Washington is the one main-street market in this record where a serious share of sellers could plausibly use the online routes instead, because so many of its small businesses have no premises at all.
Two buyer pools in one state
West of the Cascades a large part of the small-business economy is software, services and consultancies with no site to visit, and those sell perfectly well through the marketplaces and online brokers whose fees are published in full: $25 to $29 to list, 5% to 8% on closing. East of the mountains, agriculture, distribution and main-street trades need a buyer who turns up, and that is a broker's buyer list.
Test which one you are in
Ask whether a buyer could evaluate your business from a data room. If the answer is yes, get quotes from both routes before signing anything, because the fee difference on a $400,000 sale between a published 7% and an unpublished main-street commission plus minimum is not small.
Filings and what does not transfer
Corporate records are with the Washington Secretary of State's corporations and charities division, and the buyer's tax registrations and any industry licensing are separate and start from scratch on an asset sale. Sequence them into the closing timetable rather than the week before.
Questions people ask about business brokers wa
Do Washington business brokers publish fees?
None read for the record on this site does. The published figures here come from firms selling online businesses and run from 5% to 15% of the sale price.
Can I sell a consultancy through a marketplace?
If the revenue is documented and does not depend entirely on you personally, yes. If it does, that is the thing to fix before listing anywhere.
Can a remote services business sell through a marketplace?
If the revenue is documented and does not depend entirely on you personally, yes, and the fees are published in full. If it does depend on you, that is the thing to fix before listing anywhere.