Why I Regret Selling My Amazon KDP Account for $820,000

So, many of you know that I've sold my first Amazon KDP account for $820,000 as I've talked about it many times in the past. Well, it has been around four years since I sold it. And now I can confidently say that I regret selling it simply because it was a bad financial move. I would have made more money if I just kept the business because even after 4 years, those books are still going strong, still selling, and that account is still making around the same amount of money as when I sold it. And I don't think the buyer did much after buying the account. So essentially this money that it's been making for the past four years has been very very passive for him. So in this video I wanted to break this down to you and show you how amazing of a business model KDP can be, how passive it can be if you build it right. So if you enjoy this type of content and if you want me to make more then let me know by tapping the like button and let's get right into the video. So many of you know that I've been documenting my journey with my Amazon KDP business by doing these income reports. So, I have a whole playlist called the KDP income reports that you can check out on my channel where I show you my monthly earnings all the way up to some videos on how I sold the account and made over a million profit in 2021 from my Amazon KDP business. This is the actual bill of sale. As you can see, I sold my first account for $820,000. And this is the exact math. So, I was making around I would say $25.2,000 profit a month consistently over a 12-month period. So for 12 months straight, I was making 25K profit around there, right? And I got a good valuation on Empire Flippers, which is a website where you can sell or buy online businesses. So because I built my KDP account the right way, I got a good valuation, which was a 40x multiple. So the way you calculate this is you essentially times your monthly profit over the last 12-month period. So for me, it was 25.2K times the multiple you get, which is 40x. So, the final valuation that I got for my account was $1,9,000, which is what it was listed for on Empire Flippers. So, that is great that it was actually valued for over a million dollars, right? It got me very excited. But the problem is just because it's listed at a certain amount doesn't mean you will find buyers that's willing to pay a certain amount, right? It's all based on your negotiation and how patient you are and stuff like that. It's very similar to real estate. You know, just because you list your house for a million dollars and you want to sell it for a million bucks doesn't mean you will find buyers at the price, right? So what happened is that after 2 months I only got two offer and both of those offers were very lowable offer plus they wanted me to stay in the company and still work for them for a salary and keep building their KDP account and I didn't want to do that. So obviously I declined those offers. Now another month passed after that I started getting anxious. You know in my mind I've already sold the business. Like in my mind I already had this you know $1 million payday essentially. So I was pretty set on selling it because of that. Then I got a new offer that came in. It was $820,000 cash. So, I didn't have no, you know, BS earnout period. I didn't have no, oh, you have to still work in the company. Nothing like that. They just offered me $820,000 cash. Super simple offer. So, despite it being, you know, lower than how much it was listed for, I took that offer because of how simple it was. And in hindsight, once again, I think I should have waited a little bit longer because I do believe I would have gotten a better offer that was higher than this with no BS earnout period or, you know, stay in the business and work for me type of thing. But I was age 26. This was the first business sale that I was going through. So I really didn't know much and I was operating more from a scarcity mindset as well. But anyways, I sold the account which made me a millionaire which is amazing, right? Very, very exciting. However, it was still a bad financial decision looking back at it. Why is that? Well, let me tell you. But before I do so, I do want to let you know that this video is brought to you by Road to Hero, my mentorship program for people who actually want results on Amazon KDP. This isn't just another course. In Road to Hero, you work directly with a coach who actually makes real money with KDP. You get hands-on coaching from start to finish. You get your book reviewed and approved before you actually publish it. And you get access to tons of live workshops every single week. Plus, we have one of the most active KDP communities online. Thousands of members who've successfully published books for themselves, many of them earning a full-time income. So, if you want real support, real feedback, and real results, the link to apply is in the description below. All right, let me tell you why it was a bad financial decision. Because after 4 years, right, essentially it's been 4 years since I sold the first account. What I would do periodically is I would check on the books that I've, you know, sold once in a while to see how it's doing. And over four years, the BSR, the bests sellers rank remained consistent. So that means obviously I don't have access to the the sales dashboard, right? Because I don't have that account. But I can assume how much sales it's making based on the best sellers rank because Amazon gives us that information. And looking at the BSR, it's been steady for literally 4 years straight, which means it's making similar amounts, right? And that's for the KDP side. For the ACX side, I know exactly how much it's making just because the buyer forgot to remove my email from the account. I don't know what it is. Like some kind of technical glitch because the buyer updated the email, but I'm still somehow getting sales reports email. So, I can tell you exactly that for ACX audiobooks, it's making the exact same amount as when I sold it. And I was making like $10 to $16,000 a month just from audiobooks, right? And even to this day, 4 years later, it's still making the same amount. Last month was $12,000. Now, I have the royalty report email from ACX. I could technically show you, but I don't want to do it to be respectful to the buyer. But that is how much it made last month. So, why is the account so consistent? Maybe the buyer, you know, kept working on it, right? Like kept, you know, publishing new books and this and that, right? So, this is exactly what the buyer did because I can only see from outside in, you know, because I don't talk to the buyer. So, I can only assume what he is doing based on looking at the actual brand on Amazon. But from what I see, the buyer didn't publish a single new book in the last four years. Literally, not a single book, unless he started a new pen name, which I wouldn't know because I wouldn't know the pen name. But for the existing pen names, he did not publish a single new book. He didn't change anything about the business. All I see is that he published one blog post because I had a blog that was connected to my brand. However, the blog literally did nothing, you know, while I had it. And I'm sure that that one blog post will not add to anything, right? Like it's not going to do anything. I also see that he updated the author profile picture to make it a little bit more professional like using AI. But that is literally the only thing that I see that he've actually done something. So basically the buyer didn't do anything significant, right? just bought the account and collected royalty checks. Yes, maybe he's still running Amazon ads because I was already running Amazon ads before, right, when I sold it. So, I'm sure he's still doing that. But based on the profit margin that I had when I sold it, I'm sure the profit margin for him is pretty healthy. So, if you do a quick calculation here, right, 4 years is 12 month * 4 is 48 months in total. So, if you times the monthly profit average of $25,000 over 48 months, that means the account probably made around $1,29,600. If you minus $820,000 from that, that is $389,600 profit that the buyer made so far. And that is so far, right, after 4 years. And everything the books will continue to make from here all goes to him, right? Like he keeps profiting from here. So, I basically missed out on around $400,000 so far. And who knows how much more, you know, these books will make in the future, right? Maybe I missed out on a million dollars or a couple million. Who knows? So, all in all, what did I learn from this experience? Well, the biggest thing is that KDP can be way more passive than you think if you build it right though, right? Obviously, a lot of people might comment on this video saying, "My KDP royalties aren't that passive, right? I made this much, you know, one month." A lot of people make a lot of money during Q4, right? in December times, but then their income drops like crazy January, February. I never had that experience because I've always focused on evergreen topics and I built it right. So, you know, your experience might vary, but my experience is that it's extremely consistent if you do it right. And that is exactly the strategy that I teach in my programs, by the way. So, my students are learning the same strategies and a lot of them, you know, are getting consistent results like this as well. Like this student who made $3,163 net without working the entire month because he has some health issues and then it was the holidays. Or this student over here who had a book that kept selling for 6 years without ever touching it. Or this student who had one book made $15,000 lifetime so far without ever touching it over a 10-year period. And you hear stories like this over and over and over, right? I've been doing this for a very long time. I've been in this space for like 9 years. So I hear stories like this just constantly. So KDP is an amazing business model for active income. Like if you want to start making money right now, but even if you stop working on it, right, it can be a very great long-term passive income play for years to come if you do it right. But most people only look at the short term. You know, they don't see it as a long-term investment, which is why people fail. So if you're wondering, should you sell your KDP account? The answer is it depends. You know, if you really need cash right now and you want to just exit KDP and you want to start another business or, you know, use the money for something else, then selling might make sense. If not, I honestly wouldn't sell. You know, if you built the account, right? And if you feel like it's relatively, you know, passive and stable, then I would not sell and enjoy the royalty checks. Now, if you do want to sell your KDP account or if you're curious how much you can sell it for, then I will leave a link in the description below that takes you to a page on Empire Flippers that looks like this. This is exactly how I sold my first account. Basically, you just go to this website, right? And you click on Amazon KDP, which is the business model that we have. And just by answering a couple questions here, you get a free valuation, which basically tells you like estimately how much you can sell your account for. And if you like the number, you can move forward with it. If not, then you don't have to sell it. And you can sell your Amazon KDP account and just start a new one, which is exactly what I've done. But to summarize everything, I think the potential of Amazon KDP is absolutely crazy. I still think it is one of the best business model for beginners even to this day, even right now. So, if you want to build your Amazon KDP business the right way, then I do have a mentorship program. It's the first link in the description below. But I know that most people watching this will not join and will never work together. And that's completely fine, right? That's why I have these free videos on my channel. But for the 1% of you watching this who wants to take this seriously, who wants to go fast and shortcut the process, avoid all the mistakes that you probably will make. for those people. That's exactly who we created this program for. So, it's the first link in the description below. Once again, you can apply to get a free strategy session. So, make sure you book a call. And that is it for the video. So, thanks for watching. If you enjoyed it, leave a like, subscribe. I'll see you guys in the next one.