An e-commerce business buyer checklist covers the health and transferability of marketplace accounts, how concentrated traffic and revenue are across paid, organic and marketplace channels, supplier and fulfillment agreements, return and chargeback history, brand and domain ownership, and cross-border customs exposure — risks specific to a business with no physical location to inspect.
Reviewed
This checklist covers what to verify before buying a Canadian e-commerce business — a business selling through its own online store, a marketplace like Amazon, or both. With no physical location to inspect, diligence here centres on platform account health, traffic sources and supplier relationships instead, and those risks are easy to underweight because nothing about them shows up on a walk-through.
Assess platform and marketplace account health
Review the account health metrics and standing of every marketplace account the business sells through, not just the sales figuresA red flag is a marketplace account with unresolved policy strikes or a pending suspension review, since a suspended account can cut off revenue overnight regardless of how strong past sales look.
Confirm whether marketplace and platform accounts can actually transfer to a new owner under that platform’s terms of serviceSome marketplaces restrict account transfers or treat a change of ownership as a trigger for review, and a deal structured without confirming this first can leave a buyer unable to operate the account it just paid for.
Confirm who currently controls the login credentials, two-factor authentication and administrative access for every platform and advertising accountAccess tied to the seller’s personal device or phone number, rather than documented and transferable, is a common way a buyer ends up locked out shortly after closing.
Check how concentrated traffic and revenue really are
Break down revenue and traffic by channel — paid advertising, organic search, email, marketplace and social — over a full trailing periodA business that looks healthy on total revenue can be almost entirely dependent on one advertising channel or one marketplace, and losing that single channel after a platform policy change can gut the business.
Review historical ad account performance and confirm the account itself, and its performance history, transfers with the saleAdvertising platforms often use account history to price future ad delivery, and starting a brand-new ad account from scratch can mean materially higher costs than the seller was actually paying.
Confirm ownership of the domain name, trademarks and any registered brand names used to sell the productIt is common for a domain or trademark to be registered to the founder personally rather than to the business, meaning it does not transfer automatically with a straightforward sale.
Review supplier and fulfillment arrangements
Request copies of supplier or manufacturing agreements and confirm whether pricing, minimum order quantities and exclusivity terms are documented in writingA favourable manufacturing price built on the seller’s personal relationship with a factory does not automatically continue for a new owner on the same terms.
Review third-party logistics or fulfillment contracts and confirm inventory ownership, storage fees and how the relationship transfersA fulfillment provider holding the business’s inventory under a contract tied to the seller can create a gap in access to stock right at the point of transition if the transfer is not planned for.
If the business imports goods, confirm customs compliance, tariff classification and whether any disputes with border authorities are openAn e-commerce business built on imported products carries customs and duty exposure that a domestically supplied business does not, and an unresolved classification dispute can delay shipments after closing.
Check returns, data privacy and sales-tax exposure
Review return and chargeback rates across channels over several periods and confirm what is driving any recent increaseA rising return or chargeback rate can point to a quality, sizing or fulfillment-accuracy problem that keeps costing money after the sale unless it is specifically addressed.
Confirm the business’s data-handling and privacy practices for customer information comply with applicable Canadian privacy lawA customer database with no clear privacy practices in place becomes the buyer’s compliance problem the moment the deal closes.
Confirm sales-tax collection and remittance obligations are current across every province where the business has customersAn e-commerce business selling nationally can trigger sales-tax obligations in multiple provinces, and an unresolved filing gap in any one of them can become the buyer’s problem after closing.
Deavo is an advertising and listings platform, not a brokerage, law firm or valuation firm. This page is general information, not legal, tax, accounting or valuation advice, and rules differ by province. Confirm anything you rely on with a qualified professional before you act on it.