Can I sell a sole trader business?

[PlinkyPlonker]

I've been self-employed for 6 months. I sell online and it's pocket money really and makes £70/100 a week but I've now built up over £2k stock and it ticks over nicely. There's loads of ways the business could be expanded but I don't have the time or interest anymore.now I'm going back to full time work and I don't know if I have the time to do both.

I don't want to sell the stock at a big loss and I was wondering if I could sell it as a small start up business But is that possible as a sole trader?

I was thinking of including my logos / website and although I can't include my eBay account due to eBay rules they could set up their own account under a v similar name and then use my templates and branding.

On the one hand I can see it might be of interest to someone who wants a part time business and wants a bit of handholding in the beginning but on the negative side I think I'm not really offering anything that someone couldn't do themselves.

Anyone got any thoughts on if I've got something I could sell on or if I will just have to keep at it and run my stock down over the next few months?

I would've thought it is appealing to someone. It's making it easy for a new person to take a short cut to the point you're at now, by which I mean no need to set up website, buy stock etc. The stock is there and you know it sells.

The only downside might be that the new ebay account would have no history and I'm guessing your good record would help persuade new ebay buyers to purchase from you. But it seems only a minor disadvantage.

Not actually sure if it is legal to sell a sole-trader business, though why wouldn't it be? If it is ok then I would say try to sell it. Nothing to lose!

Not an issue to sell a sole trader business. However, there may be an issue with someone else's valuation of your £2k stock. Buyers seldom pay anything close to what the seller values the stock at - unless the stock is unusually clear in valuation, which most stock isn't. So you may end up being disappointed at offers and end up just running down the stock over the next few months.

Yes that's what I was thinking. The stock value is what I've paid for it and I'd like to recoup that money so I thought selling it as a whole business might help with that, as I understand otherwise it's usual to sell stock on at a hefty discount.

Maybe I just resign myself to a few months of late nights and try to resist the temptation of placing just one more last order from my wholesaler!