is 20% lower, 42.0 months if 40% lower. This is arithmetic on the listing's figures, not a valuation or a bid suggestion.
Seller statements to check against evidence
Quoted from the listing. Each is a reasonable thing for a seller to say and worth confirming with documents.
- “Established in 2014, this German DTC eCommerce business specializes in temporary and semi-permanent tattoos.”
- “The business also includes an established Klaviyo database of approximately 43,500 profiles and social media channels with approximately 139,600 combined followers and subscribers.”
- “Growth opportunities include expanding the recently launched proprietary tattoo pen range, increasing the use of email and social audiences, scaling Meta, Google, TikTok, and Amazon advertising, developing B2B and wholesale partnerships, introducing additional bundles and repeat-purchase campaigns, and expanding further across European markets.”
Risks the listing itself discloses: An increase in Paid Traffic pricing could make the ads unprofitable. Supplier increasing prices An increase in Amazon ad pricing could make the ads unprofitable. Amazon can suspend or cancel your account due to a breach of its terms of service (ToS).
Sources
- Empire Flippers listing #97317, public listing data read 13 October 2026.
- FirstPass red-flag rules, the 33 published rules used for the flags above.
Related
FirstPass Memo is independent and buyer-paid. Not affiliated with, paid by or endorsed by Empire Flippers or the seller. Informational screening only, not investment, legal, tax or valuation advice, and not an audit. Figures are the seller's and marketplace's, as listed on the date above. If you are the seller or broker and something here is out of date, email hello@firstpassmemo.com and we will correct it.