Buying your first online business under $25k: checklist

A small online business can be a good first acquisition. The price is manageable, the business is easy to understand and there's room to improve it. But at this size there's rarely a broker checking anything for you. On most small-business marketplaces, Money Nomad included, the figures in a listing are the figures the seller reports.

Money Nomad's team reviews every listing before it goes live, to check it's complete and a good fit for the marketplace. It doesn't audit the seller's figures. Its terms say Money Nomad "does not verify the accuracy of listing data", and its FAQ says buyers "should verify revenue, traffic and ownership themselves before they buy". This checklist is that due diligence.

Before you contact a seller

• Decide your budget, including costs after the sale. Allow for the purchase price, escrow fees, any stock, app or software subscriptions, and a few months of running costs.
• Pick a model you understand. A content site, a small store and a SaaS tool fail in different ways. Your first buy goes better if you know how the business makes money.
• Read the listing as a claim, not a fact. Money Nomad's under $50k page tells buyers to "Check the reported profit against the asking price, and ask the seller for proof of revenue before you make an offer."
• Do rough maths. Asking price divided by reported annual profit gives the multiple you'd be paying. Compare it with similar businesses on the listings page.

On Money Nomad, you contact a seller from the listing page, and your message reaches them by email. From then on you deal with the seller directly.

Verify revenue

Screenshots are easy to fake. Ask for evidence you can see live.

• A monthly P&L for at least 12 months, including every cost
• A live screen-share of each revenue source (Stripe, PayPal, Shopify, Amazon, ad networks, affiliate dashboards), with the seller navigating while you watch
• Revenue in the dashboards matches the P&L month by month
• Payouts match deposits in the bank statements, if the seller will show them
• Refunds, chargebacks and cancellations are visible and accounted for
• No single customer, affiliate programme or product makes up most of the revenue, or if one does, you've priced in that risk
• For subscription businesses: active subscribers, churn and the date of the last price change

Money Nomad's ecommerce stores page suggests asking for "analytics and order history before you make an offer."

Verify traffic

• Google Analytics (or equivalent), watched live or through read-only access, covering at least 12 months
• Google Search Console for organic traffic, checked for sudden drops around algorithm updates
• Traffic sources split out: organic, paid, social, email, referral
• If there's paid traffic, ad account history and spend, matched to the P&L
• Email list size, open rates and how the list was built, plus whether it can legally transfer to you under the list's privacy terms
• Spot-check that the traffic is real: do the top pages actually rank, and do the social accounts have real engagement?

Verify ownership

You need to know the seller can actually hand over what they're selling.

• Domain: the seller controls the registrar account and can transfer the domain to you
• Hosting and code: the seller has admin access, and any code isn't licensed in a way that blocks transfer
• Content and images: the seller has the rights to them, including licences for stock images, themes and fonts
• Platform accounts: check what the platform itself allows. For example:
  • Shopify has a built-in ownership transfer, but says stores using Shopify Capital or Shopify Credit can't be transferred.
  • Amazon says seller accounts "generally are not transferable".
  • KDP's terms restrict assigning the agreement and allow "only one account at a time".
• Trademarks and Brand Registry, if relevant: who owns the mark, and how it will be assigned to you
• Supplier agreements: suppliers have confirmed they'll work with you

Red flags

• The seller won't screen-share, and only offers screenshots or PDFs
• Revenue jumped in the last few months before listing, with no clear reason
• Traffic or revenue fell sharply and the listing doesn't mention it
• Costs look too low: no ad spend, no software, no contractors for a business that clearly needs them
• The business depends on the seller personally (their face, network or skills) and there's no plan to hand that over
• Accounts are in someone else's name, or the seller is vague about who owns what
• Pressure to pay quickly, or a request to pay outside escrow
• The asking price is far above what similar businesses are listed at, with no explanation

One red flag doesn't mean you walk away. It means you ask more questions, and get the answers in writing.

Use escrow

Money Nomad doesn't hold payments. Its FAQ says the payment and asset transfer are "handled directly between the parties", and it recommends escrow for larger transactions.

Escrow.com describes its process like this:

1. The buyer and seller agree terms.
2. The buyer pays into escrow, and the seller is notified that the funds are secured.
3. The seller delivers.
4. The buyer has "a set number of days to inspect" and accept, or raises a dispute.
5. Funds are released to the seller once accepted.

For an online business, "delivers" means transferring the domain, accounts and files. Agree in writing who pays the escrow fee, and check that fee on the provider's own site.

Handover checklist

• A written purchase agreement listing every asset, the price, any stock, the handover date and any support period
• Domain transferred into your own registrar account
• Hosting, code, CMS and admin logins moved to you, with passwords changed
• Platform ownership changed through the platform's own process
• Payment processors and payout bank details switched to yours
• Email list, social accounts and supplier contacts handed over
• A short handover call, or written notes on how the business runs day to day
• Only then do you accept in escrow, so the seller gets paid

FAQ

Are listing figures on Money Nomad verified? No. The team reviews every listing before it goes live, to check it's complete and a good fit, but doesn't audit the figures. Buyers verify revenue, traffic and ownership themselves.

Can I find an online business for sale under $10,000? Yes. Browse Money Nomad's listings and filter by price, or see the under $50k page. Listings change often, so check back.

Do I need escrow for a small purchase? Money Nomad doesn't handle payments and recommends escrow for larger transactions. Escrow means the seller only gets paid once you've received and accepted the assets.

What should I ask a seller first? For a live screen-share of revenue and traffic covering the last 12 months, and a list of every asset included in the sale.