Do I need a business broker to sell my business?

No. Licensing rules, where a market has them, apply to a person acting as your agent, not to you selling your own business — so you can sell it yourself. Whether you should is a different question: brokers work on success-based commission, a percentage of the sale price subject to a minimum fee that often decides the real cost of a small sale (in Australia, commonly 5–15%, with minimums reported in the $15,000–$30,000 range; check the rate and the structure in your own market), and they earn that when the sale must stay confidential, when the buyer has to be found rather than advertised to, or when you would otherwise negotiate alone against someone who does this for a living. A simple business with a buyer already in view is the case where selling privately usually makes sense.

By the bizflip team · Published 2 September 2026 · Facts checked 2 September 2026 · Sources listed below

No, you do not need a business broker. Licensing rules, where a market has them, apply to the person acting as your agent, not to you selling your own business. Whether you should use one is a separate question, and it has a real answer that depends on your business, your buyer pool and how much of the work you can absorb yourself.

Disclosure: bizflip publishes this guide and also sells a self-serve alternative to using a broker. Read it knowing we have an interest in the answer.

The legal position

Selling your own business is not a licensed activity. Acting as someone else's agent can be, and which licence applies — if any — depends on where the business is, so treat it as a question to ask a broker rather than an answer to assume. In New South Wales, Australia, you need a real estate agent licence, or a licence restricted to business agent functions, to provide services related to buying or selling a business — including selling, buying, exchanging or disposing of a business or professional practice, or any share or interest in one. Before 23 March 2020 NSW had a separate business agent licence category; those functions now sit inside the real estate agent licence. Queensland works the same way, with a real estate agent licence covering the sale of a business under the Property Occupations Act 2014.

So the licence question only bites when you engage someone. Before you sign with a broker, ask which licence or registration applies where your business is, and check their name and number on the relevant public register. In Australia that register is kept by the state fair trading or property licensing body. Where a market does not license the role at all, professional body membership, checkable client references and a written agreement are what you have to go on instead.

What a broker actually does

Business Queensland describes a broker's role as helping with the valuation of your business, promoting and advertising the sale, and negotiating the deal. In practice the work is:

Pricing the business and defending the number to a sceptical buyer.
Preparing the sale documents — an anonymised listing, and a fuller information memorandum for qualified buyers.
Marketing it, including to a buyer database that is not visible to you.
Qualifying enquiries, so you are not handing financials to competitors or tyre-kickers.
Negotiating price, settlement, handover and any restraint on you competing afterwards.
Keeping the deal moving through due diligence, which is where most sales stall.

Business Queensland is direct about the buyer-screening part: not many people feel comfortable with their ability to assess buyers, so using a business broker or licensed agent is often a good idea. That is the part owners most often underestimate.

When a broker is worth paying for

A broker is worth it when the sale has to stay confidential from staff, customers and competitors; when you do not have the hours to run a sale on top of running the business; when the buyer has to be found rather than advertised to; when you would otherwise be negotiating alone against someone who buys businesses for a living; or when a deal needs someone to keep it alive through due diligence.

Confidentiality. A sale that leaks can cost you staff, customers and suppliers before it completes. Running an anonymised process well is skilled work, and a third party can field enquiries without your name attached to them.
Time. A sale is a second job. If the business's earnings depend on you being in it, time spent selling is money off the price.
A buyer pool that must be found. If the likely buyer is a trade acquirer, an operator from another region or country, or an investor group rather than someone browsing listings, the value is in the outreach and the database, not the advertisement.
Negotiating experience. Buyers negotiate more often than sellers do. A broker who has been through the same objections a hundred times is a genuine counterweight, and the difference on price can exceed the commission.
Deal management. Most sales that fail, fail during due diligence. Somebody has to chase documents, answer objections and hold the parties together, and if that person is you, it is happening while you also run the business.

When selling privately is realistic

You already have the buyer. A family member, an employee, a business partner, your landlord or a competitor who has approached you — there is no buyer to find, so you are paying for introduction work that has already happened.
The business is small and simple. Clean books, few contracts, a modest price and nothing structurally unusual.
You have time and tolerance for the admin. The work does not vanish; it moves to you.
Your industry's buyers search listings themselves. In some trades, buyers actively browse marketplaces, and visibility does most of what marketing needs to do.

Even then, private does not mean unadvised. You will still want an accountant to normalise the earnings and a lawyer for the sale contract, and those fees are unavoidable either way. How to sell a business without a broker sets out what you take on, and documents needed to sell a business covers what a buyer will ask for regardless of who runs the process.

What it costs

Brokers generally work on success-based commission: a percentage of the sale price, on a sliding scale that falls as the deal size rises, and usually subject to a minimum. Both the percentage and the minimum vary by market, so get the figures for yours in writing rather than assuming them — in Australia, commission generally runs at roughly 5–15%, with minimum commissions commonly reported in the $15,000–$30,000 range. The minimum is what usually decides the real cost of a small sale: a $25,000 minimum on a $200,000 business is 12.5%, whatever percentage was quoted. Upfront engagement or marketing fees are typically charged separately. Business broker fees in Australia sets out the ranges and the questions to ask.

Run the number on your own expected price before you decide. A 10% commission on a $1.5 million sale and a 12.5% minimum on a $200,000 sale are very different propositions, and the work involved is not proportionally different.

The agreement is where the risk sits

If you do engage a broker, the agency agreement matters more than the headline rate. The question it has to answer is whether the broker is owed commission on a buyer you found yourself. Some agreements entitle the agent to commission if the business sells during the term, no matter who found the buyer — including a buyer you brought. Some exempt a buyer you found yourself. Some let more than one agent, or you, bring a buyer, and only whoever introduces the buyer is paid. The labels for these vary, so find the clause and read it rather than trusting the name.

Check the term, whether it auto-renews unless you cancel in writing, and whether there is a protection period after it ends during which you would still owe commission on a buyer the broker introduced. Some markets also impose formal requirements on the agreement itself, and where they do an agent who has not met them can lose the right to be paid: in New South Wales, Australia, for example, an agent is not entitled to any commission or expenses unless a written agency agreement has been entered into, signed by the client, and a copy served on the client within 48 hours after signing. Ask what applies where your business is, and put the agreement in writing whether or not the law requires it. The Australian Institute of Business Brokers requires its members to be clear about fees, disclose additional costs and obtain written client instructions before starting work — a reasonable baseline to hold any broker to, in any market, whether or not they belong to a trade body.

It is not all-or-nothing

The choice is often framed as broker or no broker, and it is really a set of separable jobs. You can list the business yourself and pay an accountant for the earnings work and a lawyer for the contract. You can engage a broker on a shorter initial term and renew only if they perform. On a larger sale you can engage an adviser for negotiation and deal management while doing the marketing yourself. Ask any broker what specifically their fee buys — which platforms, how many buyers contacted directly, who prepares the information memorandum — and compare that with what you would otherwise have to do.

How to decide

Do I already know who is likely to buy this?
How badly would a leak damage the business, and can I run a confidential process myself?
What is the commission in dollars at my realistic price, including any minimum?
Do I have ten to twenty hours a month spare over six to twelve months?
Am I comfortable asking a stranger for proof of funds and then refusing them information?
If the price moved by the amount of the commission, would the broker have paid for themselves?

That last question is the one that settles it. If a broker plausibly moves the price by more than they cost, the fee is not the issue. If they plausibly do not, it is.

Before you talk to anyone about fees, bizflip's valuation calculator gives a free, ungated estimate of what your business might be worth, so you know what a commission percentage translates to in dollars.

How to sell a business in Australia covers the process itself, whichever way you run it, and comparing listing options shows what the platforms cost.

Sources

Every load-bearing claim in this guide, and where it comes from:

In NSW you need a real estate agent licence, or a licence restricted to business agent functions, to provide services related to buying or selling a business, including selling, buying, exchanging or disposing of a business or professional practice or any share or interest in one. Before 23 March 2020 there were separate business agent licence categories; those functions now sit within the real estate agent licence. — NSW Government
In NSW an agent is not entitled to any commission or expenses unless a written agency agreement has been entered into for the services, signed by the client, and a copy served on the client within 48 hours after signing. Agency agreements differ in whether the agent is entitled to commission on a buyer the seller found themselves. — NSW Government (Fair Trading)
In Queensland a real estate agent licence covers negotiating the sale, purchase or exchange of a business, not only property, under the Property Occupations Act 2014. — Queensland Government
A broker can help with the valuation of the business, promoting and advertising the sale, and negotiating the deal. Business Queensland also notes that not many people feel comfortable with their ability to assess buyers, so using a business broker or licensed agent is often a good idea, and recommends a two-tier sales prospectus plus an NDA before sensitive documents are shared. — Business Queensland (Queensland Government)
Business brokers typically charge commission of roughly 5-15% of the sale price, on a sliding scale that falls as deal size rises. — businessforsale.com.au
Minimum commission clauses are common, often reported in the $15,000-$30,000 range, which can push the effective rate on a small sale well above the quoted percentage. — bsale.com.au
Upfront engagement or marketing fees are commonly charged separately from commission, and whether they are credited against the final commission varies by broker. — Scale Suite
The AIBB Code of Conduct requires members to be clear about fees, disclose additional costs, and obtain written client instructions before starting work. — Australian Institute of Business Brokers (AIBB)
Guidance for owners on preparing for and completing a business sale, including deciding whether to sell privately or through a broker. — business.gov.au (Australian Government)

Ready for your own number? The valuation calculator is free and ungated, and its methodology is public.