What each marketplace publishes
Only figures each company states about itself are in this table, read off their own pricing pages on 30 Aug 2026. Two of the best-known firms publish nothing, and the numbers circulating for them come from comparison sites rather than from the firms, so this page says so rather than repeating them.
| Where you list | Published fee | On a $301,000 sale |
|---|---|---|
| Flippa | 10% success fee, plus a listing package of $29, $49 or $199 | $30,149 |
| Empire Flippers | No listing fee. A flat $10,000 up to about $66,667, then 15% to $700,000 | $45,150 |
| Acquire.com | 8% closing fee under $250,000, 7% to $1M, plus $25–$50 a month while listed | $21,070 |
| FE International | Not published on their own site | — |
| Quiet Light | Not published on their own site | — |
Sources, each the company's own page, checked 30 Aug 2026: Flippa pricing, Empire Flippers FAQ, Acquire.com seller pricing. Acquire.com's help centre states the same figures and is dated 13 Nov 2024.
The percentage is not the number that matters
A percentage hides how it behaves at the bottom of the range. Empire Flippers charge a flat $10,000 below roughly $66,667, which on a $40,500 business is 25% of the price rather than 15%. That is not a criticism — screening and selling a small business costs them roughly what a large one does — but it is the arithmetic to do before you assume a marketplace is the cheap route at your size.
What the fee buys, honestly
- 01Reach. A list of vetted buyers with money already committed, which is the single hardest thing to build yourself and the main reason to pay.
- 02Screening. Someone else filters the tyre-kickers, the low-ball offers and the buyers who cannot fund the deal.
- 03A negotiator who is not you. Valuable precisely because they can push on price without the relationship becoming awkward.
- 04Process discipline: escrow, an asset purchase agreement, a transfer plan. At this size these are the parts most often botched by going it alone.
What the fee does not buy is a higher number by itself. The buyer still prices your churn, your growth and your concentration — so the preparation that raises the price is the same work whether you list or sell direct, and it happens before either.
When paying it is clearly worth it
When you have no buyer, no time to find one, and the business is big enough that the fee is a fraction of what a good process adds. A broker who gets you two competing offers instead of one has usually paid for themselves, and at this size competition moves the price far more than negotiation does.
When it is expensive
When the buyer found you. An inbound approach — a competitor, a customer, someone who uses the product — is the common case for a business under $301,000, and paying a success fee on a deal you sourced is the dearest money in the process. What you need there is not reach; it is a defensible number and the documents to support it.