Hopefully this doesn't come across as naive, but I'm genuinely curious. When a broker lists a business for sale, where does it actually go live? I see BizBuySell and BizQuest mentioned everywhere, but are those really the main ones? Do brokers have some secret internal network I don't know about? Just trying to understand the landscape before I start interviewing brokers.
Brokerage
What listing sites do business brokers actually use?
There's no secret handshake, but there are tiers. BizBuySell is the Walmart of listings, huge traffic, lots of noise. Brokers use it because sellers expect to see their listing there. Same with BizQuest, which is owned by the same company now I think.
Brokers use whatever their firm pays for. A lot of the big franchise brokerages push their own internal listing boards first. Then they syndicate out. If you're working with a solo broker, they might just do BizBuySell and call it a day.
Don't fforget DealStream (formerly MergerNetwork). It's not as flashy but I've seen some decent mid-market stuff on there. Also, LoopNet gets business listings sometimes but it's mostly real estate.
Interesting, so it's more of a syndication game than a single go-to site. What about the IBBA? Is their marketplace actually used by buyers or is it just a directory for brokers?
The IBBA marketplace is mostly brokers looking at other brokers' listings. Buyers rarely go there directly unless they're already deep in the process. It's like a wholesale channel.
If you want the real answer: brokers use whatever generates phone calls from qualified buyers. Right now that's still BizBuySell for main street, and for anything over $2M they're often doing direct outreach to private equity and family offices. The listing site is just the public face.
Also depends on the industry. A restaurant broker might swar by a niche site like RestaurantBrokers.com (don't quote me on the exact URL) while a manufacturing broker might barely use any public site at all.
I sold a small service business last year. My broker put it on BizBuySell and that was it. Got 40 tire kickers and 3 real buyers. So yeah, they use it, but don't expect magic.
Good to know. So bascally BizBuySell is the default, DealStream is the hipster option, and the rest is firm-specific. Thanks all.
Hipster option, ha. I'm stealng that.