37 Startup Financing Options to Scale Your E-commerce Business

Allee Evensen

November 18, 2019

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It takes money to make money.

If finding the right products to sell on Amazon is the #1 key to your e-commerce success, the #2 key is buying the perfect amount of product to keep your cash flow in the green.

After all, if you can’t keep products in stock you’re leaving an enormous amount of money on the table. Unlike other e-commerce sites, Amazon only pays you every two weeks (unless you’re lucky enough to get a daily disbursement) which can make it difficult to achieve high inventory turnover.

This is why many e-commerce companies borrow money at some point. There is an extensive amount of funding options to choose from, each with a different price tag and customer base.

How do you know what financing options are best for you? Here are a couple of things to consider.

Cost

It’s important to know the terms you’re considering down to the last penny. Taking out any size loan is a big commitment. The “true cost” of a loan includes interest spread over the loan term. If you have a $50,000 business loan with an interest rate of 10% over a 10-year term, you would make a monthly payment of $660.75.

After 120 payments (12 payments per year x 10 years) you will have $19,290 in interest.

Repayment

Do you need a seasonal cash infusion, a long-term loan or something in-between? If you’re looking for quick and dirty cash, it probably isn’t worth the red tape of a traditional lender. On the flip side, implementing a long-term growth plan is prohibitively expensive if you’re aiming for a quick approval.

Before you even begin your funding search, analyze what kind of monthly payment your cash flow can handle.

Eligibility

Getting capital for an eCommerce business isn’t a simple feat, especially if you don’t have a long business history. Some lenders rely heavily on business revenue, while others rely on credit scores and personal history.

We’ve compiled a list of more than 30+ lenders and their requirements below. Chances are, at least one of these will be a good fit for your Amazon Business.

U.S. Government Loans

Traditional banking institutions rarely issue loans unless a borrower has a high credit score and extensive financial history. With government loans, these guidelines tend to be a little looser (even though they require extensive paperwork). Even though it’s still important to have a good credit score, consideration is based on the overall health of your business. Typically, interest rates of government loans are lower than those in the private sector.

7(a) Loan Program

A 7(a) loan is a U.S. funded term loan borrowers receive in the form of a lump sum. In 2018, the average 7(a) loan size was $420,401. The max SBA loan rates for the 7(a) are currently 7.25% to 9.75.

Approval difficulty: High

Website: www.sba.gov/partners/lenders/7a-loan-program/types-7a-loans

SBA Microloan

The U.S. Microloan Program assists women, low income, veterans, minority entrepreneurs, and other small businesses who need financing in the amount of $50,000 or less.

Approval difficulty: High

Website: www.sba.gov/loans-grants/see-what-sba-offers/sba-loan-programs/microloan-program%20

Online Funding

If you have a solid credit score, online funding is the easiest way to get fast cash. Most online lenders approve loans in 72 or less. Of course, these loans come with a catch, generally in the form of an extremely high-interest rate.

Payability

Payability is a financing company that provides Amazon sellers and e-commerce sellers with daily cash flow, capital advances and the Payability Seller Card. Interest rates vary.

Approval difficulty: Low

Website: www.payability.com

Amazon Lending

Amazon Lending is an invitation-only loan program for established Amazon sellers. Offer amounts and interest rates are based on sales history.

Approval difficulty: Low

Website: sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=201724230&language=en-US&ref=mpbc_201733070_cont_201724230

Behalf

Behalf offers flexible, short-term financing with repayment terms to U.S. based businesses. Typical rates are $10-$30 per $1000 borrowed per month.

Approval difficulty: Low

Website: www.behalf.com

Fundation

Fundation is a direct lender that offers small business loans online. Fundation requires a minimum credit score of 620 for loans under $75,000 and 640 for loans greater than $75,000.

Approval difficulty: Medium

Website: www.fundation.com

CAN Capital

CAN Capital offers short-term loans or merchant cash advances up to $250,000. Short-term loans range from 1%-2, while term loan's interest rate average 29% APR.

Approval difficulty: Medium

Website: cancapital.com

OnDeck

OnDeck offers $5,000 to $500,000 term loans and lines of credit up to $100,000. APR varies from 9% to 99% for term loans and 13.99% to 63% for lines of credit.

Approval difficulty: Low

Website: www.ondeck.com

Rapid Finance

Rapid Finance is an alternative small business funder. It offers merchant cash advances (MCAs) and short-term business loans to small businesses seeking short-term funding. Interest averages 1-2% on a monthly basis.

Approval difficulty: Low

Website: www.rapidfinance.com

Fundbox

Rather than short-term loans, Fundbox provides short-term loans “payment advances.” This gives borrowers only the exact amount of money they need, under the assumption they’ll pay it back in a relatively short amount of time with less associated fees.

Approval difficulty: Low

Website: fundbox.com

BlueVine

BlueVine offers invoice factoring along with traditional lines of credit and term loans. Annual Percentage rates are maxed out a 68% on lines of credit and invoice factoring accounts and 88% on term loans.

Approval difficulty: Low

Website: www.bluevine.com

Funding Circle

Funding Circle is a peer-to-peer lending marketplace that allows investors to lend money directly to small and medium-sized businesses. Interest rates vary widely.

Approval difficulty: Medium

Website: www.fundingcircle.com

Lending Club

LendingClub offers peer-to-peer lending for personal loans to good credit borrowers and for debt consolidation. Compare rates and terms and pre-qualify.

Approval difficulty: Medium

Website: www.lendingclub.com

Top Banks for Traditional Business Loans

Business loans are generally harder to get approved for than online loans because they involve more risk to a lender. This is especially true for Amazon and e-commerce loans since these tend to be high-risk businesses.

On the flip side, you’ll get lower interest rates and an established relationship that may come in handy in future years. You’ll typically need to gather a range of important documents and financial details to complete the loan application.

In almost every case, you’ll need to have a good credit score, bank statements, profit, and loss statements, a balance sheet and business/personal tax returns.

Here are the top U.S. bank lenders:

Angel Investing

If you have an idea for a specific private label product or untapped business model, an investor may be the way to go. Each of these platforms connects you with individuals who can provide capital for your private label ideas. Rather than traditional interest, these investors trade for convertible debt or ownership equity.

Crowdfunding

Much like Angel Investing, crowdfunding allows you to get investment money for a private label product without releasing your rights to intellectual property. Typically, this means pre-selling a product and distributing it to investors.

What resources have you used to scale your eCommerce business? Drop us a note below and let me know.

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