What if you could get a behind-the-scenes look at how to buy profitable online businesses, negotiate like a pro, and build serious wealth – even if you’re completely new to this?
Let me guess… You’ve been watching others build wealth by buying and running online businesses, but you’re not quite sure where to start. Maybe you’re worried about making an expensive mistake or getting scammed.
I get it. That’s exactly why I tracked down Joe Burrill – the guy known for helping complete beginners successfully buy their first online businesses. With over $6M in deals under his belt as one of Flippa’s top website broker, he’s seen every rookie mistake (and knows exactly how to avoid them).
You don’t need decades of experience or millions in the bank to buy your first online business. You just need the right guidance and a clear roadmap of what actually works in 2025.
In today’s interview, you’ll learn:
- The exact steps to buying your first online business (explained in plain English)
- How to spot good deals and avoid costly traps
- Simple negotiation tricks that help you get the best price
- What successful first-time buyers do differently
- The most common mistakes beginners make (and how to avoid them)
Whether you’ve got $5k, $50k or $500k to invest, this interview will reveal how you can buy an online business in 2025 without losing your shirt.
Step 1: Defining Your Buying Criteria
“The most common mistake we see buyers make is they don’t clearly define what they’re looking for,” Joe explains. This seemingly simple oversight can lead to wasted time, missed opportunities, and potentially poor investments.
Before diving into marketplaces filled with thousands of listings, successful buyers first develop what brokers call a “buy box” or buying criteria – a specific set of parameters that define exactly what they’re looking for. This includes considerations like industry, business model, traffic sources, profit levels, and price range.
Your buy box should reflect not just your budget constraints, but also your skillset and strategic vision. If you excel at content creation, perhaps content-based affiliate sites make sense. If you’re adept at managing paid advertising, e-commerce businesses might be your sweet spot.
“Every buyer is different. One buy box is going to be completely useless for the next person. The key is developing criteria that aligns with your particular skills, resources, and goals.”
This targeted approach doesn’t just save time – it positions you to recognize genuine opportunities more quickly, and helps you avoid the common pitfall of getting emotionally attached to businesses that don’t truly fit your investment strategy.
Step 2: Know Where to Find Deals
Here’s Where the Smart Buyers Look when Purchasing Online Businesses…
After establishing a clear buying criteria, the next step is knowing where to look. Joe recommends beginning by purchasing online businesses on marketplaces like Flippa, Empire Flippers, and Acquire.com. These established marketplaces offer substantial filtering options to narrow down to businesses matching your criteria.
“I wouldn’t recommend doing cold outreach to businesses or websites that are off public marketplaces if you’re new at it. If just some random person reaches out to a website, chances are they don’t have much authority… having someone who has more authority, like a broker, reach out to those people can go a long way.”
This doesn’t mean cold outreach can’t work – experienced investors use it effectively to find off-market deals – but it requires significant time investment and carries a lower success rate for beginners. Starting with curated marketplaces allows you to see numerous pre-vetted opportunities while learning the landscape.
The true magic happens when you commit to what veteran investors call “getting in the deal flow” – regularly reviewing listings across multiple platforms until it becomes second nature. As Joe confirms: “It happens all the time… there’s a lot of obscure platforms as well that most people aren’t looking at.”
Consistently reviewing deals trains your eye to spot value quickly, recognize red flags, and occasionally discover hidden gems that others have overlooked – even on popular platforms.
Step 3: The Importance of Building Rapport when Buying Online Businesses
When a promising opportunity emerges, most buyers immediately focus on numbers and technical due diligence. While these aspects are crucial, Joe highlights something equally important that many overlook: the human connection.
“You’re dealing with another person on the other end. Building up a relationship with them is the first, most obvious thing. This relationship-building begins with respectful communication and demonstrating genuine interest.”
A common misstep Joe observes is buyers sending standardized due diligence questionnaires without first reviewing the information already provided. “If you’re just sending questionnaires to any business that you’re maybe interested in, and getting the seller to do a bunch of work for you without showing that you’re properly interested, you’re going to waste their time and frustrate them.”
Instead, successful buyers customize their approach to each opportunity, showing they’ve done their homework. They request video calls early in the process, which builds trust and often leads to more transparent information sharing.
“If you’re willing to spend a half an hour to an hour talking to somebody, you’re showing that you’ve got some serious interest in the business,” Joe notes. These video calls serve multiple purposes – they help establish rapport, allow you to read body language for additional insights, and create space for more nuanced conversations than text-based communication permits.
In competitive situations where multiple buyers are circling the same opportunity, this human connection can become your decisive advantage.
Step 4: The Right Way to Negotiate and Structure Your Deal
1./ Do your Due Diligence Before Sending a Letter of Intent
After due diligence confirms a business meets your criteria, you’ll need to formalize your interest through a Letter of Intent (LOI) – a non-binding document outlining your offer and the conditions under which you’d proceed with the purchase.
“It shows you’re serious. It basically defines the offer that you’re willing to pay for the business,” Joe explains. “It will usually also have a period of time to complete your due diligence. A lot of the time it’s exclusive… as the buyer, you kind of want it to be exclusive, especially if you’re serious.”
This exclusivity period typically blocks the 99 other potential buyers from advancing with the seller – a crucial advantage in competitive scenarios. But Joe cautions against a common mistake:
“We see a lot of buyers make the mistake of not doing due diligence first and just sending through the asking price, then expecting that LOI period to be their due diligence period.”
This approach wastes everyone’s time if significant issues emerge later. Instead, do preliminary due diligence, then submit an LOI that requests a formal due diligence period (typically 14 days for simple businesses, 30 days for more complex operations).
2./ What to Consider When Making an Offer So You Don’t Overpay
When it comes to pricing, Joe offers an insider perspective that many buyers miss: “On the sell side, it’s fairly common that we will list it for 10% more than what our valuation is.” This built-in negotiation margin means buyers can often secure meaningful discounts from asking prices.
But price isn’t the only negotiable aspect. Strategic buyers consider additional elements like:
- Extended seller support periods
- Team retention guarantees
- Flexible payment structures
- Training documentation
And for buyers with less immediate capital, Joe confirms that seller financing has become increasingly common: “You can offer some vendor financing, say for 100k, and then that would be essentially 50k upfront, and then the rest paid off over a certain period of time.”
This approach might involve paying 50% upfront with the remainder structured as monthly payments, with the domain often held in escrow as security until full payment is complete.
However, in uncertain economic times, cash remains king.
“I’ve seen sellers accept a lower offer because it’s cash over another offer that’s also on the table that isn’t cash. Being a cash buyer who can close quickly gives you significant leverage in negotiations, especially with motivated sellers.”
Step 5: Safely Purchase Your Online Business by Using an Escrow Service
Once terms are agreed upon and contracts signed, the transaction moves to the crucial transfer phase. Joe strongly emphasizes one non-negotiable element:
“I would strongly recommend using an escrow service. We basically haven’t done a deal that doesn’t involve an escrow service.”
Escrow services protect both parties by holding funds while assets are transferred, then releasing payment once the buyer confirms receipt. This typically includes a brief inspection period (usually around seven days) where the buyer verifies everything functions as promised.
“It’s not a due diligence period,” Joe clarifies. “It’s just to make sure – have I got everything, is everything here? You’ll see the money coming in… if the claims were it’s making $10,000 a month in revenue, you take it over and in the first seven days, it’s only made $500… either something wasn’t transferred, or the seller wasn’t truthful about what the business is doing.”
The sales agreement typically outlines specific conditions that would permit the buyer to back out during this period, providing one final layer of protection.
Step 6: Protect Your Online Investments
While many beginners dream of finding the perfect business that will transform their financial situation overnight, Joe reveals that the most successful buyers take a different approach.
1./ Use a Portfolio Approach to Diversify
Most of the best buyers have a portfolio of online businesses.
“Buying three businesses for $20K is often better than buying one for $60K. If the one for $60K fails for some reason, then you’re left completely out… if you have three businesses and only one of them falls over, at least you have those other two that are still going okay.”
This diversification strategy doesn’t just mitigate risk – it accelerates learning. Each acquisition brings new challenges and insights that improve your ability to evaluate and manage subsequent purchases.
2./ Learn the Process by Purchasing Smaller Investments First
Joe particularly recommends that beginners start small: “Even on the sell side, we do still sell some businesses lower than that [under $10,000].” These smaller investments let you learn the process with limited downside, while potentially still delivering meaningful returns.
3./ Have a Clear Investment Plan
Perhaps most importantly, Joe emphasizes having a clear plan before acquisition: “What are you going to do once you buy the business? Do you have a plan? It should be part of your buying criteria.”
Too many buyers focus exclusively on getting a good deal without considering how they’ll manage and grow the asset post-purchase.
Successful buyers enter each transaction with a specific action plan – and contingency strategies if their primary approach doesn’t yield expected results.
Where to Start When Buying Your First Online Business
If you’re interested in exploring website investing, Joe recommends a measured approach:
- Educate yourself on the fundamentals of website valuation and due diligence
- Define your specific buy box based on your skills, interests, and resources
- Start browsing established marketplaces to understand the landscape
- Consider beginning with smaller purchases to learn the process
- For larger acquisitions, consider working with a broker who can guide you through the complexities
“Most experienced website brokers will have done it before, they know what to do, they know what to expect, they know what to offer,” Joe notes. This experience can prove invaluable, especially for first-time buyers navigating unfamiliar territory.
Whether you’re looking to supplement your income or build a portfolio that could eventually replace your day job, the online business marketplace offers increasingly accessible opportunities.
If you want to learn more about buying websites safely and effectively, check out our free Masterclass. With the right approach and patience, you can join the growing community of successful digital investors who have discovered the unique advantages of this alternative asset class.
