How Our Free-To-List,
Full-Serve Model Works

Enhancing visibility of businesses on our marketplace is the first step in attracting qualified buyers. We want to ensure sellers are prepared for the selling journey and build the most effective and compelling listing possible. Our guided listing process provides informative insights and helpful details along the way. Before listings go live, a member of our team reviews them for quality assurance.

Potential buyers can show their interest in purchasing the business by making the seller an offer. The purpose of the offer is to suggest a timeline of events in the selling journey, negotiate the purchase price, and flesh out additional details and conditions and sign off on confidentiality to ensure privacy throughout the deal. The offer is not a commitment, but a way for the buyer to engage with the seller and see if they can find common terms.

Once an offer is made, the seller will be notified and both buyer and seller will have access to it in our connections area, where the seller can decline the offer or negotiate a counteroffer. Negotiations continue until an acceptable offer is established or either party backs out.

Once an offer is agreed upon, the details are put into a letter of intent (LOI), which outlines the terms and conditions of the offer. If the buyer and seller want to proceed with due diligence, they will both digitally sign this letter.

Note: A signed LOI is not a legally binding purchase agreement. A proper purchase agreement will need to be created after due diligence is completed. It is normal for the purchase price and other conditions to change, or for a deal to fall through entirely, based on information revealed during the due diligence process.

Now that the buyer and seller have agreed on their intentions, the communication floodgates are opened so that due diligence can be performed. Contact information for both parties are shared and access to a secure chat opens.

This is where the buyer and seller exchange important information and documents. The buyer should request any information needed to feel informed and confident in their purchase decision. To help guide the process, BuyAndSellABusiness.com provides a checklist of recommended documents that should be exchanged.

It is normal for information divulged during due diligence to have an impact on the purchase price and/or conditions of sale. If these sorts of changes are verbally agreed upon, the deal can continue even if it differs from what was in the letter of intent. The letter of intent does not get revised.

If either the buyer or seller decides to back out of the deal during the diligence phase, they may do so without any ramifications.

Due diligence should be completed within the agreed-upon timeframe. Once both parties are satisfied with the exchange of information, they confirm that all the provided documents are true by signing off on the checklist and verifying the deal’s current purchase price, deposit percentage, and closing period (in case any have changed).

Once due diligence has been completed, BuyAndSellABusiness.com will send the buyer a notice with details and instructions to make the deposit. The purpose of the deposit is for the buyer to signal their commitment in purchasing the business. The deposit amount is a percentage of the purchase price, of which both parties have agreed upon and corroborated.

To protect our members and mediate disputes, BuyAndSellABusiness.com always facilitates any monetary transaction between buyer and seller. The buyer’s deposit is an example of such a transaction.

Never send funds directly to someone you are communicating with on our platform. Anyone insisting that funds be sent to them directly are attempting to circumvent the safeguards put in place to protect you and should be reported to our support team.

After the buyer’s deposit is received, they and the seller are both notified and the closing phase can begin. BuyAndSellABusiness.com holds the deposit in escrow until the deal closes, at which point it will be paid to the seller as part of the final purchase price. If the deal falls through before a purchase agreement has been made and signed by both parties, the deposit will be 100% refunded to the buyer without fees or penalty.

The buyer and seller should now be ready to finalize the purchase and sale of the business. A legally binding purchase agreement, containing all the terms and conditions for the purchase and sale, needs to be created. It is the responsibility of both the buyer and seller to arrange for the creation of this document independently of BuyAndSellABusiness.com, and to be actively involved in its composition and revision.

Both buyers and sellers have access to a deal support area that list our preferred legal, accounting, and banking partners. We recommend leveraging deal support services at any point during the deal-making process if needed; they can be particularly useful in the closing phase.

To close the deal, both the buyer and seller must confirm that a purchase agreement has been created and signed by both parties. They each must upload the same digital copy of the signed purchase agreement to verify this. Additionally, they both must confirm the final purchasing price and closing date that appears in the purchase agreement.

After both parties submit the purchase agreement, BuyAndSellABusiness.com will send the buyer a notice with details and instructions to transfer the outstanding funds to fulfill the terms of the purchase (i.e. the final purchase price minus the deposit).

To protect our members and mediate disputes, BuyAndSellABusiness.com facilitates any monetary transaction occurring between buyer and seller. Never send funds directly to someone you are communicating with on our platform. Anyone insisting that funds be sent to them directly are attempting to circumvent the safeguards put in place to protect you and should be reported to our support team.

At any point in the closing phase, the seller will have the opportunity to provide BuyAndSellABusiness.com with the banking information necessary for us to transfer the funds owed for the sale of their business (minus our take rate + HST).

Once BuyAndSellABusiness.com has received the closing funds from the buyer, verified that the banking information provided by the seller is correct, and reviewed and validated the purchase agreement, the deal is officially closed from our perspective, and the appropriate funds are transferred to the seller.

All users are responsible for all tax related matters in the transaction.

We wish you happy buying and selling!