A business broker sells a company on the owner's behalf and takes a share of what it sells for. That is the whole trade in a sentence, and almost none of the rest of it is standardised: the rate, the floor beneath the rate, the length of the tie-in and what happens if you change your mind all vary from firm to firm, and most firms will not print any of it.
The four routes, and they are not competing for the same seller
A self-service marketplace lists the business and leaves you to sell it. An online business broker runs the sale of a digital business end to end. A main-street broker sells the restaurants, contractors and clinics that a buyer wants to walk around. An M&A adviser handles the lower middle market, where the buyer is a fund. A seller choosing between two firms in different routes is not comparing like with like, and the fee difference between the routes is much larger than the difference inside one.
What the published fees look like
Of eight US firms read at their own pages for the record on this site, three print a seller commission. Flippa's success fees start from 5% on a listing that starts at $29. Acquire.com prints three bands: 8% below a $250,000 asking price, 7% to $1m and 6% above it. Empire Flippers prints the whole blended ladder, 15% up to $700,000 and less above. All three sell online businesses.
What the other five do instead
They ask you to call. First Choice Business Brokers, Viking Mergers, Morgan & Westfield and Raincatcher name no rate on the pages a seller reads first, and Website Closers names the shape without the number: success-based, no upfront fees or retainers. That is not evidence they are expensive. It means the only way to compare them is to ask several the same question, which is what the enquiry form on this site does in one message.
Questions people ask about business brokers
What percentage do business brokers take?
Among firms that publish a figure, the record on this site runs from 5% to 15% of the sale price, and the higher numbers come with more of the work done for you. Raincatcher's own guide says brokers typically charge a commission of 5% to 10% of the final sale price, which is a range for the trade rather than any one firm's price.
Do I have to use a broker at all?
No. A self-service marketplace listing costs tens of dollars rather than thousands, and the trade-off is that answering buyers, assembling diligence and negotiating become your job. That is the work the commission buys.
Are business brokers regulated?
Business brokerage is not a licensed profession in most US states. Several require a real estate licence where the sale includes a lease or real property, and the International Business Brokers Association offers designations to members, but neither is a quality bar. The checks that discriminate are closed deals and written terms.