The aggregator era ended. Multiples came down 30% to 40%, and the buyers who remain read your books.

Thrasio filed Chapter 11. Perch was absorbed. Several Berlin aggregators wound down. What replaced them is a disciplined buyer pool paying reported multiples of roughly 2.5x to 4x SDE — and running diligence that finds what your accounting hides.

Key takeaways

Published multiple ranges conflict: 2.5x–3.5x, 2.5x–4x, 2.5x–5x, 1.5x–3.5x. Most sources cluster around 2.5x to 4x SDE, described as down from 4x–6x peaks in 2021.
Buyers value Seller's Discretionary Earnings, not revenue. SDE is profit plus owner compensation plus documented personal expenses running through the business.
Reporting describes the aggregator boom as over — Thrasio in Chapter 11, Perch absorbed, several Berlin-based aggregators wound down or restructured — and multiples normalised 30% to 40% below 2021 peaks.
Cash-basis accounting is described as acceptable for tax and as creating valuation disputes in diligence. The transition to accrual is reported to need three to six months of parallel records.
Reporting states an unsolicited offer taken without a competitive process typically leaves 15% to 30% on the table.

Two years ago this article would have been about how to catch the wave. The wave broke.

What follows is what the remaining buyers actually pay for, and what you can change in the twelve months before a sale that materially moves the number.

01What happened to the market

Reporting describes it directly: the bidding wars that drove Amazon FBA multiples to 5x–7x SDE on sub-$5M businesses are over. Thrasio filed for Chapter 11. Perch was absorbed into other platforms. Heyday and several Berlin-based aggregators wound down or restructured.

Multiples are described as having normalised 30% to 40% below 2021 peaks.

What replaced that pool is described as more disciplined — smaller strategic operators, category-focused private equity platforms, family offices and individual acquirers using SBA financing — underwriting to contribution margin, channel diversification and brand defensibility rather than headline revenue growth.

02The multiples, and why they disagree

Source	Reported range
DueDilio	2.5x–3.5x SDE, with bands by risk
CT Acquisitions (FBA guide)	2.5x–4x SDE; 4x–7x EBITDA above $2M EBITDA
CT Acquisitions (valuation guide)	1.5x–3.5x SDE sub-$5M; 4x–8x EBITDA above $5M
Trademarkia	2.5x–4.5x SDE
BridgeBook	2.5x–5x SDE; aggregators 3.5x–5x+
Titan Network	2x–4x+ SDE; top quartile 5x–7x

The spread is wide and partly explained: different business sizes, SDE against EBITDA, and different definitions of what counts as a typical business. Note also that every one of these sources sells transaction services. A firm publishing a higher range is publishing an argument for listing with them.

The reasonable working assumption for a typical Amazon-only FBA business is the middle of that spread — roughly 2.5x to 4x SDE — with the bands below explaining where in it you land.

One reported set of bands, which is the most useful framing found:

Multiple	Profile
2.0x–2.5x	High risk — single product, declining sales, poor systems
2.5x–3.0x	Moderate — some diversification, stable
3.0x–3.5x	Lower risk — diversified, growing, strong brand
3.5x–4.0x	Premium — exceptional characteristics
4.0x+	Rare — unique competitive advantages

03SDE, and why revenue is irrelevant

Buyers value Seller’s Discretionary Earnings: what a single owner-operator would earn, after adding back owner compensation, one-time expenses and personal spending run through the business.

A worked illustration from one source: $150,000 SDE at a 3.5x multiple values the business at about $525,000, plus inventory at cost on top.

Two things follow from that definition.

Revenue does not appear in it. Reporting is consistent that buyers do not pay higher multiples because revenue is high.

Mixing personal spending into the business costs you real money. Reporting states plainly that if your profit and loss mixes business and personal expenses, expect a significant haircut. The add-backs have to be documented well enough to survive a CPA reading them. Undocumented add-backs are not add-backs; they are a reason to discount.

04What raises the multiple

One published list of factors that increase multiples:

Revenue diversified across five or more products, with no single SKU above 30%
Year-on-year revenue growth above 30%
Strong Brand Registry with a loyal following
An engaged email list of 10,000+
Excellent account health, never violated
Complete standard operating procedures requiring minimal expertise
Proven backup suppliers for all products

Read that list against the rest of this site and the overlap is not coincidental.

Account health. “Never violated” is a valuation input. Our suspension guide covers what a violation costs while you own the business; this is what it costs when you sell it.

Backup suppliers. The supplier verification guide makes the operational case. This is the financial one — single-supplier dependency is discounted.

Off-Amazon revenue. Reporting states Amazon-only FBA businesses trade at 2.5x–4x SDE even when profitable, because of platform-concentration and supplier-dependency risk, and that larger businesses reach higher multiples when they have strong off-Amazon revenue.

Customer acquisition cost. One source names CAC as the hidden multiple-killer: buyers underwrite to LTV:CAC of 3:1 or better, and blended CAC above 30% of average order value over the trailing twelve months is described as producing aggressive multiple compression even where revenue is growing. Our PPC guide is where that number comes from.

05Accounting, which is where deals die

This is the most actionable section and the one most sellers leave too late.

Buyers expect accrual accounting. Reporting describes seven-figure diligence as expecting accrual-based accounting, detailed inventory tracking and add-back documentation that withstands CPA scrutiny — and states that cash-basis accounting, acceptable for tax purposes, creates valuation disputes during negotiations.

The reason is structural. Cash accounting records a large inventory purchase in one month and the resulting sales across the following six. That produces a P&L where margin appears to swing violently for no operational reason. Accrual matches cost to the revenue it produced.

The transition takes time. Reporting puts it at three to six months of parallel record-keeping to establish credible historical comparisons, with 36 months of statements compiled for diligence.

COGS and inventory reconciliation is a named failure point. Buyers reconcile cost of goods sold against inventory levels and supplier invoices. Reporting states that where these do not track cleanly, the deal either fails in diligence or gets repriced downward — and that this is particularly acute for FBA sellers with multiple SKUs and varying reorder cycles.

Which means the supplier invoice discipline that this site has now recommended for reimbursements and for suspension appeals has a third use: it is what a buyer reconciles against.

06Two expensive mistakes

Accepting the first offer. Reporting states unsolicited offers from aggregators or direct buyers are priced on the assumption you have not run a competitive process, and that running even a light process with two or three additional qualified buyers typically results in a 15% to 30% higher final price. The advice given is never to accept an unsolicited offer without at least one advisor conversation.

Selling into declining numbers. One illustration: on a $2M SDE business, one extra quarter of growth at 15% annualised against selling into a decline can mean $1M to $2M difference. Buyers value trend, and a trailing twelve months that ends on a downward slope is priced accordingly.

07Timeline

Reported close times: 60 to 120 days for faster acquirer purchases, 120 to 180 days where private equity or strategic buyers run deeper diligence, and two to six months from listing to close more generally. Diligence itself is reported at 30 to 60 days.

Working backwards from a sale, roughly:

When	What
18 months out	Separate personal from business spending, permanently
12 months out	Begin the accrual transition; parallel records for three to six months
12 months out	Reduce single-SKU concentration below 30%; qualify backup suppliers
9 months out	Document SOPs so the business does not require you
6 months out	Clean COGS and inventory reconciliation against supplier invoices
6 months out	Protect account health; no experiments that risk a violation
3 months out	Compile 36 months of statements and documented add-backs
At offer	Run a competitive process

Almost everything on that list is worth doing whether or not you sell. A business with clean accrual books, diversified SKUs, documented processes and backup suppliers is easier to run, not just easier to sell. That is the honest argument for doing it early: the exit preparation and the operational improvement are the same work.

Frequently asked

What is my Amazon business worth?

Published ranges cluster around 2.5x to 4x SDE for a typical Amazon-only FBA business, down from 4x–6x peaks in 2021. Where you land depends on SKU concentration, growth, account health, systems and off-Amazon revenue.

What is SDE?

Seller's Discretionary Earnings — profit plus owner compensation plus documented personal expenses run through the business. It is what a single owner-operator would earn. Revenue is not an input.

Why did multiples fall?

Reporting describes the aggregator boom ending: Thrasio in Chapter 11, Perch absorbed, several Berlin aggregators wound down. Remaining buyers underwrite to contribution margin and diversification rather than revenue growth, and multiples normalised 30% to 40% below 2021.

Do I need accrual accounting?

Reporting describes buyers expecting it in seven-figure diligence, and cash-basis accounting as creating valuation disputes. The transition is reported to need three to six months of parallel records, so it cannot be done during a sale.

Should I accept an unsolicited offer?

Reporting states such offers are priced assuming no competitive process, and that running even a light process with two or three additional buyers typically produces a 15% to 30% higher final price.

How long does a sale take?

Reported at 60 to 120 days for faster acquirer purchases and 120 to 180 days where deeper diligence applies, with diligence itself at 30 to 60 days. Clean financials and verified accounts are described as closing faster.

Sources

Published August 11, 2026 · last reviewed August 11, 2026. Marketplace fees and software pricing change often — verify anything material against the marketplace's own documentation before acting on it. Corrections: [email protected].

The aggregator era ended. Multiples came down 30% to 40%, and the buyers who remain read your books.

Key takeaways

01What happened to the market

02The multiples, and why they disagree

03SDE, and why revenue is irrelevant

04What raises the multiple

05Accounting, which is where deals die

06Two expensive mistakes

07Timeline

Frequently asked

Sources

Read next

We email you when a fee changes.
Nothing else.

The aggregator era ended. Multiples came down 30% to 40%, and the buyers who remain read your books.

Key takeaways

01What happened to the market

02The multiples, and why they disagree

03SDE, and why revenue is irrelevant

04What raises the multiple

05Accounting, which is where deals die

06Two expensive mistakes

07Timeline

Frequently asked

Sources

Read next

We email you when a fee changes.Nothing else.

We email you when a fee changes.
Nothing else.