Australia guides

How do I find a business broker in Melbourne?

In Victoria a business broker must hold an estate agent's licence, or work as an agent's representative for someone who does, because the Estate Agents Act 1980 covers the sale of businesses as well as property. Build a shortlist from the AIBB member searches, the marketplace broker directories filtered to Victoria and referrals from your accountant or solicitor, then check every name on Consumer Affairs Victoria's public register before you meet anyone. Judge the shortlist on written fees, recent Melbourne sales in your sector and who will actually run your file.

By the bizflip team · Published 3 September 2026 · Facts checked 3 September 2026 · Sources listed below

Finding a business broker in Melbourne is a three-step job: gather candidates, verify each one on the state register, and interview the survivors on fees and fit. Victoria makes the middle step unusually easy, because its licensing law is explicit that selling businesses is licensed estate agency work and the regulator publishes a free public register. This page walks through each step and says where the information comes from.

For transparency: bizflip publishes this page and is also building a broker directory of its own. It is mentioned last, and only for disclosure: at the time of writing it shows simulated sample profiles while the directory feed is wired up, so it cannot be used to find a broker today. The AIBB and marketplace searches are the ones to use.

The licence a Melbourne broker must hold

Victoria does not license "business brokers" as a separate occupation. The Estate Agents Act 1980 defines an estate agent as any person who carries on, or holds themselves out as ready to undertake, the business of selling, buying, exchanging, letting or negotiating the sale or other dealing with any real estate or business on behalf of another person, and it defines "business" to include any hotel, storekeeper's, manufacturing, professional, service or trading business and any share or interest in the goodwill or assets included in a transaction relating to one. Section 12 makes it an offence for an individual to act as an estate agent without a licence, carrying a penalty of 500 penalty units or twelve months' imprisonment. Consumer Affairs Victoria puts it plainly: arranging the sale of property including businesses, providing market appraisals of businesses and negotiating the sale of businesses all require an estate agent's licence, or employment by a licensed estate agent as an agent's representative.

That second category matters in practice. Many of the people who will actually work your sale are agents' representatives rather than licensed agents. Consumer Affairs Victoria describes an agent's representative as someone employed by or acting for a licensed estate agent who, with written authority, can perform the agent's legal functions, for example as a salesperson, but who cannot operate an estate agency business. The Act also makes estate agents responsible for the acts of their representatives. So when you check a broker, check two things: the individual you will deal with, and the licensed agent or agency they work under.

Interstate brokers can act in Victoria, but on conditions. Consumer Affairs Victoria's guidance on mutual recognition says that an agent working in Victoria under a home-state licence must comply with Victorian legislation on trust accounts, authorities, commissions, advertising and professional conduct, may only carry out activities their home licence permits, and is subject to Victorian disciplinary arrangements while working here. If a Sydney or Brisbane broker proposes to sell your Melbourne business, ask which of these arrangements they are relying on and confirm it on the relevant register.

Step one: build a list of candidates

Step two: check every name on the public register

Consumer Affairs Victoria's advice is that you should always confirm the estate agent you are dealing with is licensed, and it publishes the register online. For each licensee the register shows the licence number issued by the Business Licensing Authority, the name and registered office, the date the licence was granted, surrendered, cancelled or suspended, any licence conditions, any tribunal or court orders affecting the licence of which the Registrar has notice, any claims allowed by the Victorian Property Fund in relation to the licensee, the principal office address and the branch offices with their managers. The online register is a partial extract; a full extract including historical information is available from the Business Licensing Authority Registrar for a fee. When you search, untick the box that limits results to current registrants if you want to see a person's history.

Search the individual and the agency separately. A clean individual result under a suspended agency, or a representative whose supervising agent has conditions on their licence, is something you want to know before the first meeting. What the register cannot tell you is whether a broker is good at selling businesses. The 15 Certificate IV units Victoria prescribes for the licence are general real estate practice units plus residential sales, property management and trust-account units, and none of them is a business-broking unit; business-broking units exist in the Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice only as an optional elective group, so holding the licence does not prove any business-sale training. Our guide to business broker qualifications in Australia explains what the licence does and does not prove, and the free directory of Australian business brokers covers the registers in the other states if your candidate holds an interstate licence.

Step three: get the fees in writing before you sign an authority

In Victoria the engagement document is the agency authority, which Consumer Affairs Victoria describes as a binding agreement between the client and the agency that must detail the agreed commission, marketing expenses and outgoings, include the statements the Estate Agents Act requires, and be signed by the client. Read it before you sign it, and before that, ask for the terms in writing: what the commission is and what it is calculated on, whether there is a retainer or an upfront marketing charge and whether it is refundable, how long the authority runs and whether it is exclusive, and what is payable if you find the buyer yourself or withdraw the business from sale. AIBB members are separately bound by their code to be clear about fees and any potential additional costs. This page does not quote typical commission rates because we have not found a sourced Victorian figure; our guide to business broker fees in Australia explains what can and cannot be said on that subject.

Step four: interview for Melbourne sector fit

business.gov.au notes that brokers can offer advice about the profitability of your business and market trends for your industry, and that advice is only worth having from someone who has recently sold businesses like yours in this market. Questions that sort a specialist from a generalist:

If you decide not to appoint one

Some Melbourne owners, particularly those selling smaller businesses or selling to a known buyer, decide the fee is not justified. Do I need a business broker and how to sell a business without a broker take that decision seriously rather than assuming the answer. Either way, walk into the first conversation with your own number; bizflip's valuation calculator is free and publishes its method, so you can tell an appraisal from a pitch.

This page is general information about finding and checking a broker in Victoria. It is not legal advice, and the terms of any authority you sign are a matter for you and, if the sale is significant, your solicitor.

Sources

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

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