Referral Partner Valuation Tool API

The most important piece of information a prospective seller might want to know is the value of their online business.

Especially for first-time sellers, there is a lot of ambiguity and lack of knowledge about how their business might be valued on the open market. Some sellers might have unrealistically high expectations (100x monthly profits) while others might even underestimate what their business might be worth (“You mean I can actually sell my hobby website for $X00,000?“).

With the Empire Flippers Valuation Tool we provide clarity in this situation with a best-in-class automated valuation based on real-world closed deals on our marketplace. In our online tool we use as many as 10+ different data points to generate a valuation pinpointed to a +/- 15% range using our proprietary valuation algorithm and data set of deals sold on the Empire Flippers Marketplace (especially focusing on deals sold in the last 6 months to accurately account for changing market conditions).

Now with the Valuation Tool API, we are opening up this technology to our Referral Partners for usage on their own websites, apps and more.

If you regularly deal with online business owners, you can now provide them with on-demand valuations for their business, spiking their interest in Empire Flippers before then linking them over using your referral link.

Unlike the web version of the Valuation Tool, the Valuation Tool API is designed to be as simple as possible, requiring as little as 1 input (average monthly profit) to give a rough valuation.

That said, we highly encourage you to also ask/submit the business’s monetization and business age questions, as they have the most impact on the valuation.

Providing further optional data points to the API (e.g. monetization-specific questions) will then refine the valuation, making it more accurate. For highly engaged users, it may be worthwhile to have them complete more questions.

This is especially true for SaaS monetization businesses, where if the SaaS-specific questions are answered in a satisfactory manner the business will be valued based on its MRR (monthly recurring revenue) at a higher multiple than the default SDE-based valuation (Seller’s Discretionary Earnings).

Alternatively, if you already know the answer to some of the questions (e.g. a profit analytics tool already knows monthly profit, business age) you can prefill that data in your API calls and automatically show the user their latest valuation on an ongoing basis without actually needing to ask for this information from your users.

Unlike simply cold linking to Empire Flippers, providing the prospective user a Valuation before redirecting them will increase the likelihood that they convert into customers.

Authentication

The Valuation Tool API must be called using your Referral Partner Toolkit API key. To authenticate your API requests, add this in the request header:

    X-Empire-Flippers-API-Key: your-API-key

The API key is found here on the Referral Partner tab in your user profile.

If accidentally leaked, you can rotate your API key at any time.

Rate Limits

Please make no more than 120 requests per minute.

Valuation Tool API

GET
https://api.empireflippers.com/api/v1/partner-toolkit/valuation-tool/valuation?average_monthly_net_profit=5000&monetization=Amazon%20FBA&business_created_at=2018-05-25

Returns a valuation for a given set of input parameters.

Required Headers

Required Query Parameters

Optional Query Parameters

These parameters are applicable for all monetizations.

Optional Query Parameters (monetization-specific)

After the user answers the monetization question, there are questions specific to each monetization.

Optional Parameters Per Monetization

These are the parameters that are considered in the valuation calculation depending on the monetization.

Sample Success API Responses

Response Code: 200

Response Body:

  {
    "data": {
      absolute_low_multiple: 20.0,
      typical_low_multiple: 30.0,
      suggested_listing_multiple: 40.0,
      typical_high_multiple: 50.0,
      absolute_high_multiple: 50.0,
      absolute_low_valuation: 200000,
      typical_low_valuation: 300000,
      suggested_listing_price: 400000,
      typical_high_valuation: 500000,
      absolute_high_valuation: 600000,
      is_profit_multiple: true
    },
    "errors": [],
  }

General Definitions

Valuation – A valuation is the price we believe your business is worth and/or could sell for on the open market.

Multiple – A multiple represents the relationship between the business’ average monthly profit and its valuation. At Empire Flippers we quote multiples in months, so a business priced at a 35x multiple would have a valuation equal to 35 times it’s average monthly profit. E.g. $10K monthly profit x35 = $350,000 valuation.

Response Body Parameter Definitions

Quick Note: Sample copy explaining the Typical vs Absolute ranges

Typical Multiple / Valuation
The Typical Valuation range we gave you is backed by real sales data. It is data from real businesses, just like yours, that have sold on our marketplace. We know that on average these are the typical price points an investor is willing to pay for your business. And honestly… we recommend you go with the Typical Valuation the vast majority of the time if you want a smooth and profitable exit.

However, we recognize that not every business and situation are created equally. That is why we introduced the Absolute Range.

Absolute Low Multiple / Valuation
AKA You’re in a Rush. You Need to Sell Now.

Sometimes you need to make a sale happen FAST. We’re willing to work with you to make that happen. Going lower than our Typical Range will supercharge the buying interest in your business and get the deal done faster and the money in your pocket quicker, even if you leave a few bucks on the table.

Absolute High Multiple / Valuation
AKA You’ve Got Something Unique & Willing to Wait.

If you’re in no rush to sell and willing to wait for the right buyer, this can put more money in your pocket. Your business should be extremely high quality and ideally offer some kind of unique advantage as to why it deserves this higher valuation.

If you decide to use the Absolute Range, we highly recommend that you go only slightly above or slightly below our Typical Range if you want to have the best possible experience selling your business on our marketplace.

Sample Error API Responses

When a request fails, the response body is still JSON, but always contains an errors array with a description of the error(s), which you can inspect for debugging.

When the API key is incorrect

Response Code: 403

Response Body:

  {
    "errors": ["Invalid API Key"],
    "data": null
  }

When the rate limit is reached

Response Code: 429

Response Body:

  {
    "errors": ["You have exceeded the maximum number of attempts. Please try again later."],
    "data": null
  }

When there are errors in the parameter format (e.g. date is not YYYY-MM-DD)

Response Code: 400

Response Body:

  {
    "errors": ["business_created_at format should be YYYY-MM-DD"],
    "data": null
  }

When debug_mode is enabled and there is an invalid monetization parameter

Response Code: 400

Response Body:

  {
    "errors": ["number_of_products is not supported for the Service monetization"],
    "data": null
  }

Contact

For questions, bug reports or requests for additional information, please email the Director of Engineering, Ben Gelsey at beng@empireflippers.com.

For immediate assistance, please email support@empireflippers.com.