Once an offer has been submitted by a buyer and accepted by the seller, the online business broker will connect the parties providing each one’s direct contact information that they may begin due diligence. At this stage, the buyer will submit a list of due diligence (DD) items he/she wishes to review to substantiate the data that was initially presented. Generally this consists of third party documentation such as Merchant Statements, Bank Statements and Tax Returns when available. The buyer may also review other items such as sales data, product lists, inventory, customer lists, suppliers/vendors agreements, and website analytics. The process takes place for an agreed upon period of time after an offer is accepted by the seller. Once complete, if the buyer was able to substantiate the data presented to be true and correct, the parties would move to the next step of the transaction, which is to create and sign a Purchase Agreement.