Profitable Drop Ship Retailer For Sale

I am putting up for sale my startup project of the last 4 months, Lux Europe. http://www.luxeurope.com

I intend to be fully honest, blunt, and up front about everything when describing my business. I am not going to fluff anything up, because honestly, I want it to go to someone good who will really grow the company and the only way to do that is for the buyer to fully understand the business.

Lux Europe is in the retail business of selling authentic designer Italian handbags, wallets, & accessories. Primarily, it sells handbags. The three brands that really make up the core of sales are Prada, Fendi, and Marc Jacobs. These products are available on LuxEurope.com for 70% off retail store prices.

For those of you wondering, *Yes*, the products *ARE* 100% authentic. They are drop shipped from 1 supplier, who I have a great relationship with.

I started Lux Europe after my junior year of college ended, I literally binged out – dedicated all my time to building it out of nothing. The software is osCommerce, with modifications I’ve made to enhance the site.

I’ve kept detailed accounting of every transaction since I started in an Excel spreadsheet. I will show some stats below. Contact me for any more info you might want.

How the Drop Shipping Process Works:
I receive an order from osCommerce. I charge the credit card. I forward the order email to the supplier, who replies with the price. I paypal that amount, they ship, and give me the USPS tracking number. Easy as that. The supplier is fantastic. Very nice family owned wholesaler, who ships and replies extremely fast. They are shipped Priority Mail, so customers are blown away when they get their product in 2 days after ordering.

Marketing: The only marketing done is Google AdWords. I run either a $25/day ad budget, or $10/day, depending on how business is. In the beginning I released some free press releases, wrote an article and distributed it, and got some inbound links. But really, I'm not a SEO guy, so there's lots of room for search engine growth. MSN does seem to love my site through. There is also a Froogle/Google Base feed.

Customer Base 121 registered customers. Most of the purchases are made by wealthy women, mostly from NY & California. These women spend a LOT. They charge $500 bags to their cards like it's nothing.


Traffic: Just got indexed on Google, just got pagerank recently. PR4. Traffic: http://extremetracking.com/open;sum?login=luxeuro.


Now, the numbers:

Sales since 5/23/06: $23,344.67
Expenses (including marketing, hosting, products, etc): $21,127.97
Net $2,216.70
ROI 9.5%
Revenue Per Day $155.63
Projected Year Gross $56,805.36
Projected Year Net $5,393.97
Net per day $14.78
Average Sale $254.25

Something to know about these numbers: My expenses were high in the beginning because I was experimenting with different marketing methods, and the site wasn’t really up to par until July. I modified the site design, offered free shipping, and added multiple pics of every item. This is when sales really took off.

Most of the time I’ve been in business has been summer. Summer is very slow for handbags. They are fall / winter / spring type of product. We haven’t yet gotten into Fall, so the numbers should go up, I think.

In addition, the prices on my site are relatively low. There is room for them to go higher.

The hosting costs about $13 a month. The phone # is Skype and costs $12 every 3 months.

The amount of work I put into running this is minimal. It’s basically all done through email.

It is not an LLC or Corp. Sole prop in texas.

What you’d get:
The hosting account & all files (the site)
Drop shipper connection, affiliation
Domain name (luxeurope.com)
Assistance from me in taking over (6 months)
Skype account / phone #

What you’d need:
Merchant account (possibly. I’d have to see if my merch. is transferable)
Paypal account
E-mail account
Sales tax ID in your state, or other licenses

I’m selling because, as a pre-dental student, I have a lot on my plate right now. In addition, I don’t have the patience or energy to deal with expanding the marketing. There is a lot of room for growth if marketed better. Someone with time could make this big. If not, you can keep it how it is and grow organically, and get some good pocket money ($600 a month+) for a few hours a week.


Transaction price & terms are fully negotiable. I don't want to set anything in stone here, I'd rather work with buyers so both parties are happy.

Of course - SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY PLEASE!

Please shoot me a PM, reply here, or email me for more details, questions, etc.

Thanks!
Sherwin.

 

Starting bid?

What is the usual markup for the products?

 

Honestly, I don't know. We'll start it at $5000. It is not an official auction as I reserve the right to not sell the site if I decide not to. Take a look at the site and my description, and throw something out there. You can PM it if you like

 

It is between 18-25%. The prices are low. I need to raise them, but I don't have the time to even do that. If the prices go up the right amount, it will actually increase sales because people will realize they are indeed authentic. Also, I haven't bugged my supplier about lower prices yet, because I want to keep a good relationship with them. However, I think they can offer a bit lower prices if asked.

 

I've attached the Authorize.net Report from July 15 to now

NOTE: This is not from the beginning. This is when I opened my current merchant account. A span of 3 months had over $12k revenue.

August was very slow, as is the entire handbag industry during that month. September picked up in a flurry of sales.

 

With adwords efficiency increased, with organic growth due to SEO (i've done none), and niche marketing, profits would easily double.

 

Bump for the morning crowd

 

Outstanding work on your part. Good Luck!!

 

Thanks southcaro. That means a lot. I appreciate it.

 

bump..........

 

again bump

 

I've received some interest in the site. Lowest bid at this point is around $3000. I'm still open to bids.

 

So do they only find you through adwords? DO you get any SE traffic? Stats?

 

Do you mean that the highest bid is $3000?

 

Mostly through Adwords. Have some Froogle sometimes. I do have SE traffic from MSN, a little Google. There is a link to my stats in the original post.

Yes, sorry, mixed up. There is one bid ~$3000 which I have not accepted at this point, I'm holding out for more bids.

 

I have a $5000 bid.

 

I have a $6000 bid but not 100% upfront.

A cash bid of $4800 is now my BIN point.

 

I am at $6500 with owner financing.

Owner financing is an option, still open to bids.

Cash can bid lower.

 

Offer of $6500 was rescinded cause buyer could not come up with the $

Now open to any offers

 

Great site. How many hours per day/week does it require at its current pace? Do you receive a lot of phone calls or does the site convert customers with shopping cart. I'm assuming order fulfillment can be done at night or at your convenience.