Let's face it - you've built up a reputation, you've sourced your products and/or manufacture your own products, you have undoubtedly, established a repeat customer base and finally, you have created Goodwill and a Brand!

You have built your business and may be seeking to bring your business to the next level or, you may be ready to sell your business. This Guide is ALL about building your business and your Exit Strategy.

Your brand can be found in your Store Name. The brand is the driving force behind your entire business model and if you've been on eBay for a number of years, you more than likely have thousands of positive feedbacks. This goes directly to the value of your brand.

If you built an online store and maintained that store with product, you more than likely have links in the major search engines directing traffic to your store. In addition, if you have written Guides or Reviews, you would also have any number of links from the major search engines into your guides which in turn, link into your store.

What is the use of building a business and then just shutting that business down? How many eBay ID's have you ever come across, which have 10,000+ Feedback, a great reputation (and what seemed like a promising future) and then see that they are No Longer a Registered User?

Did these sellers just get burned out from selling retail? Did they run out of money? Were they losing money or, did they just throw in the towel and move onto greener pastures? Sometimes you never know the reasons and can find yourself thinking about what you could have done to bring that business forward and make it even more successful.

Let's look at how to establish an Exit Strategy...

• Do you have a featured store? If not, get one set up, as featured stores have many benefits and those benefits have value to your overall business model.
• Did you set up your eBay presence as a Personal Account or a Business Account? If you set it up as a Personal Account, you might want to investigate switching it over to a Business account. It stands to reason that if you're a Registered Business on eBay, as a Valid and Operating Corporation or LLC, you are more likely to be able to take advantage of specific tax benefits, which may or may not be applicable to your business model. 
• Do you have a Business Checking Account? If not, get one set up, as you can't be depositing revenues for a corporation into a personal account.
• Are you required to be licensed by the state you conduct business within? If so, get the proper licensing set up.

What a Potential Buyer of your Business may Expect from YOU! (a few examples)

• A non-compete clause in your Business Sales Contract. Expect this clause to be at least three to five years.
• Expect to turn over all vendor agreements/contracts and expect that you will NOT be able to purchase products to start up another similar product line for at least three to five years.
• The new owner may need your assistance for a period of time after the purchase is completed in order to be trained and brought up to speed on how you operated your business model. This term can be from 30 to 90 days and you can request additional money for your time as a consultant.
• The new owner will want a seamless transfer of the business, as to be almost transparent to your current customer base.
• The new owner will require all customer data. Expect this request and also be sure NOT to contact those customers after the sale of your business is complete.

What's Your Business Worth?

The short answer is EBITA. EBITA is an acronym that refers to a company's Earnings Before the deduction of Interest, Tax and Amortization expenses. It is a financial indicator used widely as a measure of efficiency and profitability.

EBITA does not add back many of the other non-cash operating expenses, like the Statement of Cash Flow does. EBITA also differs from free cash flow because of the difference above, and also because it does not recognize the cash requirements for replacing capital assets.

Because EBITA is measured before interest (which vary with the amount of debt financing), it approximates the company's earnings potential as if financed with zero debt. In other words, (and in layman's terms), EBITA is called Earnings, before all the bad stuff. When comparing businesses with no profits, their potential to make profit is more important than their Net Loss.

If your revenues are more than one million per year online, you can expect that the value of your business will be valued appropriately. Even if your gross sales are just $50,000.00 (and above) per year, you have a business worth money.

Don't have any Guides? Start writing and build the value of your business. Don't think traffic reports are important? Think again. Anyone who will ever be interested in buying your business will want to see traffic, links upon links and of course, sales! However, remember that "when comparing businesses with no profits, their potential to make profit is more important than their Net Loss."

TIP: Buyer's of any business look for the "Turn-Key" opportunity!

The thought process of just selling on eBay should be thrown out the window as building your business for a possible exit strategy (in the month's or years to come) is YOUR investment in time, money, building your brand, reputation and overall business model.

eBay offers anyone the ability to BUILD a COMPLETE Business. Yes, you'll pay for a Featured Store however, you'll receive more traffic if you commit to do the following every day you operate an eBay store:

• Write at least one NEW Guide per day to develop an overall presence on eBay.
• Set up your eBay My World Page. Use every possible bit of text and/or links eBay allows you to use to update your My World Page to its fullest potential. Put up your logo on your My World Page (or a picture). Use the featured product text link to highlight an item for sale.
• Set up your eBay Blog and copy and paste your Guides into your daily eBay Blog. Keep your Blog as Business oriented as possible.
• Set up an off eBay website, which duplicates your eBay store and drive traffic from the search engines into your eBay store.
• Your About ME page in your eBay store is extremely important. Set up your ME page to include information on Payment Options and Shipping, as well information covering your accomplishments on eBay. Yes, you have 100% Feedback and you should boast about YOUR reputation. Don't hold back! Tell potential buyer's WHY you're better than the competition.

Remember, the key to any successful business (and the subsequent sale of that business) is to show how valuable that business is today and in the future. Quite frankly, some sellers complain about store fees and selling fees however, how many are taking FULL advantage of eBay? eBay has massive servers, which are just sitting there waiting for you (as a seller) to fill them up with content. eBay My World was created to get YOU more traffic - eBay Guides and Reviews exist to add content and drive traffic into eBay.

Again, remember....when comparing businesses with no profits, their potential to make profit is more important than their Net Loss. Right now, you might not be profitable however, someone else may see value in what you've developed and wish to take it to the next level.