We listed our 12-person landscaping company on three of those big marketplaces last spring. Paid for the "premium" tier on two. Got a bunch of tire-kickers and one lowball offer that was basically an insult. I keep hearing about people who sold in 90 days. Are these platforms actually worth it or am I just lighting money on fire? Genuinely curious if anyone has a different experience.
Selling Online
Are online marketplaces just a waste of time and money?
Depends entirely on the marketplace. The big generic ones aree mostly a lead-gen funnel for brokers. The niche ones where buyers already know your industry are a different animal.
We sold a commercial cleaning outfit through one about two years ago. Took 11 months. Could've done it faster through a local broker honestly, but the fee was lower. It wasn't a waste but it wasn't some magic bullet either.
Premium tier on a marketplace is like paying extra for a bigger font on your yard sale sign. The people browsing yard saes are still the same people.
What price ranfe are you listing at? Below a cerrtain revenue threshold the buyer pool on those platforms is almost entirely people who want a job, not a business. They see your landscaping company and think 'I could mow lawns and be my own boss,' then they see the asking price and vanish. We had the same thing with a small HVAC business. Brokers are annoying but they pre-qualify.
yeah the pre-qualifying is the part nobody mentions. half our time was spent on calls with people who couldn't get a loan to save their lives
Key point is pricing and presentation. If your listing reads like a Craigslist ad nobody serious will bite. Sellers who do well on those platforms treat the listing like a pitch deck and have clean financials ready. The The rest get ignored.
That's fair but it cuts both ways. Buyers on marketplaces are also the ones who won't sign an NDA and want your customer list before they've shown you proof of funds. Met some real characters.
We took two acquisitions off a marketplace. Both were fine. For every good one there's fifty listings that are someone's retirement fantasy. So yeah, wastes of time exist, but so do real deals. Your landscaping one might just be too small for that channel
if you do it right they work fine. did a deal through one myself. but if you're paying premium for a boosted listing and no traffic, yeah that's just setting cash on fire.
One thing nobody's said yet: a lot of good marketplace listings attract the buyer but the deal still stalls on due diligence. Platform doesn't help you there. So budget for a lawyer and a decent accountant or the whole thing falls Apart after you've paid all the fees.
The point about buyer pdool below a revenue threshold tracks with what I'm seeing. And I'll admit the listing copy was written at 11pm the night before the free trial ended, so that's probably on me. The NDAs and proof of funds part is where I start wanting to just call an M&A guy and eat the commission.