Review build. Not yet indexed or linked: every competitor claim here is awaiting owner approval, and cells marked ⚠ carry inferred or third-party evidence that is re-verified before public release.
Compare · United States

Compare business sale platforms in the United States

The 9 platforms a US seller can actually use, side by side — starting with what each one charges. BizFlip runs the whole sale in one place and you list free: the only things that will ever cost anything (AI credits, listing bumps, escrow) are optional extras, and none of them is charged today. Every competitor tick links the page that proves it, and where a rival is genuinely ahead the table says so.

See every platform, all markets →

Showing 9 platforms. Every competitor tick links the page that proves it; a cell we could not verify says “not assessed” rather than guessing. Numbered markers are footnotes, listed under the table.

Pricing
BizBuySellBizQuestDealStreamLoopNetAcquire.comDigital onlyEmpire FlippersDigital onlyFlippaDigital onlyWebsite ClosersDigital onlyBizFlip
What the seller paysUS$75 – 200/mo320[BBS1][BBS2]US$50 – 150/mo321[BQ1]Free – US$40/mo322[DS1]Not published323[LN1]US$25 – 100/mo + 6–8%324[ACQ1][ACQ2]15% success fee325[EF1]10% success fee326[F13][F14]Commission, not published327[WC1]Free328[B12][B13]
What a buyer/searcher paysUS$20/mo optionalFreeUS$40/mo for full accessFreeUS$390 – 780/yrFreeUS$49/mo optionalFreeFree
Industries it will sellAllAllAllAllDigital1Digital1Digital1Digital1All
Data room included free (not an add-on, not absent)✗[BBS5⚠]✗[BQ3⚠]··partial[ACQ3]·partial[F3][F5]2·✓[B5][B12]3
Free listing tier exists✗[BBS1]✗[BQ1]✓[DS2]4✗[LN2⚠]5✗[ACQ1]✓[EF2]6✗[F14]✗[WC2]7✓[B12]
Zero commission / success fee✓[BBS1]✓[BQ1]✓[DS3⚠]8✗[LN3⚠]9✗[ACQ2]10✗[EF3]11✗[F13]12✗[WC3]13✓[B12][B14]
Full deal tooling included at $0······✗[F14]·✓[B12]
NDA / confidentiality at no charge······✗[F3]14·✓[B3][B12]
All fees published (nothing quote-only)······partial[F13][F14]15·✓[B12]
Buyers pay nothing (no paid buyer tier)✗[BBS2]16✓[BQ1]partial[DS4]17✓[LN4]18✗[ACQ1]19✓[EF4⚠]20partial[F17][F18]21✗[WC4]22✓[B12]
Listing never expires / no relist fee✗[BBS3]23✗[BQ1]✓[DS5]24··✗[EF5]25✗[F14][F16]·✓[B12]
Features
BizBuySellBizQuestDealStreamLoopNetAcquire.comDigital onlyEmpire FlippersDigital onlyFlippaDigital onlyWebsite ClosersDigital onlyBizFlip
Free instant online valuation, no account/email gatepartial[BBS4]26partial[BQ2]27✗[DS6⚠]28·✓[ACQ4]✓[EF6]29✓[F10]partial[WC5]30✓[B1][B19]
Integrated NDA e-sign workflow (sign online, auto-filed)✗[BBS5⚠]31✗[BQ3⚠]✗[DS7⚠]32✗[LN6⚠]33partial[ACQ3]partial[EF7⚠]34partial[F3][F4]35partial[WC6]36✓[B3]
Tiered virtual data room (security-levelled document access)✗[BBS5⚠]✗[BQ3⚠]✗[DS8]37·partial[ACQ3]partial[EF8⚠]38partial[F5][F21]✓[WC7]39✓[B5]
Per-viewer document watermarking✗[BBD10⚠]40✗[BQD10⚠]41✗[DS28⚠]42✗[LN15⚠]43✗[ACD10⚠]44✗[EF28⚠]45✗⚠✗[WC26⚠]46✓[B6]
LOI / Heads of Agreement builder + e-sign + countersign✗[BBS5⚠]✗[BQ3⚠]✗[DS9⚠]47·✓[ACQ3]48✗[EF9⚠]49✓[F5]✗[WC8]50✓[B4]
Buyer verification ladder (KYC → proof of funds)✗[BBS5⚠]51✗[BQ3⚠]✓[DS10]52·✓[ACQ3]53✓[EF10]54partial[F6][F8]55✓[WC9]56✓[B7]
In-platform deal messaging (no email chains)✗[BBS5⚠]·✓[DS11]57·✓[ACQ3]✓[EF11]58✓[F5]✗[WC10]59✓[B20]
Escrow / payment rail at close✗[BBS5⚠]✗[BQ3⚠]✗[DS12]60·✓[ACQ3]61✓[EF12]62✓[F11]✓[WC11]63building[B13]
AU state-compliant agency authority instruments (VIC/QLD/NSW) with signing rail······✗[F1]64·✓[B8]
Accounting-verified financials (QuickBooks + Xero live feed)✗[BBS5⚠]·✗[DS13]65·✓[ACQ3]66✓[EF13]67✓[F7]✗[WC12⚠]68✓[B9]
Live commerce/traffic integrations (Shopify, Stripe, GA…)✗[BBD26⚠]69✗[BQD26⚠]70✗[DS44⚠]71✗[LN30⚠]72✓[ACD25]73✓[EF44]74✓[F7]✗[WC42⚠]75on our roadmap
Anonymous / confidential listingpartial[BBS5⚠]76partial[BQ3⚠]77✓[DS14]78✓[LN5]79·✓[EF14]80partial[F3]✓[WC13]81✓[B3][B26]
Buyer saved searches + alert emails / watchlist✓[BBS5⚠]✓[BQ3⚠]✓[DS15]82··✓[EF15]83✓[F17]✗[WC14⚠]84on our roadmap
Daily preference-matched buyer recommendation emails······partial[F30]·on our roadmap
Public broker/agency directory✓[BBS5⚠]·✓[DS16]85··✗[EF16⚠]86✗[F1]✗[WC15⚠]87building[B11]
Broker bulk-listing feed (XML/CRM ingestion)✓[BBD32]88✗[BQD32⚠]89✗[DS50]90partial[LN36⚠]91✗[ACD31⚠]92✗[EF50⚠]93✗⚠✗[WC48⚠]94on our roadmap
Public market-insight stats / quarterly reports✓[BBD31]95✗[BQD31⚠]96✓[DS49]97✓[LN35]98✓[ACD30]99✓[EF49]100partial[F24]partial[WC47⚠]101on our roadmap
Dedicated franchise channel✓[BBD27]102✓[BQD27]103✓[DS45]104✓[LN31]105✗[ACD26⚠]106✗[EF45⚠]107✗⚠✓[WC43]108on our roadmap
Competing offers on one listing (partial auction)······✓[F2]109·partial[B20]110
Native mobile app✗[BBD29⚠]111✗[BQD29⚠]112✗[DS47⚠]113✓[LN33]114✗[ACD28⚠]115✗[EF47⚠]116✗⚠✗[WC45⚠]117on our roadmap118
Off-site listing promotion (email blasts / social / display)✓[BBD30]119✓[BQD30]120✗[DS48⚠]121✓[LN34⚠]122✗[ACD29⚠]123✓[EF48]124✗⚠✓[WC46]125on our roadmap
Seller listing-analytics dashboard··✓[DS17]126··partial[EF17⚠]127✗⚠·building[B18]
Educational guides / resource hub✓[BBD33]128✓[BQD33]129✓[DS51]130✓[LN37]131✓[ACD32]132✓[EF51]133·✓[WC49]134✓135
Automation
BizBuySellBizQuestDealStreamLoopNetAcquire.comDigital onlyEmpire FlippersDigital onlyFlippaDigital onlyWebsite ClosersDigital onlyBizFlip
Capture-once data model (one record → teaser/CIM/listing/docs, never re-asked)✗[BBD15⚠]136✗[BQD15⚠]137✗[DS33⚠]138✗[LN20⚠]139partial[ACD15⚠]140✓[EF33⚠]141✗⚠✗[WC31⚠]142✓[B15]
One-click publish-to-market from the deal recordpartial[BBD16]143✓[BQD16]144✗[DS34]145·✗[ACD16]146✗[EF34]147✗⚠✗[WC32⚠]148✓[B16]
Automatic NDA-sign → data-room access progression✗[BBD17]149✗[BQD17⚠]150✗[DS35]151✗[LN21]152✓[ACD17]153✗[EF35]154partial[F6][F23]155partial[WC33⚠]156✓[B17]
Automated buyer screening / qualification✗[BBD18⚠]157✗[BQD18⚠]158partial[DS36]159✗[LN22⚠]160✓[ACD18]161partial[EF36]162✓[F6][F21]✗[WC34]163✓[B7][B21]
Automated listing↔buyer matching✓[BBD19]164✓[BQD19]165✓[DS37]166partial[LN23⚠]167✓[ACD19]168✓[EF37]169✓[F30]✗[WC35⚠]170on our roadmap
Automated advertiser performance reporting✓[BBD20]171✓[BQD20]172✓[DS38]173✓[LN24]174·✗[EF38⚠]175✗⚠✗[WC36⚠]176building[B18]
Who can actually use it
BizBuySellBizQuestDealStreamLoopNetAcquire.comDigital onlyEmpire FlippersDigital onlyFlippaDigital onlyWebsite ClosersDigital onlyBizFlip
Sells ordinary bricks-and-mortar businesses (cafés, trades, clinics)✓[BBS1]✓[BQ1]··✗[ACQ1]177✗[EF1]177✗[F1]178✗[WC1]179✓[B16]
A private owner can list without going through a broker······partial[F12]180·✓[B12]
No trading-history or size test before you may list·····✗[EF1]181✗[F12]182·✓[B12]
Human review of the numbers at every deal size (no vetting cliff)✗[BBS5⚠]✗[BQ3⚠]···✓[EF1]✗[F8]183·partial[B22]184
The buyer pays no platform or processing fee to transact✗[BBS2]···✗[ACQ1]·✗[F18]185·✓[B12]
What you paid is not forfeited if the business does not sell✗[BBS3]✗[BQ1]····✗[F16]186·✓[B12]187
Document automation, instrument by instrument
BizBuySellBizQuestDealStreamLoopNetAcquire.comDigital onlyEmpire FlippersDigital onlyFlippaDigital onlyWebsite ClosersDigital onlyBizFlip
NDA — generated, e-signed, auto-filed······partial[F3][F4]188·✓[B3]
Heads of Agreement / LOI — built, signed, countersigned······✓[F5]189·✓[B4]
Agency / listing authority agreements — state-compliant, signed✗[BBD3⚠]190✗[BQD3⚠]191✗[DS21⚠]192✗[LN8⚠]193✗[ACD3⚠]194✗[EF21⚠]195✗⚠✗[WC19⚠]196✓[B8]197
Deposit receipts — rendered and auto-filed to the data room✗[BBD2⚠]198✗[BQD2⚠]199✗[DS20⚠]200✗[LN7⚠]201✗[ACD2⚠]202✗[EF20⚠]203✗⚠✗[WC18⚠]204✓[B10]
CIM (information memorandum) — AI-generated from the deal record✗[BBD5⚠]205✗[BQD5⚠]206✗[DS23⚠]207✗[LN10⚠]208✗[ACD5⚠]209partial[EF23⚠]210✓[F21][F32⚠]211✗[WC21⚠]212✓[B26]
Teaser — AI-generated from the deal record✗[BBD4⚠]213✗[BQD4⚠]214✗[DS22⚠]215✗[LN9⚠]216✗[ACD4⚠]217partial[EF22⚠]218·✗[WC20⚠]219✓[B26]
Marketing copy / listing description — AI-drafted, human-approved✗[BBD6⚠]220✗[BQD6⚠]221✗[DS19⚠]222✗[LN11⚠]223✗[ACD6⚠]224✗[EF19⚠]225partial[F21]226✗[WC17⚠]227✓[B26]
Earnings-adjustments spreadsheet (EBITDA explained, real formulas)✓[BBD7]228✗[BQD7⚠]229✗[DS25⚠]230✗[LN12⚠]231✗[ACD7⚠]232✗[EF25⚠]233partial[F9]234partial[WC23]235✓[B31]
Exit Readiness Report — AI strategic report, free✗[BBD8⚠]236✗[BQD8⚠]237✗[DS26⚠]238✗[LN13⚠]239✗[ACD8⚠]240✗[EF26⚠]241partial[F20]242✗[WC24⚠]243✓[B27]
Scale & Multiply growth plan — AI strategic report, free✗[BBD9⚠]244✗[BQD9⚠]245✗[DS27⚠]246✗[LN14⚠]247✗[ACD9⚠]248✗[EF27⚠]249·✗[WC25⚠]250✓[B27]
Speed
BizBuySellBizQuestDealStreamLoopNetAcquire.comDigital onlyEmpire FlippersDigital onlyFlippaDigital onlyWebsite ClosersDigital onlyBizFlip
Valuation result in minutes, no callback✗[BBD21]251✓[BQD21⚠]252✗[DS39⚠]253✓[LN25⚠]254✗[ACD20⚠]255✓[EF39⚠]256✓[F26]✗[WC37]257✓[B19]
Fast listing go-live (self-serve, no opaque queue)✓[BBD22]258✓[BQD22]259✗[DS40]260✗[LN26⚠]261✓[ACD21]262✗[EF40]263partial[F25⚠]✗[WC38⚠]264✓[B16]
Instant post-NDA data-room access on signature······partial[F6][F23]·✓[B17]
Accountless same-day counterparty signing✗[BBD23⚠]265✗[BQD23⚠]266✗[DS41⚠]267✗[LN27⚠]268✗[ACD22⚠]269✗[EF41]270✗⚠✗[WC39⚠]271✓[B4]
Whole deal executes in one place, enquiry → signed → receipted✗[BBD24⚠]272✗[BQD24]273✗[DS42]274✗[LN28⚠]275✓[ACD23]276✓[EF42]277✓[F5]✗[WC40⚠]278✓[B20]
All buyers see listings at the same time (no pay-for-early-access)✗[BBD25]279✓[BQD25⚠]280✗[DS43]281✗[LN29⚠]282✗[ACD24]283✓[EF43⚠]284✗[F17]285✗[WC41]286✓[B12]
Transparency
BizBuySellBizQuestDealStreamLoopNetAcquire.comDigital onlyEmpire FlippersDigital onlyFlippaDigital onlyWebsite ClosersDigital onlyBizFlip
Valuation methodology fully disclosed, ungated, in crawlable HTMLpartial[BBD12]287✓[BQD12]288✗[DS30⚠]289✓[LN17⚠]290✓[ACD12]291✓[EF30]292partial[F34]✓[WC28]293✓[B1]
Data-provenance classes badged on listings ("AI · Statements" vs "Advertised")✗[BBD13]294✗[BQD13⚠]295✗[DS31]296✗[LN18⚠]297✓[ACD13]298✓[EF31]299partial[F7]✗[WC29⚠]300✓[B22]
Verified financials visible pre-NDA✗[BBD14]301✗[BQD14]302✗[DS32]303✗[LN19⚠]304✓[ACD14]305✓[EF32]306✓[F7][F8]partial[WC30]307partial[B9][B22]
Signature audit certificates (IP / timestamp / audit-id)✗[BBD11⚠]308✗[BQD11⚠]309✗[DS29⚠]310✗[LN16⚠]311✗[ACD11⚠]312✗[EF29⚠]313partial[F5]✗[WC27⚠]314✓[B23]
Honest empty states — an estimate is never printed as a measurement······✗⚠·✓[B24]
Evidence-governed comparison content (dated, re-verified, concede-where-weaker)······partial[F33]·✓[B25]
AI assistance
BizBuySellBizQuestDealStreamLoopNetAcquire.comDigital onlyEmpire FlippersDigital onlyFlippaDigital onlyWebsite ClosersDigital onlyBizFlip
AI buyer↔seller matching engine······✓[F30]·on our roadmap
AI voice qualification of buyer enquiries······✗[F22]315·on our roadmap
AI reads your financial statements into the valuation····partial[ACQ3]·partial[F7]316·✓[B32]
AI summarises and interprets the data-room documents····✗[ACQ3]·✗[F5]·on our roadmap
AI meeting notetaker → deal record extraction······✗⚠·✓[B28]
Any AI capability at all✗[BBS5⚠]✗[BQ3⚠]✓[DS18]317··✓[EF18]318✓[F30]partial[WC16]319✓[B26][B27]
Notes
  1. Digital assets only — websites, apps, ecommerce and SaaS. An ordinary trading business (a café, a workshop, a clinic) cannot be listed here at any price.
  2. A deal room exists, but NDA & Confidentiality is a US$199 add-on (free only on the top tiers).
  3. Five security levels with per-viewer watermarking, included at no charge.
  4. "If you're on the Basic (free) plan, it's free." Basic/Free membership ($0/mo) lets sellers post listings at no charge; Pro ($40/mo) is optional for promoted placement.
  5. LoopNet's own seller page (/biz/advertise) shows no self-serve pricing or free tier at all — just 'Act now or call 888-777-9892' and two CTAs that route entirely off loopnet.com to bizbuysell.com/sell and bizbuysell.com/brokers (with utm_source=loopnet referral tags). No price or plan of any kind is published on loopnet.com itself.
  6. No upfront fee to submit/list a business; Empire Flippers earns a commission only if the business sells (commission tiers on the same page).
  7. Not a self-serve listing marketplace — WC is a full-service brokerage that lists on the seller's behalf as part of a paid engagement; no free/paid self-listing tiers found.
  8. Entire monetization shown on the pricing page is flat monthly subscription (Free $0 / Pro $40); no percentage or success/closing fee is mentioned anywhere on pricing, adding-listings, or terms pages.
  9. No commission/fee structure is disclosed anywhere on loopnet.com; the page has zero pricing content, only a phone number and an off-site handoff to BizBuySell.
  10. 6–8% closing fee
  11. Sellers pay a blended success commission: $10,000 flat minimum under $66,666.66; 15% flat $66,666.66-$700,000; 8% on the portion $700,000-$5M; 2.5% above $5M.
  12. 5–10% success fee (USD tiers)
  13. FAQ: '100% success-based model, meaning we only get paid when your deal closes. No upfront fees or retainers – our fees are competitive and tailored to your deal size and structure.' A commission/success fee IS charged; only the upfront portion is zero. Exact rate not published on-site.
  14. US$199 add-on (free on top tiers)
  15. USD tiers published; broker pricing partly quote-shaped
  16. Edge from US$20/mo
  17. Free tier exists (browse 22,000+ listings, 2 inquiries/day, only 'unlocked' listings), but full contact access to all sellers and 10 inquiries/day require DealStream Pro at US$40/month.
  18. The businesses-for-sale search (1,500+ results) is browsable with no sign-in, account, or paywall, and no buyer fee is mentioned anywhere on the search or advertise pages.
  19. US$390–$780/yr to see deals
  20. Third-party-corroborated search snippet of this first-party FAQ states Empire Flippers does not charge buyers browsing, bidding, or purchase fees; all commission is seller-side. I could not directly WebFetch this page to quote it myself, hence 'inferred' rather than verified-on-page.
  21. US$49/mo buyer premium tier
  22. Buyer's Club membership (optional, for priority deal access) carries a fee — a member testimonial cites '$50' monthly, though current official pricing is not published on the page. Core deal browsing appears free; the paid club tier means buyers are not universally guaranteed to pay nothing.
  23. a cancelled listing needs a fresh term
  24. "Your listing will remain active until you remove the listing or your account is canceled." A Renew button (usable once/30 days) only boosts freshness/visibility; it is not required to keep the listing live.
  25. Empire Flippers requests a 2-month exclusivity period when a business is listed; after that the seller can renew or delist to sell elsewhere. Not an indefinite free-standing listing with no review point.
  26. full report is a paid product
  27. static range; full report needs a paid plan
  28. No first-party interactive valuation calculator was found; the add-a-listing flow has no valuation step, and DealStream's own blog reviews third-party valuation tools (Acquire.com etc.) rather than offering its own.
  29. Free, no-obligation valuation tool, ~2-3 minutes to complete, results in under 5 minutes, based on their own closed-deal sales data; also offered as a Shopify app.
  30. A valuation calculator exists ('proprietary algorithm') but requires submitting contact info before results are shown, and the page never states it is free or instant. Separately, the sell-your-business page offers a personalized valuation 'within 24 hours' (not instant) via free consultation.
  31. seller-supplied PDFs, signed off-platform
  32. DealStream's own NDA content is purely educational (what an NDA is, tips for buyers) with no mention of a built-in e-signature/NDA workflow; the guidance implies NDAs are handled directly between buyer and seller, often with outside legal review.
  33. No NDA/e-signature tool is mentioned on LoopNet's own advertise or search pages, and a targeted search of loopnet.com/help.loopnet.com turned up no help-centre article describing one. The businesses-for-sale vertical has no first-party feature pages of its own — selling routes entirely off-site to BizBuySell, which would own any such workflow, not loopnet.com.
  34. Buyers must sign an NDA before seeing full listing detail/URL, and the whole flow (verification, unlocking listings) is in-platform, but I could not find a first-party page explicitly describing e-signature mechanics for the NDA specifically.
  35. paid add-on, seller-managed queue
  36. Buyer's Club offers a 'One-Time Sign Blanket NDA' that covers all future deals for that member, eliminating repeat signing — a real integrated NDA mechanism, though the page doesn't specify the e-signature technology used.
  37. DealStream's own due-diligence blog post recommends external VDR products (Deal Room, Share Vault, iDeals, etc.) for storing/sharing due-diligence documents, i.e. it does not offer its own virtual data room.
  38. Verified buyers 'unlock' a listing to view financials (P&L), Google Analytics access, and earnings statements gated behind ID + proof-of-funds verification and NDA - functionally a gated document/data view, but I did not find first-party language that names it a 'data room' or details its scope beyond financial docs.
  39. 'managing secure data rooms to keep financial, legal, operational, and HR documents confidential' during diligence.
  40. BrokerWorks page describes listing management, network distribution and performance tracking only — no document/data-room or watermarking feature.
  41. No document dataroom exists at all (NDAs are static per-listing PDFs), so no per-viewer watermarking feature.
  42. There is no document viewer/data room in the inquiry flow at all (it only unlocks name/phone/email), so there is nothing to watermark.
  43. No document-security/watermarking feature found; matches a listing-advertising platform, not a VDR product.
  44. No mention of per-viewer/dynamic watermarking of data-room documents anywhere in the how-it-works, seller FAQ, or buyer FAQ pages, despite those pages otherwise detailing the NDA/data-room flow in some depth.
  45. Verified-financials/P&L pages describe QuickBooks-derived, badge-marked P&L statements but never mention per-viewer or per-buyer watermarking of shared documents.
  46. Listings page reviewed directly for verification/authentication markings; none present.
  47. Only educational blog content on what an LOI is; no LOI/HOA generation tool appears in the Adding Listings / Managing Listings help-center sections.
  48. LOI builder in their pipeline
  49. Empire Flippers explains what an LOI is and that LOIs are custom-drafted per deal during their brokered process; I found no first-party evidence of a self-serve LOI/HOA template builder tool for users to generate documents themselves.
  50. Brokers 'coach on LOIs' and negotiate them, but no self-serve LOI/heads-of-agreement builder tool is described — this is broker-assisted, not a platform tool.
  51. the only signal is a paid badge
  52. Phone verification is required to send inquiries or add a listing; an optional Stripe-powered identity verification gives a green checkmark badge; ID Verification is mandatory for listings in the Funding categories.
  53. funds verification + seller ID checks
  54. Buyers must complete ID verification and proof-of-funds verification (bank-connect for instant unlock, or uploaded docs reviewed within 24 hours) before unlocking any listing.
  55. human vetting only above US$50K
  56. Buyer's Club members complete onboarding and earn a 'Certified Business Buyer' badge; separately, M&A Deal Services page states '90% of inquiries are vetted rigorously' before buyers proceed.
  57. Buyers contact sellers via an on-platform Inquiry system (plus 'DealMail' and Invitations for networking) that relays messages by email while keeping direct contact info hidden until an inquiry form is completed.
  58. Platform has a 'Messages' dashboard; a November 2025 update added a 'Schedule Call' button there that auto-generates a Zoom link and Google Calendar invite for all parties.
  59. No buyer-seller in-platform messaging/inbox system found; contact channels shown site-wide are phone (800-251-1559) and email, with brokers as intermediaries rather than a chat/message feature.
  60. DealStream's own safety page tells members to "Always use a trusted escrow service (e.g., escrow.com)" and states DealStream "is not involved in your transaction" — i.e. no in-house escrow at closing. (A separate marketing page, /services/payments, uses escrow language but is actually a browse category of third-party payment/escrow businesses FOR SALE on the marketplace, not a DealStream-operated service.)
  61. via Escrow.com, fee covered
  62. Empire Flippers itself holds sale funds like an escrow account through closing/migration and releases payout to the seller only once migration is complete (per this page and their buying-process page); for milestone/earn-out deals the full price is held in escrow pending performance targets.
  63. M&A Deal Services page lists 'escrow closings' as part of end-to-end deal support; a dedicated resources article details their escrow process (holdback and working-capital escrow types).
  64. digital-only scope
  65. "Do you verify the information in listings? No. We don't verify the information in listings because it's cost-prohibitive. You need to do your own due diligence." Same answer given for member profiles.
  66. ChartMogul + Google Analytics sync
  67. September 2025 update added direct QuickBooks Online connection for sellers, auto-generating 'Detailed & Verified P&Ls' from the seller's own accounting data, with a Verified Metrics Badge shown on the listing.
  68. Site content stresses the importance of 'verified financials' for sellers to provide, but no WC-run third-party accounting verification/audit service or badge for listings was found (a genuine site search turned up no such first-party program).
  69. Listing data is manually entered by the seller/broker; no mention anywhere in the listing flow, valuation tools, or broker pages of live POS/e-commerce/accounting-platform data connections.
  70. No POS/accounting/e-commerce live-data integration found; valuation and listings rely on manually entered figures.
  71. No e-commerce platform integrations (Shopify, POS, etc.) found anywhere on the site; not a feature category the platform addresses.
  72. Not applicable/found; LoopNet is a CRE and business-listing marketplace, no e-commerce checkout integrations.
  73. Listings can connect live to Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, App Store (via ChartMogul) for customer/revenue metrics, QuickBooks/Sage for accounting data, and Google Analytics for traffic — all auto-pulled into the listing.
  74. EF connects directly to sellers' live commerce/financial accounts to verify numbers — QuickBooks Online (auto-generated verified P&L), Stripe/PayPal (revenue), Shopify and Amazon Seller Central, and Google Analytics (traffic).
  75. Valuation and listing data are entered manually (sales, costs, add-backs typed into the calculator); no Shopify/QuickBooks/marketplace API integration for live data pull is mentioned anywhere on the site.
  76. seller-managed "blind listing"
  77. omit details manually
  78. Explicit help-center guidance: "I don't want anyone to know the business I am selling is for sale. How can I list confidentially?" — sellers can enter only a state/country and ranges for sales/profit instead of identifying details.
  79. Listing cards on the public search results show only county/city (e.g. 'Monmouth County, NJ', 'Mount Holly, NC') and a generic title/description — no business name or street address disclosed pre-inquiry.
  80. Listings hide the URL/business name by default ('to protect the end-buyer and to prevent copycats'); the URL is only revealed to verified buyers who unlock the listing, or occasionally made public for defensible businesses/case studies with seller agreement.
  81. Public listings use descriptive/anonymized titles (e.g. '11 Year SaaS Platform offering SMS & MMS Marketing Services...') rather than actual company names; resources articles describe WC's confidential marketing process, including buyer non-disclosure and non-circumvention obligations before real identity is revealed.
  82. "A saved search is a search that runs on a schedule (hourly, daily, weekly) and emails you any new listings that it finds." Available to create/edit/delete from search results pages.
  83. Saved Filter notifications moved from weekly to daily (10 AM ET) in an August 2025 update, emailing listings matching a buyer's saved criteria from the past 24 hours.
  84. A genuine hunt (site search for saved search/email alerts, plus the Buyer's Club benefits list) found no saved-search or listing-alert feature; Buyer's Club instead offers 'Early Looks at Deals' via broker concierge service, not a self-serve alert tool.
  85. DealStream runs browsable, location-filtered 'Directory Of Real Estate / Business Brokerage / M&A Firms' pages (e.g., per province/state) built from broker-submitted service listings.
  86. Empire Flippers operates as a single in-house brokerage (its own sales/vetting/migrations teams handle every deal); I found no first-party page offering a directory of independent third-party brokers to choose from.
  87. Not applicable — Website Closers is itself a single brokerage firm, not a marketplace listing multiple independent brokers.
  88. BrokerWorks membership lets brokers list and manage multiple businesses for sale at a discounted bulk rate from one dashboard, with sold-comp access and a broker directory page.
  89. Found only that broker listings entered on sibling site BizBuySell auto-cross-post to BizQuest; no evidence of a public bulk-upload/API feed for third-party broker software to push listings directly into BizQuest.
  90. KB: 'Do you have an API for uploading listings? No. We don't have an API.' Bulk uploads are handled manually via a 'contact us' request, not a self-serve feed/API.
  91. LoopLink/CoStar Connect syncs a broker's listing updates in real time across their own site, CoStar, and LoopNet, and CRM integrations feed leads back — feed-based sync exists, but no explicit 'bulk upload file feed' documentation was found.
  92. No bulk listing import or broker feed/API integration found in seller pricing, seller FAQ, or listing-creation documentation; listings appear to be created one at a time through the standard onboarding/curation flow.
  93. EF operates as a single in-house curated brokerage — every listing passes through EF's own vetting team; no evidence found of third-party brokers bulk-submitting or feeding listings onto the marketplace.
  94. No bulk/XML data feed for third-party brokers to ingest listings was found on the site after a targeted search.
  95. Quarterly BizBuySell Insight Report analyzes tens of thousands of for-sale/sold listings across 70+ US markets and 65 industries; most recent edition covers Q2 2026 data.
  96. Knowledge Center contains only static educational articles; no quarterly market/insight report was found for BizQuest itself (that product exists on sibling site BizBuySell, not BizQuest).
  97. Industry Guides span 400+ industries with 'market insights, valuation benchmarks, and competitive analysis'; DealStream also publishes quarterly Member Survey market reports via press releases (e.g. Q1/Q2 2026 Main Street M&A surveys).
  98. Dedicated 'Trends' hub plus data-driven market rankings (e.g., top industrial/office markets by cap-rate, inventory, employment) and a 'Market Search Activity' report.
  99. Acquire.com publishes a biannual Acquisition Multiples Report based on its own closed-deal data, plus related market-trend blog content.
  100. EF publishes recurring quarterly marketplace reports and a 'State of the Industry Report' analyzing thousands of closed deals and hundreds of millions in transaction data.
  101. Extensive M&A-trend/industry-outlook articles exist (SaaS M&A, cross-border M&A, sector trends), but no structured, dated, downloadable 'market report' product (e.g. quarterly data report) was found.
  102. Dedicated Franchises-for-Sale marketplace with category pages (retail, food & restaurant, home-based, business services, etc.) plus a franchise directory and newsletter.
  103. Dedicated Franchise Directory Network with FDD info, franchise resales section, and a franchise-specific advertising program.
  104. Dedicated Franchises vertical with its own nav category, regional pages (e.g. /franchises/west-coast, /franchises/restaurants) and 409 active franchise listings per /browse.
  105. Dedicated 'Business Franchise Opportunities' channel with state-level sub-pages and category filters (e.g., 'Business Opportunities Franchise').
  106. Acquire.com's categories are SaaS, ecommerce, content sites, mobile apps, agencies, newsletters, dropshipping, Amazon FBA, and AI businesses — no franchise resale category found on the platform or in category-specific searches.
  107. The marketplace's category taxonomy (Affiliate, Amazon FBA/FBM/KDP/Merch/Associates, Apps, Digital Products, Display Advertising, Ecommerce, Info Products, Lead Gen, SaaS, Service, Subscription, YouTube) has no franchise vertical.
  108. Main listings page is titled 'Businesses For Sale, Franchises for Sale,' and there is a dedicated Sell Franchise Business service page covering franchise resale valuation, offering memorandums and buyer vetting.
  109. A true auction format with timed bidding.
  110. The Offers tab already lets several buyers hold competing offers on one listing, which is a partial auction in effect. A formal timed auction is on the roadmap.
  111. An App Store search for 'bizbuysell' returned no BizBuySell app (only unrelated marketplace apps like LoopNet, Crexi, Businesses For Sale); the platform instead serves a mobile-web subdomain (m.bizbuysell.com).
  112. Company describes 'desktop and mobile sites' (responsive web) rather than a dedicated iOS/Android app; no App Store/Play Store listing found for BizQuest itself.
  113. No app-store links found in site footer/homepage. The only 'DealStream' app on Google Play (com.rknldeals.dealstream) is an unrelated third-party product by a different developer (Rahul Hans), not this company's app.
  114. Official iOS app on the App Store and Android app ('LoopNet Real Estate') on Google Play, published by LoopNet/CoStar.
  115. No dedicated Acquire.com marketplace iOS/Android app found; the only 'Acquire' apps in app stores belong to the unrelated acquire.io customer-chat product, not the M&A marketplace.
  116. No dedicated EF iOS/Android marketplace app was found; the only EF-branded apps located are a Shopify valuation-widget app and an unrelated third-party 'Flipper Mobile App' game — the marketplace itself is web-only.
  117. No App Store/Google Play app was found for Website Closers in a direct search; the FAQ and buyer/seller pages make no mention of a mobile app.
  118. app coming
  119. 'Manage listings on BizBuySell for instant exposure across our entire network of sites' — listings are 'automatically distributed across multiple affiliated marketplaces.'
  120. 'Your listing will also appear on our entire Partner Network' — cross-posting to partner sites is shown directly on the sell page.
  121. Only related statement found is standard search-engine crawling/indexing ('All the major search engines crawl our site and index our listings') — no evidence of a distinct syndication/off-site promotion network to partner sites.
  122. LoopLink lets brokers embed/syndicate LoopNet listings onto their own websites with real-time sync, and listings are simultaneously exposed across the CoStar network.
  123. Promotion tools described are internal to Acquire's own network — 'ad campaigns to expose your listing to 500k+ buyers' on-platform and Slack/instant alerts to its buyer base — with no mention of paid external advertising (search/social) or off-site syndication.
  124. Listings are automatically syndicated via API to BizBuySell and BusinessesForSale.com, promoted via email to 95,000+ subscribers and push notifications, run through paid retargeting/lookalike ad campaigns, and distributed via YouTube and the EF podcast.
  125. Homepage promotes a daily email distribution list ('1-2 businesses for sale every business day') to their stated 1.3M buyer network, an offsite promotion channel beyond the listings page itself.
  126. Both Free and Pro plans list 'Listing performance stats — see key data like days on market and other relevant activity signals'; third-party review corroborates an Analytics tab showing views, inquiries, and Search Genius email sends per listing.
  127. Sellers get a Seller Dashboard ('Selling' tab) with task tracking and an upcoming-calls section, and Empire Flippers syncs sellers' Google Analytics into their own account for their teams to use - but I did not find first-party evidence of a buyer-traffic/listing-performance analytics view exposed back to the seller.
  128. Full-length 'Guide to Selling Your Business' and 'Guide to Buying a Small Business' publications, plus an ongoing Learning Center article library covering NDAs, valuation, financing, closing documents, etc.
  129. Knowledge Center hub with dozens of articles for both business owners (selling, valuation, exit planning) and buyers (due diligence, financing, offers).
  130. Extensive blog organized by category (Entrepreneurship, Buying Businesses, Selling Businesses, Business Financing, Real Estate, Lifestyle) plus separate Industry Guides and a full Knowledge Base/help center.
  131. Substantial 'Learn'/'cre-explained' content hub with guides like 'Documents and Information Required for Selling a Business,' valuation-methodology explainers, and market-trend articles.
  132. Paid membership includes 'access to Acquire Academy M&A masterclasses,' and the platform runs an extensive public blog with valuation, exit-planning, and deal-process guides.
  133. EF publishes an extensive educational library: multiple podcasts (Empire Flippers Podcast, Web Equity Show, The Opportunity, Real Money Real Business), and long-form valuation/how-to guides per business model (ecommerce, Amazon FBA, SaaS, website valuation).
  134. Large 'Resources' library of guides, checklists and FAQs (e.g. Ultimate Guide to SaaS M&A, Documents You Need to Sell a Business, due-diligence checklists) sits alongside a dedicated FAQ page.
  135. 15 sourced country guides live 2026-08-29
  136. No evidence of a single structured data-entry step feeding multiple downstream outputs (teaser/CIM/listing) — it is one listing form.
  137. Simple single-purpose ad-listing form; no evidence one data entry feeds multiple generated documents (teaser/CIM/etc.) since those don't exist on the platform.
  138. Omitted consideration but noting: listing form is a single flat form per item/category; no evidence of a reusable structured data model feeding multiple outputs.
  139. No evidence of a single underlying data model feeding listing/teaser/CIM; CIM appears to be a broker-authored document exchanged manually.
  140. Sellers connect accounting software (QuickBooks/Sage), payment/customer-metrics (Stripe/PayPal/Braintree/App Store via ChartMogul), and Google Analytics once, and data auto-syncs into the listing — a live-sync model for metrics, but there's no evidence this same captured data also auto-populates a teaser/CIM/marketing copy (those aren't offered), so it's partial rather than a full common-form data model.
  141. Sellers submit business data once during the vetting intake; that same vetted dataset populates the valuation, the live listing profile, and (where connected) the verified P&L, rather than being re-entered at each stage.
  142. No mention of a single reusable data model; process is broker-managed end to end with no self-serve data entry described.
  143. 'Most listings go live shortly after you publish them. However, some may be reviewed before appearing' — self-serve but a multi-step flow (account, plan purchase, details, publish), and not guaranteed instant/unreviewed.
  144. 'Create your listing... Publish your listing in about 5 minutes' — self-serve immediate publish, no manual review step described.
  145. KB: 'Your listing will be published when our editors complete their review. This normally takes 2-3 business days.' Explicitly a multi-step, human-reviewed process.
  146. Listings require curation-team review before going live ('in just one business day') and edits after publish also require re-review — not a self-serve instant/one-click publish.
  147. Listings go through a mandatory 2-4 week manual vetting process (automated tools plus manual review by 2+ staff, revenue-source access verification) before going live — explicitly not instant/self-serve publishing.
  148. Listing goes live only after a broker-run valuation, business-prep and marketing-strategy sequence (weeks, per their described process) — not seller self-publish.
  149. Sellers are told to 'have an NDA ready...work with your attorney' and manually vet buyers before sending a memorandum — no automated e-sign-then-unlock-dataroom flow.
  150. NDAs found are static per-broker PDF documents attached to listings, not an automated sign-and-unlock-dataroom flow.
  151. Full inquiry-flow KB (36 articles) shows the only gate is an inquiry form that unlocks the seller's name/phone/email — no NDA e-signature step, no data room, no document exchange feature exists at all.
  152. Flow found: buyer 'fills out the Contact Form to receive the NDA and Confidential Information Memorandum' — a manual, broker-mediated exchange, not an automated instant unlock into a dataroom.
  153. Seller pricing page lists 'Automatic NDAs to protect your privacy,' and search results describe an NDA Builder that auto-sends an NDA to buyers requesting private data-room access.
  154. Unlocking (the EF equivalent of data-room access) is explicitly stated to require ID + proof-of-funds verification and Terms of Use agreement — not an NDA e-signature — so there is no NDA-triggered dataroom flow.
  155. fast lane for paid/verified only
  156. Buyer's Club members sign one blanket NDA for standing access to all deals for the subscription term (closer to an automatic unlock), but non-members must sign a fresh NDA per deal and no automated instant-dataroom-access mechanism is described for either path.
  157. Platform disclaims independent verification of listings/users and places screening/due-diligence responsibility on sellers and buyers themselves; no automated buyer-vetting product found.
  158. Only a light manual check exists for optional buyer prequalification-letter uploads (staff confirms the letter matches the listing and isn't expired) — explicitly not a verification of the buyer's financial capacity, and not automated.
  159. ID verification is mandatory only for Funding-category listings ('above average number of fraudsters... so we added this requirement') and optional elsewhere ('complete your member profile and verify your identity' to get more responses) — a limited fraud check, not a general automated proof-of-funds/buyer-qualification system.
  160. No automated proof-of-funds/buyer-qualification system found; hunted directly.
  161. Seller pricing page lists vetted buyers with 'screened buyer identities and available funds verification' as a built-in platform step before sellers engage with them.
  162. Bank-account verification via Plaid is instant/automated (US only); document-based verification (international, or non-bank assets) requires manual review taking up to 24 hours — a hybrid, not fully automated, screening process.
  163. Screening/qualification is explicitly human-led: senior professionals onboard buyers, a concierge team member and broker guide pre-qualification with lenders — no algorithmic screening described.
  164. Free 'Casual Searcher' accounts get 'Save listings & searches' and 'Get email alerts for new listings'; paid Edge tier adds 'Spot new, popular, and price-reduced listings' — an alert/matching mechanism between buyer criteria and new listings.
  165. Search/listing pages offer 'Set up an email alert to get notified as new matching businesses become available.'
  166. 'Using advanced artificial intelligence, DealStream searches our expansive database 24/7 for deals that align with your interests. We serve up a customized recommendation for you each day via email.' Also references internal 'Search Genius' ranking software in the KB.
  167. LoopNet offers saved-search alerts for submarket/size/rate criteria (user-defined, not an algorithmic matching engine); no evidence of proactive buyer-listing matching beyond that.
  168. Paid buyer membership includes 'instant notifications of new listings matching your criteria,' i.e., automated criteria-based matching/alerts.
  169. 'Saved Filter' notifications match buyers' saved criteria to new listings and send daily emails explicitly citing why a listing matched (e.g. 'matched your FBA, Affiliate, Within Budget filters').
  170. Buyer's Club page (the platform's dedicated buyer-experience page) has no mention of automated buyer-to-listing matching or deal-alert algorithms — access/priority is concierge- and broker-driven.
  171. BrokerWorks page promotes 'Track Performance' and 'listing activity insights to monitor the market' — seller/broker-facing analytics on listing impressions, views and leads.
  172. Advertiser page: 'track performance in a powerful, self-service dashboard'; seller packages include 'real-time lead delivery and stats.'
  173. Pricing page lists 'Listing performance stats — see key data like days on market, and other relevant activity signals to make better decisions'; KB confirms the inquiry system 'allows us to provide analytical information to sellers.'
  174. Listing Performance Report shows impressions, detail views, visitor company/location details, market comparison; accessible via Marketing Center > My Listings.
  175. No seller-facing dashboard reporting listing views, unlocks, or buyer-interest metrics was found across the marketing, how-it-works, or seller-FAQ pages after a genuine hunt.
  176. No advertiser product or reporting dashboard found; this is a brokerage, not an ad-supported listing marketplace.
  177. online businesses only
  178. digital assets only — websites, apps, SaaS
  179. tech/digital only
  180. above US$100K it is broker-only
  181. curated — they vet before listing
  182. US$100K+ needs 12mo profit, 24mo trading
  183. their vetting starts above US$50K
  184. provenance classes on every listing
  185. buyer carries the payment processing
  186. listing fees are non-refundable
  187. nothing was charged to begin with
  188. US$199 add-on, manual accept queue
  189. LOI + APA builders via Dropbox Sign
  190. Only educational articles on listing-agreement terms exist; no document-generation or e-signing tool for agency/authority-to-sell documents was found.
  191. No formal agency/sales-authority document generation found; broker tools are limited to a paid 'Broker Works' listing membership.
  192. Full 'Adding Listings' KB (38 articles) covers only classified-ad style listing creation; no agency agreement / authority-to-sell document tooling of any kind.
  193. No listing-agreement/agency-authority document generator found in product pages or help center; hunted directly.
  194. Acquire.com is founder-to-buyer direct (no brokers/agents intermediating individual deals), so there is no agency/authority-to-act document type in its workflow. It does offer optional paid 'expert M&A guidance/advisor' add-ons, but no agency-authority paperwork is described.
  195. EF uses its own standard Asset Purchase Agreement (APA), not a jurisdiction-specific 'agency authority to sell' instrument (the AU/UK real-estate-style document); no mention of such a document anywhere on the site after hunting FAQ, how-it-works, and legal pages.
  196. No public page describes a formal 'agency authority' document product; listing engagement is a traditional broker representation agreement handled off-platform, not a named/showcased document type.
  197. VIC/QLD/NSW instruments
  198. Page is educational content explaining that earnest-money/escrow is held by an outside closing attorney or escrow company. BizBuySell itself does not operate an escrow or deposit-receipt service.
  199. Platform is lead-generation/advertising only: sellers get buyer inquiries and negotiate off-platform. No escrow, deposit, or funds-handling feature found anywhere on the site.
  200. DealStream blogs about third-party online escrow services rather than handling deposits/escrow itself; no deposit-receipt feature found anywhere on the platform after checking listing flow and KB.
  201. No evidence of on-platform earnest-money/deposit receipt or escrow tooling anywhere on the site or help center; LoopNet is a listing/marketing platform, deal closing happens off-platform between broker/buyer.
  202. Deal flow is listing → NDA → data room → LOI/APA → Escrow.com closing. No concept of an earnest-money 'deposit receipt' document anywhere in the seller/buyer FAQs or how-it-works pages; funds move only at closing via escrow.
  203. Buying-process page details a non-refundable down payment (10% or $9,900, whichever greater) held escrow-style, but never mentions a formal deposit-receipt document/certificate being issued.
  204. Escrow/earnest-money deposits are handled by a third-party escrow company as part of the closing process (buyer wires earnest money into escrow); no platform-generated deposit receipt feature was found after searching for 'deposit receipt' / 'earnest money' on the site.
  205. Same listing-creation flow; no CIM-generation tool. Third-party tools (Dealaxia, Amafi) generate CIMs and post them TO BizBuySell, but that is not a BizBuySell capability.
  206. No CIM/offering-memorandum generation tool found in the listing flow or knowledge center.
  207. No document-generation capability of any kind is described in the listing-creation KB; platform is inquiry/contact-based only.
  208. CIM is described as something buyers 'receive' via contact form/broker after NDA — an exchanged document, not a platform CIM-builder.
  209. No CIM (confidential information memorandum) generation tool found; disclosure happens via the connected-metrics listing plus data room documents after NDA, not a generated CIM.
  210. Unlocking a listing exposes full financials, traffic data, and (for $300k+ deals) a seller video/audio interview — functionally a CIM — but it's an unlocked profile view, not a discrete generated CIM document/PDF.
  211. BrokerAI, brokered sales
  212. CIM is manually built by the broker/investment banker for the client, not an automated generation tool exposed on the platform.
  213. Listing-creation flow is manual entry of description, photos and financials; no AI teaser generation is mentioned anywhere on the FAQ or listing pages.
  214. Listing creation is manual ('Create your listing... add images and details as desired'); no AI teaser-document generation mentioned.
  215. Listing creation is a manual 4-step form; guidance on writing a listing is a human how-to blog article, not an AI teaser generator.
  216. Business-for-sale listings reference NDA/CIM as documents a broker sends manually after a contact-form request, not a platform-generated teaser tool.
  217. No AI or automated blind-teaser document generation found on the how-it-works page, seller pricing, or seller FAQ. The public listing itself functions as the teaser; curation staff manually edit headlines rather than an AI generator producing a separate teaser doc.
  218. Listings are locked by default (niche, price, multiple, summarized financials visible; business name/URL hidden) functioning as a de facto teaser, but this is a locked-listing UI state, not a discrete generated teaser document.
  219. Teasers are described as broker-authored ('These professionals will create a generic teaser'), not a self-serve or AI generation tool offered to sellers on the platform.
  220. No AI copywriting/description-generation assistance is mentioned in the self-serve listing flow.
  221. Listing creation is described as manual entry of images/details; no AI copywriting assistant mentioned.
  222. The listing-creation process described in the help center is a manual form (headline, details, contact info, photos) scored by a rules-based Quality Score (length, grammar, caps, jargon) reviewed by human editors — no AI copy-generation tool is mentioned.
  223. No built-in AI listing-description generator found in product/feature pages after a direct search for this.
  224. Listing copy/headline optimization is done by the human curation team ('we'll edit this headline to make it as attractive as possible'), not an AI copywriting tool.
  225. The 2025 changelog's only disclosed AI feature is the internal AI Buyer Match matching tool; I found no first-party mention of AI-generated listing descriptions/teasers offered to sellers.
  226. brokered sales (BrokerAI)
  227. No mention of AI-generated listing descriptions; marketing/teaser copy is described as broker-produced ('VIP direct marketing and teaser campaigns').
  228. Worksheet walks through 'Adjustments to Expenses' — addbacks for owner salary, travel, depreciation, interest, insurance — i.e. an SDE-style earnings-normalization spreadsheet.
  229. Valuation tool is a simple SDE-multiple range calculator, not an addback/earnings-adjustment spreadsheet.
  230. Financial topics (ROI, SDE/EBITDA) are covered only as educational blog articles; no SDE/EBITDA add-back calculator or spreadsheet tool found on the site.
  231. This educational article covers what financial docs a seller should gather, but no add-back/earnings-adjustment tool or spreadsheet product was found.
  232. No SDE/EBITDA add-back or earnings-adjustment spreadsheet tool found; sellers get valuation guidance but must calculate adjustments themselves or via a paid advisor.
  233. EF explains SDE add-backs conceptually in blog guides and has a web-based valuation tool, but no downloadable add-back/earnings-adjustment spreadsheet was found.
  234. P&L builder (accounts/CSV)
  235. The valuation calculator's first step is a 'Discretionary Earnings Entry' that captures sales, costs, expenses and add-backs to normalize earnings — an embedded add-back calculation, but not a standalone downloadable earnings-adjustment spreadsheet tool.
  236. DealCoach/BizWorth valuation products stop at a point-in-time value estimate or paid consultation (EOV/BAMA); no exit-readiness scoring report was found.
  237. Knowledge Center has generic exit-planning articles ('Selling Your Business: An Overview') but no personalized exit-readiness report tool.
  238. Homepage/blog hub offers generic articles (e.g. 'Is Buying a Business Right for You?') but no personalized exit-readiness report product.
  239. No exit-readiness scoring/report product found; site's business-sale content is educational articles only.
  240. No exit-readiness scoring/report product found on seller pricing, seller FAQ, or blog how-it-works content.
  241. No named 'exit readiness' report or assessment product found across the seller FAQ, how-it-works, or vetting pages after a genuine hunt.
  242. analysis is a paid add-on
  243. Exit-readiness content exists only as educational articles/consultation, not an automated report generated for a seller.
  244. Same valuation-tool hunt (DealCoach, BizWorth, valuation report page) turned up no growth-plan report product.
  245. No growth-plan report product found; only static educational articles.
  246. No growth-plan report product found; content is generic educational blog/industry-guide material only.
  247. No growth-plan report product found.
  248. No growth-plan report product found in seller-facing materials.
  249. No named 'growth plan' deliverable for sellers found; EF's seller-facing content is valuation/vetting/marketing focused, not a growth-planning report product.
  250. No growth-plan report product found on valuation or resources pages.
  251. Despite 'instant estimate' marketing language, BizWorth requires creating a free account before displaying the valuation range — gated, not ungated.
  252. The valuation calculator page presents the tool openly with no mention of an email/signup gate to use it, unlike a lead-capture form.
  253. No valuation calculator/tool of DealStream's own was found anywhere on the site; the platform only writes about external tools.
  254. Public blog-hosted calculator gives an instant estimate from user inputs; no login/signup wall mentioned. Confirmed via search-tool summary; direct fetch blocked by 403.
  255. The valuation tool is free but the page states 'we ask for your contact information so you can instantly transfer your valuation calculation... to a listing' — the estimate is gated behind providing contact details, not a fully ungated instant result.
  256. EF's own marketing for the tool states you get a fair-market valuation 'in minutes with no strings attached'; the tool page itself didn't explicitly confirm no email/account requirement, so this is inferred from EF's own promotional language rather than a page that spells out the gate-free flow step by step.
  257. Calculator's final step is explicitly gated: contact information is marked 'Required to see the results' before the Enterprise Value Range is shown.
  258. 'Most listings go live shortly after you publish them' via a self-serve account → plan → details → publish flow.
  259. 'Publish your listing in about 5 minutes.'
  260. KB explicitly states listings go live only 'when our editors complete their review. This normally takes 2-3 business days,' i.e. not fast/instant go-live.
  261. Could not determine a speed/SLA claim for listings going live; self-service 'Add a Listing' flow exists but no stated turnaround time found.
  262. Curation team responds 'in just one business day' and listings go live immediately upon approval (pre-approved/fast-tracked startups move even faster) — fast relative to traditional brokerage, though not instant self-publish.
  263. Vetting explicitly takes 2-4 weeks (revenue-source verification alone takes 1-3 weeks) — the opposite of a fast go-live path.
  264. Process is broker-run (valuation call, business prep, then marketing/screening) with no expedited self-serve go-live path described.
  265. No e-signature product of any kind was found on the site (NDA handling is explicitly offline/manual), so there is no signing capability to be accountless about.
  266. No e-signature capability exists at all (NDAs are static PDFs to print/sign/email back), so there is no accountless-signing feature to speak of.
  267. No signing feature exists at all; moreover the platform requires email verification (and phone verification for listers) before any inquiry/listing action, i.e. everything is account-gated, not accountless.
  268. No signing feature at all was found (see signature_audit_certificates), so accountless signing is moot/absent.
  269. Seller FAQ confirms an account is required to list; no first-party evidence found of buyers or sellers being able to sign LOIs/APAs without a platform account.
  270. Buyers must register, ID-verify, and complete proof-of-funds verification before unlocking/interacting with a listing at all — no accountless path to signing or transacting.
  271. Buyer engagement is built around account creation — Buyer Onboarding, a Certified Buyer Badge and a password-protected dashboard — with no accountless/anonymous NDA-signing path described for standard (non-member) buyers either.
  272. Platform scope is listing marketing plus lead/performance tracking; escrow, NDA signing and financial verification are all explicitly pushed off-platform to attorneys, escrow companies and brokers.
  273. Explicit 3-step model: list, get inquiries, 'respond to buyers that fit your criteria' — negotiation/LOI/closing all happen off-platform, not in one integrated deal room.
  274. Platform is explicitly a lead-gen/contact-connection layer — inquiry unlocks contact info and buyer/seller are told to call/email each other directly; no NDA, financials verification, data room, or closing tools are bundled in-platform.
  275. LoopNet is a listing/advertising and lead-gen layer; brokers explicitly run 'the actual deal pipeline' in a separate CRE-native CRM, not on LoopNet itself.
  276. Platform 'manages the entire process from start to finish' — collecting NDAs, signed LOIs, and setting up the escrow account for transfer all within Acquire.com, plus a built-in legal doc builder for APAs.
  277. EF's commission is stated to cover valuation, P&L preparation, deal negotiation/conference calls, legal documentation (APA), escrow, and post-sale migration — the full deal lifecycle handled within EF rather than farmed out.
  278. Deal execution is spread across separate external parties (attorneys draft the APA, an independent escrow company holds funds, lenders handle financing) rather than one unified deal platform.
  279. Free 'Casual Searcher' buyers get standard browsing/alerts, but the paid ~$20/mo 'Serious Entrepreneur' (Edge) tier is required to 'Spot new, popular, and price-reduced listings' first — early visibility is a paid upsell.
  280. Monetization is entirely seller/advertiser-side ($59.95-$349/mo listing packages, franchise pay-per-lead); no mention anywhere of buyers paying to view listings, teasers, or contact sellers.
  281. Free plan is capped (2 inquiries/day, only 'unlocked' listings); Pro ($40/mo) is required for 'full contact access to all opportunities' and locked listings, per both /plans and the Adding Listings KB ('locked' vs 'unlocked' listings).
  282. Free users reportedly see only thumbnails/basic details while paid tiers unlock full contact info, analytics, and real-time alerts — i.e., payment gates faster/fuller access rather than everyone getting equal early access.
  283. Buyers must pay a Premium ($390/yr, businesses up to $250k) or Platinum ($780/yr, all sizes) subscription to view key metrics, standardized financials, and to directly contact founders — free tier is limited to public listing details only.
  284. Access/unlock privileges are gated by identity + proof-of-funds verification, not by payment; searches for a paid priority-access tier ('Boss Mode' or similar) turned up no such product, and other sourcing confirms 'no fees of any kind for buyers.'
  285. 21-day early access is a paid tier
  286. Buyer's Club charges $50/month explicitly for 'early looks' and 'priority access to deals' — early access is paid, not free.
  287. Page names '3 data-rich methods' and states it draws on up to 500 sold comps plus 500 for-sale listings, but does not publish the underlying formulas or weightings.
  288. Page explicitly publishes the SDE market-multiple methodology and how the multiple ranges are derived by industry.
  289. DealStream's own content reviews third-party valuation tools (e.g. ValuAdder) rather than publishing its own valuation methodology.
  290. Page explicitly explains the income-capitalization method (NOI ÷ market cap rate) LoopNet's calculator uses, publicly, alongside '3 core methods.' Content confirmed via search-tool summary of the page; direct WebFetch to loopnet.com returned 403 (bot protection).
  291. Free SaaS valuation tool page explicitly states it uses 'the multiple valuation methodology, favored by financial buyers including private equity and investors,' based on data from thousands of closed acquisitions, updated biannually.
  292. EF publishes its methodology openly: SDE-based valuation, monthly-profit multiples (roughly 20x-60x/30-50x depending on source page) that vary by business model (content, ecommerce, SaaS), and the qualitative factors (stability, growth trend, transferability) that move the multiple.
  293. Page explicitly discloses the methods blended into its Enterprise Value Range: Discounted Cash Flow, Future Maintainable Earnings, Relative/Comparable Company Analysis, Precedent Transaction Analysis, Historical Earnings, Asset Valuation and Straightline TTM Analysis.
  294. Explicit disclaimer: 'the listing is provided by the business seller and we have not independently verified any of the information' — no verification/provenance badges exist.
  295. No provenance/verification badges found on listings; consistent with the explicit non-verification disclaimer.
  296. KB states explicitly: 'we do not verify any of the information in the listing.' The only scoring shown (Quality Score) grades grammar/completeness, not data provenance.
  297. No 'verified data source' or provenance badge system found on listings.
  298. Connecting all three metric sources (accounting software, payment/customer-metrics platform, Google Analytics) 'adds a verification badge to the seller's profile' shown publicly on the listing.
  299. A visible 'Verified by Empire Flippers' badge is applied to vetted listings, and a separate badge appears on listings with a connected QuickBooks Online account (verified P&L).
  300. No 'verified financials', third-party validation, or provenance badges appear on listing cards.
  301. Same disclaimer page states BizBuySell 'cannot guarantee...100% free from false or fraudulent listings' and places diligence on the buyer — no pre-NDA financial verification product.
  302. Terms explicitly state: 'BizQuest does not review, verify, audit, or validate any underlying financial information, projections, or assumptions.'
  303. KB: 'We have the same information as you — the information in the listing itself.' No NDA gate or verified-financials step exists before contact.
  304. Financials are gated behind NDA/CIM request via contact form, not shown pre-NDA with a verification badge.
  305. The curation team verifies revenue (via connected accounting software or an uploaded P&L) before approving a listing to go live, and the resulting verification badge is visible on the public listing — before any NDA is signed.
  306. EF does not use an NDA gate at all — unlocking a listing (via proof-of-funds verification + Terms of Use, no NDA) reveals verified revenue/traffic/P&L data, including QuickBooks-derived statements on connected listings.
  307. Asking price, cash flow and revenue figures are shown publicly on listing cards with no NDA or registration required — but these are seller-reported, not independently verified/audited; full financials/tax returns still require NDA per the confidentiality-marketing articles.
  308. NDA signing is explicitly left to sellers/buyers/attorneys offline ('have an NDA ready...work with your attorney'); no e-signature or audit-certificate product exists anywhere on the site.
  309. NDAs are static downloadable PDF forms (print/sign/return to broker), not an e-signature product with audit certificates.
  310. No e-signature functionality of any kind is described anywhere in the inquiry or listing KB sections.
  311. No e-signature or signing-audit-trail feature found on the platform.
  312. Platform has a built-in LOI/APA 'legal doc builder' for signing, but no mention of a signature audit-trail certificate as a distinct artifact.
  313. FAQ describes a standard APA in the Terms of Use with custom-APA review allowed, but no e-signature audit certificate / signing-audit-trail feature is mentioned.
  314. Searched site specifically for signature-certificate/audit-trail language; no results returned from websiteclosers.com.
  315. "Coming Soon" on their own roadmap
  316. Flippa reads live platform metrics through integrations rather than interpreting a statement you upload.
  317. "Search Genius is DealStream's proprietary software that suggests listings for you based on your inquiry and viewing history" using AI, selecting up to one recommended listing per day and emailing it — also described on the homepage as AI searching the database 24/7.
  318. December 2025 changelog describes an internal 'AI Buyer Match' system now using 'the latest LLM technology' to match buyers to listings on qualitative criteria - this is an internal sales-team tool, not a self-serve buyer/seller-facing feature.
  319. The valuation calculator is described only as a 'proprietary algorithm,' not explicitly AI. Listed businesses (e.g. AI SaaS companies) mention AI as the product being sold, not as a WC platform capability — no first-party statement that WC's own tools (valuation, matching, listing copy) run on AI.