A $199K Steal? Let’s Talk ⌚

What we'll cover this week

• Dream Business - Passion for watches

• Don’t Buy - Selling trash

• SEO Tools - Don’t trust them (too much)

This Week’s Pro Tip

Talk about problems, not your product.

When someone lands on your site, they’re asking themselves one question:
“Can this solve my problem?”

If your homepage opens with a feature list or a product pitch, they’re gone.

Lead with the problem. Make it clear that you get them. Then—and only then—introduce your solution.

“Calm your mind. Change your life.”
Way better than: “Here’s our meditation app.”

Don’t start with what your product does. Start with what it helps people fix. That’s how you earn attention—and trust.

Short Disclaimer

Online Acquisition Weekly is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or legal advice. We do not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of third-party listings. Always conduct your own due diligence or consult a professional before making any investment decisions.

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This Week’s Dream Business

Every now and then, I stumble upon a business that looks unimpressive at first glance - but the deeper you dig, the more it starts to feel like a steal.

Unique Swiss (listing on Flippa) sells Swiss watches ranging from $150 to $1,500. It’s easy to miss if you just skim the listing, but if handled right, this thing could break out in a big way.

TL;DR

• Swiss watch brand with 60–70% profit margins

• Built largely through influencer marketing, not PPC

• Financials look tight—but some numbers raise questions

• Aesthetic and UX are holding the brand back

• Strong upside if PPC, SEO, and Instagram are dialed in

• Listed at $199K (1.5x incl. inventory), but you might land it for ~$175K

Why This Listing Stands Out

Margins and methodical operators always get my attention. This one has both.

Profit margins are in the 60–70% range. The P&L looks surprisingly clean. And the seller clearly knows how to run a business. They’ve built this brand mainly through influencer marketing and seem to have a handle on the backend, too.

Bonus: They’re offering seller financing, which is rare and helpful if you want to reduce upfront risk.

Also worth noting is that the seller appears to be highly organized. The financial reporting is clear and detailed, which usually means the transition will be smooth.

Watches are also one of those emotional-purchase niches. For the right buyer, that can be a fun and motivating space to build in.

What Could Be Improved

PPC, Instagram, and Website Aesthetics

This is where the opportunity really sits.

When I first saw the site, I wondered: “How is this thing making $10K a month in profit?!”

Visually, it’s a mess. The design makes the watches look cheap. But clearly, the brand is working despite that, which is why the upside is so intriguing.

• Instagram is underused. Watches are perfect for UGC and visual storytelling. A few solid strategies here could drive massive traffic.

• Take inspiration from brands like Hagley West, which was built entirely on social and is now doing big numbers.

• The brand has scaled without real PPC spending, which is rare. They claim they’ve got insanely low CPCs but seem to ignore the potential. Combined with solid margins, a huge growth lever is just sitting there.

As for the site design, I usually say “Don’t redesign right after buying”, but here, it’s justified. A cleaner, more premium aesthetic would reframe the product from “cheap” to “Wow, this looks high-end for the price.”

What to Watch Out For

• No Shopify or Analytics integration on the listing—odd, considering how buttoned-up the rest looks.

• SEO is weak. SEMrush shows only 15 referring domains and all backlinks are no-follow. For a 5-year-old brand, that’s concerning.

• Expenses may be underreported. No sign of payment processing fees, and Meta ad spend has been precisely $450/month for two years straight. Not exactly realistic.

• Team costs are missing. The listing says four people handle customer support and ops, but none show up in the P&L.

• The PPC budget is under $1,000/month, despite claiming great ad results. Either they don’t know they’re sitting on a goldmine, or there’s more to investigate.

• And then there’s the big question: why are they selling if everything is working so well?

Due Diligence Checklist

Before making an offer, get clarity on:

• Missing expenses – Where are the payment processing and team costs?

• PPC – Why are they spending so little?

• SEO – Have they done anything at all? If not, big upside with even basic optimization.

• Revenue verification – Video call to walk through Stripe and PayPal data from the past 30 days

• Influencer relationships - Will they transfer to the new owner or is that highly reliant on the current owner’s network?

• Seller identity – Hop on a video call, make sure they’re legit

• Traffic quality – Get access to Google Search Console

What’s a Fair Price?

The listing is priced at $199,000 (1.5x profit multiple), including $20K in inventory. If everything checks out during due diligence, it’s already a good deal.

However, since the seller is open to negotiation, I’d aim to land it closer to $175,000 (1.3x) by offering a larger down payment and a quick close.

If the financials hold up and you have even a basic growth strategy ready to go, this could be a brilliant buy.

Don’t Buy and Why

This is where we break down listings that aren’t worth your money—but still teach you something about what not to buy.

planet-gates.com

A 6.7x profit multiple… for a site dropshipping bottom-shelf AliExpress junk?

That’s bold.

The entire operation is low-effort from top to bottom. It’s just a catalog of AliExpress listings slapped onto a store with zero brand, zero curation, and zero value-add.

The site design looks like it was built in 2012 and never touched again.

And to really drive the point home, traffic is already declining. So, even if this were priced at a 1x multiple, it wouldn’t be an investment but a headache.

This isn’t just overpriced—it’s structurally flawed. Hard pass.

Don’t Trust SEO Tools (Too Much)

Using tools like Sistrix, SEMrush, or Similarweb is kind of like reading a horoscope. You might get a useful insight now and then, but it’s far from scientific truth.

Take “Visibility Index” or whatever vague metric they throw at you. It sounds impressive, but what does it actually mean?

Let’s say your site ranks #93 for the keyword “credit card.” Your visibility score will spike. Yay, I'm making progress! But if you rank #1 for a B2B money keyword with only 10 searches a month (but actual buyers behind it), that same score barely moves.

Which one is more valuable to your business?

Exactly.

So while these tools can be useful for spotting trends or areas to improve, they’re not reliable for measuring actual SEO performance. Search results are completely personalized now—there’s no fixed ranking, just a shifting range.

I use these platforms for audits and optimization ideas. But when it comes to tracking actual performance, I stick with traffic data in Google Search Console or Shopify dashboards. Those are numbers that actually mean something.

Final Words

That’s it for this week. This week’s dream business can be a real passion project for the right person. I could see how this easily turns into a massive brand and makes much more profit than it does now.

Got something on your mind? Hit reply and let me know—I’ll get back to you ASAP.

See you next time,
Tim