#202 Can You Sell Your Amazon Account? Here’s How to Do It Legally

We've bought stores generally from as low as $500 to up to $20,000. And actually beyond that, but generally, they're the exception, not the rule, right? Because ultimately, we need to be very, very careful, because whatever we acquire, we're going to sell to a business owner who wants to hit the ground running and scale. The vehicle that we're acquiring, it needs to be in good standing, the engine needs to be running.

Welcome to the High Voltage Business Builders Podcast, A show where we interview high-voltage entrepreneurs growing and scaling through ecommerce, real estate, and other Wealth Without Wall Street ventures, showing you the path to making your first or next million.

What happens to your Amazon store when you quit? Most sellers shut it down and move on. But what if you could actually sell that account and cash out on all the work you've already done? In this episode, I speak with veteran ecommerce entrepreneur Aaron about the growing market for Amazon seller accounts. We dig into how these deals work, how to stay compliant with Amazon, and what to know before you decide to close your store for good. Before you pull the plug on your e-commerce business, listen to this conversation. It could put unexpected money back in your pocket.

Welcome back to another episode. Look, if you want to know if your Amazon seller account is worth money, then you're going to want to pay attention to this. I don't mean on the, just the seller side. I mean, maybe you decided that you don't want to be in the business anymore of Amazon. Maybe you ran into some troubles. Maybe you got a product going and you can't capitalize it. Or maybe you're just like, hey, I got going and I'm kind have done? Do I have anything that's worth any money? Then you're going to want to pay attention because there's probably a number of those reasons why this episode is going to be extremely important to you listeners. So I'm going to bring this gentleman in. He's a long-term, long friend of mine. Gosh, we've been going back like 8, 10 years now. Aaron, how long have I known you, dude? I'm like losing track, man.

Yeah, I met you in 2014.

2014, 11 years ago.

11 years ago. And I always say you taught me more about ecommerce business than I'd learned in the previous 2 years in a space of a couple of weeks. So I always, you know, thank you for that basically. And it's been a long, long time now we've been friends.

So it's been fun watching you grow up in the business, dude, and what you've been able to accomplish and even the things you're doing now that I think are very relative to people to learn about in this current ecosystem. 'Cause I know it's been a challenge in the last year. Quite a few sellers have decided that it's not really the game they want to play anymore. And I think it's relevant for you guys that are listening to this to really hear what Aaron has to say. So Aaron, my question back on the table is, are your Amazon accounts worth something if you're no longer selling them?

It's a great question, Neil, and I appreciate you laying that foundation because it has been rough for a lot of sellers with ever-increasing fees and whatnot, and it didn't seem like it would slow down. So, you know, for folks that might have had an exit or they might have had, you know, they've thrown in the towel for whatever reason. Then yes, there is the ability to actually sell the assets of your company and including obviously the Amazon store within that, all legally without breaking terms of service. And to do that, to get closure on your journey, if you kind of, you know, you're walking away from the Amazon side of things, you know, or if you just, you've had an exit and you've got a spare store kind of lying around, then that's also an option for folks to cash in on something they're not using.

So when we look at that particular product, the account, as it turns out, is kind of your product today that you're looking to acquire. What kind of things should the seller know that would qualify them for a potential buy? What are the variables they should consider?

Yeah, so we'll look at anything basically. So ultimately, we're looking for stores that are clean, healthy, no crazy red flags on them, and primarily USA stores. So stores that were created from the USA, we only acquire from the original owner as well, because Amazon's a sensitive beast, as we all know, and we don't want to, you know, buy a store that might have been acquired and sold 3 or 4 times. Because if Amazon ever asks, okay, you know, how has this changed hands, we can show them the asset purchase agreement, the legal paper trail, and obviously we'll get permission from Amazon during any transaction. And sometimes they ask these questions. So Original owner is important. You know, stores that have had sales history, you know, good seller feedback and generally just been looked after. These are the stores that we're kind of looking for.

Okay, that makes sense. And I might have a terrible question, but if I find an account that somebody might be interested in and I buy it, can I sell it to you? Could I arbitrage?

So it can be done, but it's just a little bit complex. So we, you know, what we like to do is in that situation is to Because we want to source from, you know, go direct to the original owner. If we transfer the store to you first, it's going to have your details in it. And then, you know, that could be a potential issue. So in them situations, we would rather just pay somebody a referral fee and say, hey, if you know anybody, then we'll just, you know, we'll compensate you accordingly.

Less complexity.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. With Amazon, it's, you know, especially with the settings in the backend, it can be a sensitive one.

So Now you say any account kind of situation you'll look at, but what's your preferred? Is it if it's a selling account that's currently active, does it need to be paying the professional fee? If it's got a product still in inventory, does that make a difference to you? Is there something that like a cap you won't buy top of? Like, hey, that's not— that's more above than we're willing to purchase. Are there variables beyond that just to get in the weeds a little farther?

We've bought stores generally from, you know, as low as $500 to up to $20,000. And actually beyond that. But generally, they're the exception, not the rule, right? So on the higher end, so really, it's stores that have had good solid sales history, seller feedback, and, you know, just have been maintained and looked after. If they have inventory left, and oftentimes this is the case, then we can oftentimes work out, you know, a delayed acquisition where we say, okay, just sell through that, you know, make the profit on the inventory that you've got sat there. And then we can revisit in a few months. Sometimes we've acquired the inventory as well in some rare occasions, just depends on the, you know, the current situation of whether it's FBM, they've got a lot of stock at their own warehouse and it's gonna be a lot easier. They can just, you know, delist that. And if it's FBA, then obviously a bit more difficult to liquidate that inventory, whether, you know, they sell through it or, you know, dispose of it. So that's kind of the situation. We're open to all. You know, the stores that are, you know, more recent, and this might be helpful for your audience, stores that have got more recent sales and they've been looked after. If you're looking to sell it and you think, again, that might be an option for me, you probably want to do it sooner rather than later because as Amazon stores go dormant, then they lose some of the bells and whistles, some of the benefits that generally they have when they're more active. So that's one thing I would say if you're considering it, Then, you know, you're like, okay, I'm done. Then probably sell it sooner than later because yeah, it'll, it'll, the value will tail off.

Yeah.

So before you shut everything down, consider the possibility that, you know, it's worth something before you completely shut it all off. Right. Are there situations with account health and stuff you won't purchase or will you purchase somewhere in the gray area of like account health is green or yellow or even red in some areas of that? Will that change the value or just disqualify the purchase at all?

Yeah, so usually what happens is there's going to be some dings on the account, right? And that's normal. We go through on the evaluation call. So it's a very straightforward process. We would book a call about 20 minutes long with our team. Our account specialist would go through, do all the checks. It's very straightforward, but we'd look at all of the account health, any violations on it, and assess like if there's multiple suspensions and it's like You know, some serious issues, then that would go into our decision. Because ultimately we need to be very, very careful because whatever we acquire, we're gonna sell to a business owner who wants to hit the ground running and scale. And the vehicle, so to speak, that we are acquiring, it needs to be, you know, in good standing. The engine needs to be running. We can't sell an old, you know, beaten up old vehicle to our new owner of that car. So I hope that makes sense in that analogy.

No, it does. And it's good to kind of get the range of things so people who are listening to this can understand the variables by which they would want to submit, you know, the possibility of it, of being acquired. How many are you looking to acquire? Is there a cap or are you just kind of like, I'll take whatever you got? Yeah.

So like, depending on where we're at, you know, every business ebbs and flows, but sometimes we might have a demand for a certain particular type of store. But, you know, we sometimes we're looking at 300, 400 stores a month and then sometimes we're like, okay, we've got enough in our pipeline right now. We might be looking at 100 stores a month, like people that reach out to us and then our team go through and just go through the store, make sure they're all healthy. And then from there we can make offers to people.

Yeah.

And once that's happened, essentially is again, 20-minute call, go through the process and then if we make an offer and you're like, okay, Let's move forward. Then from there, what happens is it's an asset purchase agreement is signed and agreed upon. Then we park the money in escrow, which is obviously one of the largest platforms in the world for transactions of acquisition. So that goes into escrow. And then once all the stuff has been signed and money's been parked, we do a transfer call where we obviously notify Amazon beforehand as well. That's a very, very important step. to let them know that the details are gonna be changing in the store and an acquisition is taking place. And then we do that on a transfer call where we go ahead, release the funds from escrow, and then, you know, change the access to the account. And then from there, it's pretty much wrapped up for the seller. Once we've sold the store and we've done that on the other side, we tie it all up and we send a Loom video to the original owner to say, hey, all of your stuff's been removed from the seller account, all the details have been changed. So they have that final peace of mind, if that makes sense.

Yeah, absolutely it does. And just to clarify, is it Amazon store only? Or if someone says I have a Shopify and a TikTok, will you look at those as well?

Yeah. So if somebody's got, you know, if they've got assets in the company, we'll take a look at them. And, you know, because this, this is kind of going to be the next kind of vertical that we're moving into, TikTok stores. We're not quite there yet, I'll say that, but it's definitely on the horizon for us. So we take all of that into account. And then based on our current situation, we'll, we'll make an offer for whatever store is pressing.

Makes sense. So for my listeners, we were, we are sponsoring this podcast. It is not a paid podcast, but if you have an interest in a store that you think might be worth something, there'll be a link in the show notes. Maybe you can toss it out real quick for us, Aaron, that there's a referral fee. So in full transparency, if you use that, we get a referral fee. So I just want to let my listeners know that that is out there. You know, Aaron and I have been around this for a long time. I trust him. I send every person whose account I know is eligible over to him. Because he's a great resource and has treated everyone extremely fairly in their acquisition. So where can they go if they think they've got a referral opportunity?

Yeah, absolutely. What I'll do is I'll put the link in the show notes below. I want to make sure I'll clarify and I'll put it in the show notes, but it should be ecomstores.com/neil. But I will double check that and I'll add it. If it's incorrect, I'll add it into the show notes. And when you go to that page, you'll see the option to choose your own adventure if you've got a store. that you're looking to potentially sell, then there'll be an option for that. And there'll be an option if you're potentially looking to acquire a store. Again, you can choose your own adventure and go down that route as well.

Well, we'll draw the link here too, just in case it's not right or wrong, and it'll be in the show notes. So Danny, that's for you when you produce this. And guys, just so you're aware, it is a referral fee as an affiliate to help, you know, anybody who comes in. And hopefully today, those who didn't even know this was an option can consider it before they just shut everything down. Go ahead and submit that. There's no cost to submit it into the system. You only get Paid or you know charged quote unquote with the payment if you qualify to be purchased. So really there's no risk for you to go check it out and see if that store you're no longer using is worth anything to you. Maybe you can recoup some costs. Stores turn over quite a bit. I think when people have misaligned expectations of what it takes to become a seller and a professional seller on Amazon, can you speak to some of that? Because you and I both know as we've been at this for more than a decade, there's a lot of misaligned expectations. Let's lead that for some of the people who are on here who don't have a store to sell. So we can kind of qualify that, you know, the pros and cons of that, as you know what I'm asking.

I did before, before we do that, Neil, I just want to say it is ecomstores.com/voltage.

Okay.

That's the link you need to follow just to be super clear.

I'm gonna put that on the screen because I can do it real quick and then we'll make sure it's in the show notes for everybody who's listening. ecomstores.com/voltage. Did I get it right?

There you go.

There we are. It's on the screen, folks. Cool, cool. Fancy, fancy, fancy. All right, man. So the question was regarding expectations of sellers, maybe who are listening to this, as we talk about a lot on this podcast for anything related to e-com, we talk about the real opportunity, the real time, energy, attention, and money it takes to put a business online and get it going. So on the flip side, for somebody who's not ready to sell a store, but is considering selling at some point, maybe they're considering an exit, maybe they're an aspiring entrepreneur going, hey, I'm thinking about this. What could I do to be successful?

What would you tell them?

In your own words?

Focus is critical. Find somebody that has done what you are seeking to do and somebody who has, you know, I think it's, you know, somebody who's grounded. And this is kind of, I know I said at the start of the podcast, but when I first met you, it was like a, you know, a big aha moment because it was coming. The things you were teaching back then, Neil, were you know, just far different from everyone else. And it was, one, I was, I could, I think I've got a pretty good BS radar, so to speak. So I could sense that it wasn't, you know, it was absolutely something which you'd walk, you were walking your talk essentially. And that's one of the first things I would say, look, find somebody who is, you know, of that ilk, somebody who's walking their talk, who's got all the proof in the world and somebody who you wouldn't mind almost becoming a little bit alike in a sense, in that the more you spend time with people, you know, that are mentors, in some way you're going to absorb some of their, you know, teachings the way they are. And, you know, I think that's important as well. So is this person that I'm going to learn from somebody who, you know, I'm comfortable and I feel good about, you know, and are they walking their talk? So that'd be the first thing if you're an aspiring entrepreneur, you know, spend some time researching that and getting that clear. We've got Neil here who I've been learning from for 10 years, over 10 years now. So, you know, there's no one else I'll go to in the e-commerce Amazon space to learn from, from you. And I'll say that again. But aside from that, it's focus. I lost millions and millions of dollars by going here, there, everywhere. You know, case in point, when I started Amazon, I was like a kid in a candy shop, right? This is 2013, launched the brand, took off. We started doing $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 a month. You know, quit my job and I thought, wow, this is amazing. Obviously Amazon was a different beast back then, but the concept still remains true. When you have something that's working, what I did, the mistake was, oh, let me just, I'll just duplicate this brand. It's working. And now I've got 2 businesses and then I had 3 businesses and the complexity doesn't just double or triple. I would say it quadruples because of all of the spinning plates that you have to manage. And my thinking was, well, I can just, you know, go, go horizontal. What I should have done is went, it went deep, I should have went deep and focused on that one brand. And, you know, just kept surrounding myself with the right people. And I'd have probably been able to exit that brand for $10, $20, $30 million, if I'd have focused. So these lessons hard, hard learned.

And, you know, well, you don't get any experience without it. And you certainly can't become wise as you are, my friend, without some of that experience positively and negatively. I think we all want to jump to the life coach, 19-year-old wisdom online with millions of followers. It doesn't quite work like that. So be careful who you follow, right? Those things can hurt you a lot. And I think it's just, it's realistic to set the right expectations is what we're trying to do here today. But for those of you who got in and maybe got misaligned on those expectations, maybe got a little too much hopium, got a little too far in it, realized this just isn't for me. It's not really my aptitude, or it's just financially not something I can see myself doing for the long haul. You know, there is a way for you to validate that timeframe, maybe recoup some of your capital, and that is to make sure you sell the asset you have. Something we talked a little bit about on the last podcast, you guys, was the asset building and how to protect your assets and make sure— nice play on words— and also building assets, which is business building. And it's right, you know, e-commerce and business, the 2 ways, as well as real estate, really, that you become millionaires in business in the United States. It's an opportunity that everybody has, but it's also not for everyone, especially if they don't have the right expectations. Going into it, so thanks for laying that out for us a little bit, man. Is there a question I didn't ask you yet that you wanted to cover?

Well, no, I think I think we covered some some good ground ground sorry and just to touch on what you were saying there, it's have a ten-year time horizon. I think I wish I'd have learned that, and it just it really just you know over that long you know ten-year time horizon literally anything's possible with the right surrounding yourself around grounded mentors with a plan that have walked that plan. many, many times. And one of the things I lost, you know, when I was starting out was, you know, and there were people who started at the same time as me who had that environment around them, you know, mentors that had exited their businesses for, you know, multiple millions. I didn't pursue that and I kind of lost my way a little bit, you know. So, you know, it's definitely possible where you can, instead of a 10-year time horizon, you could become multimillion after a year or 2 or 3. In the rare, in some rare cases, but realistically set it for 10 years, surround yourself with grounded mentors, stay focused on one business and do that. And it would just compound and compound. So that would be the final thing I would say on that.

Well, that is, that is a good word, dude. It encompasses something that I was thinking about as you're speaking and with your wisdom. And that was the E-Myth, right? Do something that no one else is willing to do for 3 to 5 years so you can live like nobody else can afterwards. So give yourself enough time. Down the road to become successful. I think that's a thing that not a lot of people need to hear because they're in the now mindset. They're in the six-minute TikTok mindset, and that's a dangerous place to be when you build a business. You need to give yourself as long of time as possible. You know, people ask, "What's the time look like?" And I'm like, "Well, how long is a piece of string? It is how long you will cut it, and the longer you give yourself opportunity, the longer you could be in the success." And I'm super awesome, dude. Super awesome. Yeah, I'm not super awesome. You're super awesome. Sorry, I said that totally wrong. I'm super. Super duper grateful that you're here, still in the business, still operating, finding your niche, finding your way, supporting your family, being a man of faith in what you do and everything, which is extremely important to me. And just super grateful to be around you and see what you are doing and who you've become. And, you know, 11 years later, you're going strong. And I want people to hear that today from you so they know what is realistic about pivoting and doing business and giving yourself enough time to become successful because you are, you are the case study for that, my friend. So, I'm super grateful that you're on the call today.

Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate that very much.

And apparently super— what's that?

I said I appreciate it very much.

Oh, for sure, man. And apparently super is my word this week. I need a new word because I've used that word like too many times this week. I don't know what it is with that. I got locked into the word super and I can't get out of it. Do you ever have that happen to you?

Oh, many, many times. Yeah. One thing I'll say to you, if I may, is one of the things, as you were saying that through building Amazon businesses, private label brands. I've done that for 6, 6 and a half years. But during that, that time, I spent a lot of time in the Philippines. And one thing which really, you know, most of us that are in business online have probably hired from the Philippines or will be hiring from the Philippines in some capacity. And during that time, I flew to the Philippines probably 15, 20 times. And somebody that changed my life forever was I was given a calling, if you like, or a call, an assignment to help children that are suffering over there that don't have education, that they work on these big dump sites that essentially are toxic and they have to find litter to pick every day to feed their family. So the reason I'm bringing this up is because I, through e-commerce, you know, people talk a lot about purpose and what I found was It was really unexpected for me to go to the Philippines and find this purpose and be given this and integrate it into what we do. And which is one of— I just want to say, you know, not because of how good we are or, you know, anything, you know, like that, but because there's people out there that need support. And what we do in our company was every time we, you know, sell a store, we give some to these children that can be educated, fed, and kind of pulled and help them break the poverty. cycle in their family, right? So one thing I'll say is, if you're called to explore this, there's a link in the show notes as well, which is we're raising £250,000 for children in this area of the Philippines so that they can go to, you know, school and be educated and have healthcare so they can break the cycle of poverty for their families. You know, if you feel pulled or called to have a look at that, it'd mean the world to me and it would mean the world to the children that way.

Well, I'll be the first to donate and lead that. That's amazing. I didn't know you were doing that. That's an amazing thing to support families and children. So I'm in and hopefully anybody else who's listening to this knows that if they're in to do that, as well as going to theecomstores.com/voltage, anything that's referred from the sale of your business is going to support that as well. So that might be a way you can help as well. Dude, that's super amazing. Kudos to you for doing that. That's amazing.

Thank you, Neil. You'll officially be my first, first donor of my, of this. Yeah. What an honor.

Lead by example.

Let's do it. What an honor. Thank you.

No, that's my pleasure, dude. I'm excited. Well, look guys, check it out. Remember, if you are an aspiring entrepreneur or if you are building, give yourself time, do the right energy, attention, um, to the product, the business that you're building, no matter what it is, if it's e-com or anything else. And also make sure you align the right amount of money expectations so you can follow that E-Myth rule. You can become an Aaron. You can get yourself in a business that works for you. Um, if you're in that place where you're like, hey man, I give up. I can't do this anymore. That's okay. Everybody has their walk, their experience. Aaron had his, I've had mine, as you've known. And you know, selling your store might be the right thing for you to do. And now you have a mechanism to do that. So I hope you take advantage of that. As always, like, share, comment, subscribe. Help us beat big tech. Share this with somebody who might have a store that needs to sell it as you listen to it, or just give us some love in the comments. And any reviews are always appreciated if you enjoy the show. We appreciate y'all coming on. Thanks, Aaron. Thanks for sharing a good word, brother.

Ask you this: If you're serious about building an e-commerce business starting on Amazon FBA, what if myself and my team worked with you one-on-one to execute the steps outlined in the podcast while helping you discover what the heck? Sell, how to make sure it's profitable, and how to successfully launch a brand, plus how to do it under a consulting plus performance-driven model where I put a $10,000 skin-in-the-game guarantee for those that show up and are serious about building a real business done with us? If yes, text keyword profit to +1-417-413-4209. That's 1-417-413-4209, and I will personally respond with a few simple questions. If you're not in the US or Canada, please visit voltage dm dot com. That's voltage dm dot com. Click get started and book a no-pressure discovery call with me or a member of my team to learn more about the Business Builders one-on-one coaching and mentoring for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and those looking to build an empire or retire using the power of e-commerce. Once again, thank you for listening, and be sure to tune in next week for a brand new episode of the High Voltage Business Builders Podcast.