How do I find an import-export business for sale in Canada?

An import-export business rarely calls itself that on a listing. It shows up as a wholesaler of a product line, a sourcing agent, a distributor for an overseas maker or a trading company. If you search only for the label, you will miss most of them. Start with the goods and the trade routes you know something about, then work outward. The general search steps in how to find a business to buy apply here too.

The names these businesses list under

Try the product first: furniture, food ingredients, auto accessories, building materials. Then try the role: agent, sourcing company, trading house, wholesaler, distributor. Sellers and brokers often file the same business under whichever word they like best, so run each search a few ways. A listing that says "wholesale" may be an importer in practice, and one that says "importer" may buy mostly from domestic suppliers. Read the description for where the stock comes from.

Where they surface

Public listing sites, including Deavo, are one source. Business brokers who know a sector often hear of owners before a listing goes up. Trade associations, freight forwarders, customs brokers and accountants who serve importers also learn when an owner is thinking of leaving. Tell a few of them what you are looking for and keep the request short and specific. Many sales in this field happen through people who already trade together.

What to ask before you go further

Ask whose name the supplier relationships are in, and whether an exclusive import arrangement would pass to you or need the supplier’s consent. Ask how much of the customer list rests on a few accounts, and how much of the trade knowledge sits only with the owner. Ask how goods in transit are counted at closing. Questions about customs, duty and licensing go to a customs broker or your lawyer.

• Which supplier contracts are written, and which are habit?
• Who handles the overseas contacts day to day?
• Which customers would leave if the owner did?
• How is stock on the water counted and paid for?