Amazon hints at Prime Day starting October 13; Epic, Spotify, and others team up against Apple and Google app policies; Shopify reveals security incident involving merchant data; and more…

Amazon allegedly announces tiered commission and bonus rates ahead of Prime Day

Amazon associates have allegedly  received emails detailing tiered commission rates to incentivize sales in qualified categories ahead of Prime Day, which still does not have an official date in the calendar. According to one associate, the email states that tiered performance rates will begin October 1st and run through the end of the month. Associates can earn up to 8.75% commission in some categories, but total revenue must reach beyond $15 million to achieve said commission rate. Amazon seems to be signaling for its annual Prime Day to kick off October 13th, according to internal emails obtained by The Verge. These emails pointed to an official Prime Day announcement coming September 27, but Amazon has denied confirmation of this information. Though there has been no official statement from the e-commerce giant, the company did confirm back in July that Prime Day would be postponed until their fourth fiscal quarter. With the fourth quarter under a week away, Amazon seems to be prepping brands for Prime Day by restricting companies from submitting certain deals during the week of October 13th.

Epic, Spotify, and others team up against Apple and Google app policies

On Thursday, The Coalition for App Fairness made its debut. The coalition, comprised of companies like Epic Games (Fortnite’s parent company), Spotify, and Tile, formed to place pressure on Apple and Google regarding their strict app store rules. Each of these companies has previously filed complaints against Apple or Google. According to Yahoo Money, “The group has proposed a code of conduct it wants Apple and other store owners to adopt. It requests that developers should not pay ‘unfair, unreasonable or discriminatory fees,’ that developers should have access to the platform’s technical details, and that they shouldn’t be forced to use an exclusive app store, ‘including payment obligations.'”

Shopify reveals security incident involving merchant data

On Tuesday, Shopify published a statement disclosing information that “two rogue members” of the company’s support team had attempted to access customer transaction records of under 200 merchants. The Canadian e-commerce company immediately terminated the employees’ access and notified international law enforcement agencies such as the FBI of the incident. “This incident was not the result of a technical vulnerability in our platform, and the vast majority of merchants using Shopify are not affected. However, those whose stores were illegitimately accessed may have had customer data exposed. This data includes basic contact information, such as email, name, and address, as well as order details, like products and services purchased. Complete payment card numbers or other sensitive personal or financial information were not part of this incident,” Shopify released in the statement.

Tech company blocks Trump and Republican Party from using its services

Hotjar, a tech analytics company, announced its decision to block the US president from using its services to promote his reelection campaign in an effort to stand against racial injustice. According to sources, Hotjar is the first company to publicly drop the Trump campaign as a customer. In a statement detailing the decision to cut ties with the Trump campaign, Hotjar executives wrote, “[Trump and the Republican party] are clearly not aligned with our values as a company, and in the spirit of living our value of working with respect, we have decided to take action.” Hotjar was one of many companies previously called out by social advocates for claiming commitment to fighting racial injustices yet allowing their services to be utilized by  politically polarizing figures.

FE International releases ScraperAPI testimonial video

Over the past decade, our team has adapted and fine-tuned the marketing and acquisition process to create a proven and efficient model that gets results for buyers and sellers alike. After completing his sale with FE International, we had the chance to interview ScraperAPI founder, Daniel Ni, to learn more about his startup journey and what drew him to selling his business through FE International.

Second installment of SaaS Mag’s SaaS Spotlight Series now live

Following the release of the 2020 SaaS 1000 list, SaaS Mag is running a SaaS Spotlight Series. The series contains profiles of SaaS companies featured on the list. To kick off the series, SaaS Mag sat down with Kinsta, and industry-leading WordPress hosting platform. Click here to read Kinsta’s profile.

New Business For Sale

For sale this week is a rapidly-growing B2B Shopify App business in the Custom Invoicing niche with a stellar track record and glowing user reviews. The business presents a unique acquisition opportunity for a new owner to take over a market-leading Shopify App.
Some key highlights:

  • $132,000 in revenue generated over the last 12 months
  • Impressive usage statistics with over c.1,000 active merchants and c.10,000 downloads in the last 12 months
  • Strong customer following, attracting an LTV of c.$76 and MRR of c.$10,900
  • Consistent customer reviews, averaging 5 stars on Shopify

Request a prospectus from the link above to learn more.

For more updates throughout the week on the financial world of online business M&A, follow our team on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

OTHER NEW LISTINGS

Affiliate – World’s Largest Business Name Generator – $3.4MM Gross/Yr

  • 10 years of operational history leading to a dominant position in the business name generator and domain marketplace niche
  • Vast content library, with over 1,500 informative posts on the combined sites
  • Dominant SEO presence with a combined keyword ranking of c.296,000 keywords

Yearly net profit: $4,109,000
Asking price: $16,782,000

Display Advertising/Affiliate – Discount & Voucher Codes – $95K Gross/Mo

  • Rapid revenue growth with a CAGR of 59.9% between 2017 and 2020(e)
  • Strong organic search presence with keyword rankings for c.593,000 keywords and more than 10.5M backlinks
  • Impressive volume of traffic with over 16.2M pageviews over the LTM

Yearly net profit: $912,000
Asking price: $2,225,000

SaaS – SEO and CRO Shopify Apps – $3.6K MRR

  • Portfolio of Apps with 8 years of operating history.
  • Glowing reviews with an average 4.6-star rating and c.430 active paying merchants.
  • Attractive SaaS metrics with MRR of c.$3,560 and high LTV of c.$136 over the LTM

Yearly net profit: $41,800
Asking price: $163,000

Until next week!
The FE International Team