A business broker is an intermediary who markets a privately held company for sale, finds and screens buyers, and manages the transaction through to closing on the seller's behalf, for a fee that is usually a percentage of the sale price.
What the job actually contains
Five things, in order: putting a price range on the business, packaging it so a buyer can evaluate it without the owner's help, marketing it confidentially so staff and customers do not find out, screening enquiries down to buyers who can actually fund a purchase, and holding the deal together through due diligence. The last of those is where most sales fail and where an experienced broker earns the fee.
Broker, M&A adviser, marketplace
The three names describe different jobs at different sizes. A marketplace gives you a listing and tools and leaves the selling to you. A broker does the selling. An M&A adviser does the selling for a business large enough that the buyer is an institution, usually pairing a retainer with a success fee. Website Closers, which sits in the middle, publishes the arrangement that defines its half of the market: a 100% success-based model with no upfront fees or retainers.
What a broker is not
Not an appraiser: a broker's opinion of value is a marketing estimate, not a formal valuation, and it is usually free because it is the start of a sales conversation. Not your lawyer or your accountant, both of whom you will still need. And in most US states, not a licensed profession with an exam behind it, which is why the questions you ask a broker matter more than the letters after their name.
Questions people ask about what is a business broker
Is a business broker the same as a realtor?
No, though in several states the same real estate licence covers both, because a business sale can include a lease or a building. The buyer pool, the marketing and the diligence are entirely different.
Who pays the business broker?
The seller, in almost every case, out of the proceeds at closing. Acquire.com states the arrangement plainly on its own pricing page: the closing fee is due in full at closing and is only owed if the business sells.
How long does a business broker keep my business listed?
For the exclusivity period in the listing agreement, which runs from two months to a year depending on the firm. Empire Flippers publishes two months on its own page and calls it the industry's lowest; almost nobody else publishes anything, so ask before you sign.