Buying an existing online store in Australia: what to check, and how to fund it

Before you buy an existing online store, prove the sales are real by matching the seller’s platform reports to actual payouts in their bank statements. Then check how dependent the revenue is on paid ads or a single platform, count the stock, and confirm every account can transfer to you. Funding usually combines your own cash with finance sized on existing turnover or secured by property.

Buying a store that’s already trading can save you a year of building. There’s a brand, a customer list, supplier relationships and a sales history. But almost everything you’re paying for lives in logins and spreadsheets — so the checks look different from buying a café or a workshop. Here’s how to do them properly, and how the purchase can be funded.

Why is buying an online store different from buying a shop?

When you buy a bricks-and-mortar business, much of the value is in things you can walk around: a lease, a fit-out, equipment, a location with foot traffic. An online store is mostly intangible. You’re paying for:

• Traffic and customers — search rankings, an email list, social followers, repeat buyers.
• Systems — the store platform, apps, product listings and photos, fulfilment set-up.
• Relationships — supplier terms, a 3PL contract, marketplace seller ratings.
• A track record — the sales history that justifies the price.

That’s why the general business.gov.au checklist for buying a business is a good starting point but not enough on its own. It sensibly suggests reviewing three to five years of financials, including tax returns and BAS. Many online stores are younger than that, and their real story sits in platform dashboards as much as in the accounts.

How do you check the sales figures are real?

This is the single most important check. A screenshot of a sales dashboard proves very little. You want three sources that agree:

Source	What it shows	What to look for
Store platform reports	Orders, gross sales, refunds, discounts	Exported reports, not screenshots, for at least 12 months
Payment provider payout reports	What actually settled after fees, refunds and chargebacks	Payouts that line up with platform sales, less fees
Seller’s business bank statements	Money that genuinely landed	The same payouts arriving on the expected dates

If gross sales say one thing and the bank says another, find out why before you go further. Common honest reasons include refunds, marketplace fees and payouts split across more than one provider. Less honest ones include sales from related parties, one-off bulk orders presented as normal trade, or personal money paid in and dressed up as revenue.

Ask for read-only or staff access to the store platform and analytics during due diligence, so you can run the reports yourself. A seller with a genuine business will usually agree once a confidentiality agreement is signed.

Then look underneath the revenue

• Ad dependency. Compare monthly ad spend to monthly sales. If most orders come from paid ads, the store’s profit depends on ad costs that you don’t control. Model what happens if they rise.
• Channel concentration. How much comes from one marketplace, one search ranking or one social account? A single algorithm change can move a store’s sales a long way.
• Refunds and chargebacks. A high return rate or a history of disputes eats margin and can lead a payment provider to hold back payouts.
• Seasonality. Look at month-by-month figures. A store that does a big share of its year in November and December needs a different cash plan from one that trades evenly.
• Owner effort. Ask how many hours a week the seller works, and what they actually do. If they personally run the ads, answer every email and photograph every product, you’re buying a job as well as a business.

What else belongs in your due diligence?

Stock. Is inventory included in the price or charged on top at settlement value? Count it, or have the 3PL confirm it, close to settlement. Slow-moving and dead stock should not be valued at cost.

Suppliers. Will the key suppliers deal with you on the same terms? Some will want a fresh credit application from the new owner, which can mean paying upfront at first. Ask for an introduction before you commit.

Debts and security interests. Search the Personal Property Securities Register for any security registered against the seller’s business assets, and make sure the contract requires them to be released at settlement.

Intellectual property. Confirm the seller actually owns the brand name, logo, product photos and any custom designs. Check for a registered trade mark, and get assignments in the contract.

The customer list. Find out how email subscribers were collected and what they agreed to. A list built properly is an asset; one that wasn’t can be a liability.

Got a store in your sights and want to know where you stand on funding before you make an offer? Start a 60-second enquiry — there’s no credit check to enquire.

Which accounts have to move across at settlement?

This is where online purchases trip up. Write a transfer list early and confirm each item can actually move:

1. Store platform — ownership transfer of the store itself, plus paid apps and themes (some app licences don’t transfer).
2. Domain names — a .com.au transfer goes through the registrar, and the new holder must meet the .au eligibility rules, so have your own ABN or company ready.
3. Payment provider — you’ll usually open a new merchant account in your own name. New accounts can start with payout delays or limits, so plan cash for the first few weeks.
4. Marketplace seller accounts — check the platform’s terms. Some accounts are tied to the original seller and can’t simply be handed over.
5. Social media, email marketing and ad accounts — make sure you get admin ownership, not just a login.
6. Supplier, 3PL and shipping accounts — new contracts or credit accounts in your name.
7. Business email and files — the shared inbox, supplier correspondence and product files.

Build a handover period into the contract, with the seller available to answer questions for an agreed number of weeks.

What tax and registration points come up?

Your own ABN. If you’re buying the business’s assets, you’ll trade under your own entity. business.gov.au notes that an ABN can’t be transferred — the seller cancels theirs and the new owner has their own. A share purchase is different: the company, and its ABN, stay the same, but so does its history, so your adviser will want to look closely at past liabilities.

GST and going concerns. A business sale can be GST-free as a sale of a going concern. The ATO’s guidance requires the sale to be for payment, the buyer to be registered or required to be registered for GST, the seller to supply everything needed to keep the business running, and both parties to agree in writing. If any condition fails, GST may apply to the price — which changes how much cash you need at settlement.

Get an accountant and a lawyer to review the contract. This is one place where paying for advice early is cheaper than fixing a problem later.

How do lenders look at funding an online store purchase?

Honestly: a store with few physical assets is harder to lend against than a business with equipment or property. A lender can’t repossess search rankings. So when you apply, they’ll focus on three things.

Your own contribution. Lenders like to see the buyer putting real money in. It shows commitment and reduces how much rides on the store’s future performance.

Existing turnover. If you already run a trading business — say, you’re buying a competitor or a complementary brand — an unsecured facility may be sized on your current business’s turnover and bank statements. Unsecured options typically run from $5k to $500k. Our page on e-commerce business loans explains how lenders read payout cycles and seasonal swings.

Property security. For first-time buyers, or larger purchases, using property as security is often the most workable path. Property-secured business loans range from $20k to $5m, and the security gives the lender comfort that the store’s intangible value can’t.

Whichever route fits, the lender will read the bank statements carefully. Our guide to what online lenders check shows what stands out, and the Skip-the-Branch Checklist helps you gather the digital documents before you start.

Plan for more than the purchase price, too. Stock top-ups, the first months of ad spend, new supplier accounts paid upfront and possible payment provider delays all land in the first few weeks of ownership.

A worked example: buying a niche homewares store

This is an illustrative example, not a real customer.

An owner who already runs a small online candle brand finds a homewares store for sale with complementary products and a loyal email list. The seller’s dashboard shows strong sales, but the buyer asks for exported platform reports, payout reports and 18 months of bank statements.

The figures mostly match. Two things stand out: around half of sales come from paid social ads, and one supplier provides most of the best-selling range. The buyer models a rise in ad costs, speaks to the supplier (who agrees to keep supplying on the same terms), and negotiates a handover period where the seller passes on their ad account know-how.

For funding, the buyer puts in savings and applies online for finance sized on their candle brand’s existing turnover, with a buffer for the first stock order and a few weeks of payout delays while the new merchant account settles in. The stores are run side by side, sharing one 3PL — and the combined business has a broader range heading into peak season.

The deal worked because the buyer checked the revenue properly, understood the risks, and borrowed for the whole first-month picture, not just the price.

Ready to fund the store you’ve found?

Buying a store that’s already selling can be the fastest way to grow online — as long as the numbers hold up and the funding covers more than just settlement day. If you’ve done your checks, or you’d like to know what’s possible before you make an offer, the next step takes about a minute.

Our online enquiry takes around 60 seconds and there’s no credit check when you first enquire. Your details stay with one team — we don’t send them to a pile of lenders, so you won’t be fielding calls from strangers. A real person reads your situation — the store you’re buying, your own contribution and any business you already run — and calls you to talk through what fits. Please fill the form in accurately, including the purchase price and any property you could offer as security, so we can match the right option first time.

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