#486 - Why Most Amazon Exit Multiples Are Capped at 3X - And How to Break Through

Selling on Amazon with Andy Isom

Andy Isom | Amazon FBA Seller & Agency Founder

Amazon, Business, Amazonfba, Selling, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Personalbusiness, Productbusiness, Ecommerce, Onlinebusiness

4.9 • 816 Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Most Amazon sellers dream of a 4X or 5X exit. But in reality, most Amazon brands sell for just 2.5 to 3.2X. In this episode of Built by Business, Andy breaks down why most exits are capped at a 3X multiple—and what actually moves the needle when it comes to getting paid more for your brand.

If you’re thinking about selling your Amazon FBA business, or just want to build a more valuable, scalable brand, this episode gives you the playbook for maximizing valuation.

We’ll cover what buyers look for, what kills your multiple, and how to reverse-engineer your business for a premium exit—even if you’re not selling anytime soon.

Try Sellerboard FREE for 2-months: https://sellerboard.com/?p=01393

Get a Free Amazon Brand Audit from the Weavos team: www.weavos.io

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Everyone who's building an e-commerce brand to exit is chasing the magic number of 4x, 5x, or even 6x multiple on their Amazon exit.
0:09.9	But most sellers get stuck at 2.5 to 3x.
0:12.9	Why?
0:13.5	Because buyers are not paying for potential.
0:16.2	They're paying for proof.
0:17.3	And in this episode, I'll show you how to build a business that earns the premium.
0:29.5	More brand owners are exit conscious in 2025, and rightfully so. It's unreasonable for most
0:36.1	people to think that they're going to build their brand forever, and that sales are always going to increase.
0:41.4	That being said, most Amazon exits still hover around 2.7 to 3.2 times seller discretionary earnings.
0:49.6	Today's goal is to unpack why that ceiling exists and what actually breaks through it. Most sellers get stuck
0:55.8	at 3x because buyers are not paying for the hustle. They're paying for the systems. Aggregator
1:01.8	funds have shifted over the past five years. They want boring, predictable, low-risk opportunities.
1:08.0	A $1 million SDE business with weak systems is less valuable than a
1:12.9	$500,000 SDE business with strong SOPs. Buyers don't buy potential. They buy past performance
1:20.4	wrapped in predictable operations. This is probably a good follow-up episode to episode 439
1:26.9	that I did a few weeks back with Ryan Condi
1:29.9	from the Quiet Light brokerage. Common deal killers that cap multiples are no documented
1:36.5	SOPs, owner-dependent tasks, weak product modes, products that could be easily copied
1:42.0	or low differentiation, one channel dependency,
1:45.0	like FBA only with no diversification, and unclear inventory planning or cash flow visibility.
1:50.8	If you truly want to sell your business one day, these are not nice to haves.
1:55.1	They're valuation killers.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 26 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Andy Isom | Amazon FBA Seller & Agency Founder, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Andy Isom | Amazon FBA Seller & Agency Founder and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.