The short answer: Small e-commerce businesses price near 3.33× SDE in business value, plus inventory at landed cost on top. A store with $150,000 SDE and $60,000 of clean inventory prices near $559,500 total. With an SBA 7(a) loan you put down roughly 10% (~$56,000) plus closing costs and working capital, but only if cash flow is verifiable and the account/platform risk has been underwritten.
Purchase price by store size
E-commerce pricing anchors on SDE, not revenue, margins swing too much by channel and ad spend for a revenue rule of thumb to hold up the way it does in a services business. At the ~3.33× Acquisition Ace anchor, here's how business value scales with SDE (before the inventory add-on):
| Annual revenue | SDE (~20%) | Business value @ 3.33× SDE |
|---|---|---|
| $250,000 | $50,000 | $166,500 |
| $500,000 | $100,000 | $333,000 |
| $750,000 | $150,000 | $499,500 |
| $1,500,000 | $300,000 | $999,000 |
BizBuySell's median for "Websites & Ecommerce" sat at 3.43× SDE through Q4 2025, and Empire Flippers quotes deals around 41× monthly net profit (about 3.41× annualized), both close to our 3.33× anchor. Check current comps on the e-commerce multiples page.
Why inventory prices separately, and what that adds
Unlike a service business, an e-commerce store comes with a hard asset sitting in a warehouse: unsold inventory. Brokers and buyers treat it as its own line item, priced at landed cost (product cost plus freight/duty to get it into the warehouse) and added on top of the SDE-based business value, not baked into the multiple. Only clean, salable stock counts; product sitting unsold for 180+ days is typically excluded or heavily discounted in the pre-close inventory count, so don't assume the seller's full balance-sheet inventory value survives diligence intact.
| Component | Amount |
|---|---|
| Business value ($150,000 SDE × 3.33×) | $499,500 |
| + Inventory at landed cost (clean/salable only) | $60,000 |
| Total purchase price | $559,500 |
The purchase price is the business. The inventory is what's already sitting on the shelf, don't let a seller sell you the same dollar twice.
Down payment & the full cost stack
The sticker price isn't the cash you need. On an SBA 7(a) acquisition of an e-commerce business, budget for:
- Equity injection, ~10% of total project cost, calculated on the full purchase price including the inventory add-on.
- SBA + closing fees, guaranty fee, packaging, and closing costs.
- Diligence, legal review, a quality-of-earnings check against Shopify/Amazon/Stripe source data, and confirmation that ad accounts and Seller Central can actually transfer.
- Working capital, cash to reorder inventory and sustain ad spend through the first post-close cycle, before you fully control the accounts.
Lenders underwrite platform risk, not just the P&L
Because so much of an e-commerce business's value depends on Amazon or ad-platform standing, SBA lenders want to see the account-transfer plan alongside the financials. A clean P&L with an unresolved account-transfer question can stall or sink approval. See SBA loans for how lenders evaluate the full stack.
A worked deal
You buy a multi-channel store with $750,000 revenue, $150,000 SDE (a 20% margin), and $60,000 of clean inventory, priced at 3.33× SDE plus the inventory add-on, a $559,500 total purchase price.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Business value (3.33× $150K SDE) | $499,500 |
| + Inventory at landed cost | $60,000 |
| Total purchase price | $559,500 |
| Equity injection (~10%) | $55,950 |
| SBA 7(a) loan (~90%) | $503,550 |
| Est. annual debt service (10 yr, ~11%) | −$83,200 |
| SDE available | $150,000 |
| Cash flow after debt (pre-owner-wage) | $66,800 |
| DSCR (SDE ÷ debt service) | ~1.8× |
A ~1.8× DSCR clears typical SBA lender minimums of 1.15×, 1.25× with a real cushion, but notice it's tighter than a comparable services-business deal, e-commerce carries a higher multiple and lower margins, so there's less room for error if ad costs rise or a channel underperforms after close. Reserve a market wage for yourself and stress-test the model with a lower-margin scenario before you offer. Model your own version in the valuation calculator, then read how SBA financing works.
Run this deal with your numbers
Price, inventory add-on, down payment, and cash flow after debt, instantly.
Frequently asked questions
Most small e-commerce businesses sell for about 3.33x seller's discretionary earnings in business value, plus inventory priced separately at landed cost. A store with $150,000 SDE and $60,000 of clean inventory would price near $559,500 total. With an SBA 7(a) loan you'd put roughly 10% down, so around $56,000 of equity plus closing costs.
Inventory is a hard asset the buyer is physically acquiring, not part of the earnings stream being capitalized by the multiple. Sellers price it at landed cost and add it on top of the SDE-based business value. Only clean, salable inventory counts; stock unsold for 180+ days is typically excluded or discounted at a pre-close reconciliation.
SBA 7(a) acquisition loans generally require about 10% equity injection on total project cost, including the inventory add-on. On a $559,500 deal that is roughly $56,000, though lenders scrutinize e-commerce deals more closely and want to see verifiable, transferable cash flow before approving.
Budget for SBA guaranty and packaging fees, legal and quality-of-earnings diligence, working capital to reorder inventory and cover ad spend during the transition, and any escrow or holdback tied to account health after close. These typically add several percent of the deal on top of the down payment.
Sources
- E-commerce/website business value & SDE multiples, BizBuySell Valuation Benchmarks (2025); Empire Flippers Scoreboard.
- Inventory-on-top pricing convention, Phoenix Strategy Group.
- SBA 7(a) equity injection & loan terms, sba.gov 7(a) program; online-business SBA financing, Quiet Light.
