The sale and purchase of Amazon FBA and other e-commerce businesses.
There are now more than 9.5 million Amazon sellers globally, 73% of which use ‘Fulfillment by Amazon’ (FBA) to sell to their customers. As experienced corporate solicitors, we specialise in Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A).
Our specialist solicitors have a wealth of experience advising clients in the e-commerce sector with a focus on Amazon FBA businesses.
Using us to handle the legal aspects of the sale or purchase of your Amazon FBA Business can save you time and help you minimise your liability to the other party.
As part of a full-service law firm, our corporate department is able to draw on the expertise of colleagues in other departments – such as our employment, property, corporate tax or personal tax solicitors – as and when needed during the lifecycle of a transaction.
FBA is a service offered by Amazon which allows sellers to outsource fulfilment. In simple terms, sellers send products to Amazon fulfilment centres, and when a customer makes a purchase, Amazon will pick, pack and ship the order.
FBA business will have one or more products which they source from one or more suppliers. The product(s) are shipped from the supplier(s) to the Seller and the Seller will forward them to an Amazon fulfilment centre so that they can then be sold directly to customers via the Amazon platform.
Merger and Acquisition (M&A) activity in the e-commerce sector is buoyant, to the extent that there are now a number of companies which specialise in the acquiring and ‘aggregating’ Amazon FBA businesses many of which are backed by major private equity funds.
If you need legal advice on selling your Amazon FBA business, speak to our solicitors today
With approximately 25% of retail sales in the UK now taking place online, global sales platforms, such as Amazon, provide businesses with quick and easy access to billions of potential consumers. With 2.45 billion monthly visits to its app and website, Amazon in particular provides access to a unique global network and is the market-leading online retail platform, via which businesses can quickly and easily sell a huge range of goods to a large and targeted audience.
To meet demand and expand the range of products on offer to consumers, Amazon uses fulfilment partners. Via FBA, these third parties are businesses that source products directly and then store them in Amazon’s fulfilment centres, where Amazon then charges a fee for storage, provides access to the sales platform, arranges shipping and provides customer service.
Given the low entry costs, new sellers can quickly enter the marketplace, and buyers – usually larger companies – are often on the lookout for opportunities to acquire up and coming competitors, established businesses, suppliers or other strategic companies to help propel them to the next level or into a new area of the market.
Whether this is your first foray into selling a business or you have previous experience, you will need expert legal advice to navigate the process of selling your Amazon FBA business. Our FBA solicitors can help. Contact us today.
The process of selling an Amazon FBA business requires input from experienced legal experts.
We can help the parties to a transaction in the following ways:
The correct advice from the outset can save you time and money. There is also the risk of sellers potentially losing out on the deal, as the acquisition process for Amazon FBA businesses is usually subject to strict timescales and a target completion date that falls less than 90 days after the offer date is not unusual.
Whilst this page is focused on selling privately owned Amazon FBA businesses, we do work with e-commerce businesses who specialise in acquiring Amazon FBA businesses too. Please contact us for more details.
If you need legal advice on selling your Amazon FBA business, speak to our solicitors today
Bishop & Sewell’s Corporate team of legal experts has helped to facilitate numerous successful transactions involving e-commerce and Amazon FBA businesses, the most recent of which was the sale of a successful Amazon FBA business to one of the leading Amazon aggregators for approximately USD 23,500,000. The client had the following to say about their experience of using Bishop & Sewell:
“The Corporate team at Bishop & Sewell were outstanding throughout the transaction. I was always kept in the loop and I never felt like there was an aspect of the deal which I wasn’t properly advised upon. Harrison in particular was superb. I intend to use Bishop & Sewell again in the future and would not hesitate to recommend them to others who are thinking of selling their Amazon FBA business(es).”
If you need legal advice on buying or selling an Amazon FBA business, speak to our solicitors today
David Little, Partner in Bishop & Sewell’s Corporate team, said: “We often find that issues arise which require input from other legal disciplines, such as employment law (for example, dealing with staff redundancies) or commercial litigation. Thankfully, I have a number of specialist colleagues within the firm who are able to advise upon such matters, and are used to doing so in the context of fast paced corporate transactions.”
David added “The big Amazon aggregators often insist that the Seller(s) have some ongoing involvement in the business for a set period post-completion, so the terms of the corresponding agreement between the aggregator and the Seller(s) will need to be carefully drawn up and negotiated. Also, Sellers will often hold some if not all of the business’ intellectual property rights in their personal name, these will need to be formally transferred to Buyer simultaneously with the shares or assets (as the case may be) of the target company.”
David concluded: “Due to the complexities of the legal process and the tight timeframes involved, our key priorities in the process of selling an Amazon FBA business are to minimise our client’s exposure to risk, protect their interests and ensure that key details, such as the mechanics of any price adjustment mechanisms, are accurately recorded. We also strive to make sure that the financial and legal implications of all of the transaction documents are fully understood by the client.”
We have invested heavily in technology and are set up to provide quick and commercially focused legal advice to clients both in the UK and overseas.
For initial advice about Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), e-commerce, selling or buying an Amazon FBA business, or to arrange a meeting with one of our e-commerce solicitors, you can fill in the form on this page and we’ll get back to you shortly.
Alternatively, you can email David Little, Partner, Corporate & Commercial dlittle@bishopandsewell.co.uk or contact him on +44 (0)7968 027343
