This listing looks good. I would still not bid yet.
Pet accessories store, five years old. Runs itself, about four hours a week. Fresh reviews every week, orders shipped the same day, support answered inside the hour. Revenue €531,700, net profit €78,900, asking €268,700.
I’d go ahead. PASS.I’d ask the seller first. PROBE.I’d walk away. WALK.I don’t know
A preview of the test. The buttons work inside the test.
If you can read a listing, six cases will prove it.
Read the listing again. Somebody ships those orders and answers those support messages.
Four hours a week is not enough for that work. Somebody does it now. After the sale that person stays, or you do the work.
The seller calculated the price from the net profit. That profit does not include a salary for that work.
So I would send the seller one message, because his answer changes what I would pay:
“Who ships the orders and answers the support messages today? What is the cost of this work, and is it stated somewhere?”
Would you have bid?
Most buyers learn to judge a listing after they lose money.
The listing that makes you lose money looks good. Most buyers find that out after the money is spent.
Six cases show you the same thing before you spend anything. A wrong answer on a case costs you no money.
I’m Zhivko Stoychev. Owners of online businesses in the EU hire me when they sell. I read their numbers first. Then I write the listing myself, so I know which sentence sells and which sentence hides the work.
In 14 years I completed 82 deals.
You may wonder why a man who works for sellers writes this. I’m opening the buyer side of my practice. This test is how buyers meet me.
You can start the test here. →
Here is what you get, and what I ask for.
At the end of the test you see my answer under each of yours, with my reason. You read all of that before I ask for an email address.
Each case comes from one real listing. I changed its names and its figures. A real listing is out of date within months. A real seller would recognise his business.
The test costs no money. It takes about five minutes. I ask for no email address before you see your answers.
Then I ask for a first name and an email address. That is only for five more cases by email, one a day. If you don’t want them, close the tab. I do not have your email address.
Six cases are not a full review of a business.
They won’t tell you what a business is worth. Nobody can value a business from its listing. Anyone who offers to do that wants to sell you something.
Here is what the six cases show you.
You see how you judge six cases that are new to you. You see in which cases you and I decide differently. And you see in which cases I would ask the seller first.
I will not tell you that you can’t judge a listing. Decide for yourself.
If you’re selling a business rather than buying one, the test won’t help you. It won’t help you if the business you want to buy has a physical shop or office. The test is for online businesses. Closing the tab costs you nothing.
