What Is SDE When Selling an Online Store?
Written by Christopher Krassnig - Founder - Kairos Exchange and ZenoX Media. Last reviewed 19 July 2026.
SDE, seller's discretionary earnings, is the store's profit with the owner's compensation and one-off personal costs added back: the cash one working owner actually takes home. It is the number small-business multiples apply to. For an online store the add-backs that matter are owner salary, personal spending run through the business, and ad experiments you would not repeat.
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SDE Versus EBITDA Versus Net Profit
Net profit is what the books show after everything, including whatever the owner paid themselves. EBITDA normalizes for a management team the business would need without you. SDE assumes one working owner-operator, which is what small-store buyers actually are, and that is why sub-million deals price on SDE rather than EBITDA.
The Add-Backs That Hold Up
Your salary and personal costs routed through the business, genuine one-offs like a rebrand or a lawsuit, and discontinued expenses a buyer will not inherit. Each needs a line, a number, and a reason. An add-back schedule that survives a skeptical read is worth more than a pitch deck.
Where Sellers Overreach
Calling recurring costs one-offs, adding back the ad spend that actually drives revenue, and treating a spouse's unpaid work as free labor. Diligence unwinds all three, and every unwound add-back costs its amount times the multiple. Honest SDE is not modesty; it is keeping the price you negotiated.
Answered. Now Get Your Numbers Proven
Sellers on the list go through verification first when we open. Reading up is step one. Having your revenue proven from your own orders is step two.