1. Home ›
2. Blog ›
3. Buy Websites ›
4. Turnkey Businesses for Sale: Online Business Opportunities

Turnkey Businesses for Sale: Online Business Opportunities

A turnkey business is an established business you can take over and run from day one, with its income, systems and accounts already in place. Empire Flippers lists vetted turnkey online businesses with at least $24,000 a year in net profit and 12 months of earnings history, and has sold 2,684 businesses worth more than $600 million.

This guide explains what a turnkey business includes, how to judge whether one is worth buying, and how to buy one on our online business marketplace.

Register for Free Book a Call With an Advisor

What Is a Turnkey Business?

A turnkey business is a business that is fully set up and already earning when you buy it. The name comes from the idea that the new owner only needs to turn the key to start operating. The startup phase is done: the product or content exists, customers or traffic are coming in, and the processes that produce the income have been tested.

Turnkey opportunities exist offline, such as restaurants, laundromats and franchises, and online. This page covers online businesses, which can usually be run from anywhere and are handed over through a digital migration instead of a lease and a building.

An online business is turnkey when a new owner can keep it earning by following documented processes, without rebuilding anything. In practice that means:

• Verified profit over at least 12 months
• Written processes (SOPs) for the work that keeps the income coming in
• Every account, asset and contract that produces the income transfers to you
• A seller who supports the handover

Who a Turnkey Business Is Best For

Turnkey businesses suit buyers who want cash flow from the first month instead of spending a year or more building from scratch. Most buyers fall into one of four groups:

• Employees leaving a 9 to 5 who want to own an income stream without a startup phase.
• Investors who want an asset whose return they can measure from its profit history.
• Portfolio builders who add businesses that run with a light workload or an existing team.
• Operators and aggregators who buy proven businesses to grow them or fold them into a larger brand.

A turnkey business still needs an owner. Even the most streamlined site needs someone to check the numbers, manage freelancers and make decisions. What you skip is the time and risk of the startup phase.

What’s Included When You Buy a Turnkey Online Business

Before purchasing a turnkey business, the interested buyer should be provided with the business’s financial statements and earning history to prove that the systems and processes in place have been tried and tested and are not just based on theory.

A genuine turnkey business should equip the buyer with everything they need to run their business.

Content and affiliate sites

Content sites tend to be the most streamlined of the online business models, often with the fewest number of assets to be transferred. A turnkey content site business should include things like:

• Access to the domain backend, as well as all of the site content and files
• Standard operating procedures (SOPs) that outline the content creation and publication processes
• Control over social media, email lists, and other online accounts
• Marketing materials
• Contracts for any employees or freelancers employed by the business

Ecommerce, Amazon and Shopify stores

Ecommerce businesses like Amazon FBA or Shopify and Walmart stores have more moving parts to be considered. A turnkey eCommerce business for sale should include:

• Amazon Seller Central, Walmart, or Shopify accounts
• 3PL and supplier contracts (if applicable) as well as contact details
• Control over social media, email lists, and other online accounts
• Marketing materials and PPC campaign data
• Contracts for any employees or freelancers employed by the business
• SOPs outlining the supply chain, logistics, and inventory management processes.
• Trademarks (if applicable)

Other online business models like SaaS, Amazon KDP, as well as digital product and subscription businesses, also require a combination of the above assets.

Ongoing support from the seller is the asset buyers most often overlook. Ask how long the seller will answer questions after the sale and through which channel, and put it in the purchase terms. On Empire Flippers, you are in direct contact with both the seller and our team once the purchase is made.

How Is a Turnkey Business Different From a Franchise?

When many people hear the word “turnkey” they immediately think of franchises. While turnkey franchises and turnkey businesses share many similarities, they are not the same thing.

Franchises operate as an umbrella, with each business under the umbrella forming part of a chain, all using the same business name and branding.

The creator of a franchise, otherwise known as a franchisor, creates a business model that is then sold to business owners as a turnkey solution. After purchasing a franchise business, the new business owner enters into a contractual relationship with the franchisor. The business owner then has to pay ongoing franchise fees or commissions to the franchisor for the rights to use the franchise model and operate under their umbrella.

Turnkey businesses, on the other hand, are lone entities, operating independently from each other.

Turnkey businesses are bought outright, with the seller of the business having no say over future operations. Turnkey business owners are their own bosses, maintaining complete financial and managerial independence.

Turnkey business opportunities often have higher net profit margins than turnkey franchise opportunities, as the business owner doesn’t have to pay any ongoing fees or commission.

In short, the difference comes down to ownership, fees and control:

Pros and Cons of Buying a Turnkey Business

Advantages

The main drawcard of a turnkey business is convenience.

Turnkey businesses come complete with an established customer base, brand recognition, and a proven track record, providing the new owner with a solid foundation to build on.

The new business owner doesn’t have to spend time sourcing suppliers, materials, and employees. They don’t have to establish a product-market fit or piece together a reliable supply chain. Most importantly, they don’t have to endure the inevitable mistakes that are made during the startup trial and error process.

Apart from the initial cost of purchase, the buyer of a turnkey business likely won’t have to outlay large sums of money to maintain the business as all the necessary elements should already be in place. The owner can choose to invest extra capital to facilitate growth as and when they please.

Sourcing growth capital for a turnkey is also more convenient as pre-existing businesses have an established financial history. Being able to demonstrate the business’s profitability and growth potential greatly increases your chances of successfully applying for a loan.

If you acquire a turnkey Amazon FBA business, you may also be eligible for the Amazon Seller lending program, an initiative offered by Amazon to provide sellers with short-term financing to help scale their businesses. This program is only available to sellers who have a proven track record of increasing their sales and is therefore not available to sellers starting a business from scratch.

When purchasing a turnkey business, you may also be able to take advantage of seller financing. In a nutshell, this process involves the buyer paying a percentage, say 80%, of the sales price upfront, and then essentially borrowing the remaining 20% from the seller. The buyer will then pay off the outstanding balance over a set period of time.

Disadvantages

As advantageous as turnkey businesses can be, there are a few negatives to counterbalance their many positives.

Turnkey businesses are often fairly expensive because they’re are ready-to-go, mature assets that are proven to be functional or profitable. While much hard work has been put into building up the business, and the profit and loss (P&L) statements can justify its cost, the higher sales prices of turnkey businesses can be a turn-off for interested buyers.

Many of the downsides of turnkey business come with inheriting someone else’s work. The previous owner will have structured the business to suit their way of doing things and adapting to this as the new business owner can be challenging.

When you take over the business, you will inherit any existing problems such as unreliable suppliers, or a poor brand reputation. You could also be locked into contracts and obligations with suppliers or contractors that you aren’t interested in maintaining.

Putting your stamp on a pre-owned business can also be tough. Turnkey businesses are well-oiled machines, so making too many changes could upset functionality and negatively impact overall performance.

While some of these problems can’t be avoided, others can be mitigated by performing thorough due diligence before purchasing a turnkey business.

As you tick off each item on your buyer due diligence checklist, don’t be afraid to ask the seller questions about contracts, leases, cash flow, and logistics. The more you know about the business, the better equipped you’ll be to make an informed buying decision.

All sales on Empire Flippers are final, so finish your checks before you pay.

Which Online Business Models Work Best as Turnkey Businesses

Most online business models can be bought turnkey. They differ in how much work they need each week and how many moving parts transfer to you.

• Affiliate and content sites: usually the fewest moving parts. The work is publishing content and managing writers, and income comes from commissions or display ads.
• Ecommerce stores and Amazon FBA businesses: more moving parts, such as suppliers, inventory and ad campaigns, but often larger profits. A 3PL and good SOPs keep the owner’s role to oversight.
• SaaS businesses: recurring revenue, with developers and support staff doing the daily work. Check who maintains the code before you buy.
• Digital product, subscription and lead generation businesses: low fulfilment costs, with income tied to traffic and email lists.

For the lightest workload, look for businesses where freelancers or staff already handle the daily tasks and the seller’s own role is documented.

How Empire Flippers Vets Turnkey Listings

Every business goes through a multi-step review before it is listed, using automated tools and manual checks by two or more people. To be listed, a business must:

• Earn at least $24,000 a year in net profit
• Have at least 12 months of earnings history
• For ad, affiliate and Amazon Associates sites, have stayed on the same domain for the previous 12 months
• Show no signs of manipulation, such as penalties, deleted accounts, 301 redirects or short-term earnings

Listings include screenshots of revenue and traffic data, and our team verifies new earnings each month before a listing’s price is updated. Each listing card on the marketplace shows the price, net profit, revenue, monetization, multiple and the year the business first made money.

Where to Find Turnkey Businesses for Sale

You can find turnkey businesses in three places: private sales, public listing sites and brokered marketplaces.

• Private sales: no broker in the middle, but you verify everything yourself and no one holds the funds or manages the transfer.
• Public listing sites: a large choice, but listings are often unvetted, so the work of checking the numbers falls on you.
• Curated marketplaces such as Empire Flippers: businesses are reviewed before listing, business names and URLs stay hidden until you are a verified buyer, and a migration team transfers the assets after you pay. The seller pays the commission.

For a turnkey purchase, the vetting and transfer support are the main reasons to use a curated marketplace: they reduce the two biggest risks, overstated earnings and a messy handover.

How Pricing, Financing and Transfer Work

Pricing

Businesses on Empire Flippers are priced at their last 12 months of net profit multiplied by 1.7 to 5 or more. The multiple reflects the business’s age, growth, risk and how much work it needs. To check what a business like the one you want is worth, use our free valuation tool.

Financing

Most smaller deals are paid in cash upfront. Seller financing and earnouts are rare below $100,000 and common on larger deals: in 2025, 45 of the 168 businesses we sold had an earnout. With a structured deal, expect a down payment of around 60 to 70% of the price. Read more about seller financing and when deal structures are used.

Transfer

Once we receive your funds, our migration team moves the domain, accounts and other assets into your name. A migration takes three to eight weeks, longer for Amazon FBA businesses, and revenue earned during the migration goes to you. See the migrations overview for each step.

How to Buy a Turnkey Online Business on Empire Flippers

1. Register for free. An account costs nothing and gives you the full marketplace, custom filters, a watchlist and alerts when new listings match your criteria. Create a free account.
2. Verify your funds. Proof of funds makes you a Verified Buyer. That reveals business names, URLs and due diligence details, and gives you 100 free unlocks in your price range. See how the unlock process works.
3. Set your criteria. Book a free criteria call with a business advisor to agree your budget, preferred models and how many hours a week you can give the business, then shortlist the listings that fit.
4. Do your due diligence. Review the verified financials and traffic data and put your questions to the seller. Seller calls are available for listings over $100,000, and your advisor joins your seller calls on deals above $300,000. Work through our buyer due diligence checklist.
5. Buy and take over. Make your offer. When several buyers want a business at list price, the first wire received wins. After payment, our team migrates the business to you.

Questions about the process? Read the buyers FAQ or book a call with an advisor.

Register for Free Book a Call With an Advisor

Turnkey Business FAQs

What does turnkey business mean?

A turnkey business is an established business that is ready to run the day you buy it. Its product, customers, systems and income already exist, so the new owner skips the startup phase. Online, that usually means a website, store or app with at least a year of verified profit and documented processes.

Is buying a turnkey business worth it?

It can be, if the price matches verified profit and you have checked the business yourself. You pay more than it costs to start from scratch, but you buy a proven income stream and skip the risk of a startup failing. Businesses on Empire Flippers sell for 1.7 to 5 or more times their annual net profit, so the profit history shows you how many years the purchase takes to pay back.

Are turnkey businesses profitable?

A good one is profitable on the day you buy it, because you are paying for existing profit. Every business listed on Empire Flippers earns at least $24,000 a year in net profit and has at least 12 months of earnings history. Future profit still depends on how you run and grow it.

What makes an online business truly turnkey?

An online business is truly turnkey when a new owner can keep it earning without rebuilding anything. Look for verified profit over at least 12 months, written SOPs for the daily work, freelancers or staff who stay on, and full transfer of the domain, accounts, supplier contracts and other assets. Support from the seller after the sale closes any gaps.

Can I run a turnkey business as an absentee owner?

Partly. No business runs itself completely, but some need only light oversight when staff or freelancers already handle the daily work. Content sites with writers in place and ecommerce stores that use a 3PL are common choices for hands-off owners. Use a criteria call and custom filters to shortlist businesses whose workload fits the time you have.

How much money do I need to buy a turnkey online business?

It depends on how much profit you want to buy. Listings are priced at 12 months of net profit times 1.7 to 5 or more, and every listed business earns at least $24,000 a year, so the smallest deals start in the tens of thousands of dollars. Most deals under $100,000 are paid in cash; on larger structured deals, plan for a down payment of around 60 to 70% of the price.

Can I buy a turnkey business with seller financing?

Yes, on some deals. Seller financing and earnouts are rare below $100,000 but common on larger deals: in 2025, 45 of the 168 businesses sold on Empire Flippers had an earnout. Empire Flippers holds the assets until the financed amount is paid. Read our guide to buying with seller financing.

How do I find turnkey businesses for sale?

Use a curated marketplace, a public listing site or a private sale. A curated marketplace like Empire Flippers reviews each business before listing it and manages the transfer, which takes most of the checking and handover risk off you. Browse the marketplace or register free to unlock full listings.

What should I verify before buying a turnkey business?

Verify that the profit is real, lasting and transferable. Check the profit and loss statement against revenue and traffic data, ask why the owner is selling, confirm which accounts, contracts and staff transfer, and find out how much of the work the seller still does alone. Our buyer due diligence checklist covers each step.

What are the disadvantages of a turnkey business?

The main disadvantages are a higher price than starting from scratch, problems you inherit with the business, and less freedom to change things quickly. Careful due diligence reduces the risk of inherited problems. All sales on Empire Flippers are final, so finish your checks before you pay.

How long does it take to take over a turnkey online business?

A migration on Empire Flippers takes three to eight weeks after we receive your funds, with Amazon FBA businesses on the longer side. Our team moves the domain, accounts and other assets into your name, and revenue earned during the migration goes to you.