With the world becoming more digital, it is no surprise that there are website brokers. Website brokers are those that help investors buy websites to grow wealth.
They also help owners of online businesses develop and execute an exit strategy. There are many brokers out there that are reputable. While there are others that are only out for profit.
BuySellEmpire is one of the top brokers on the market today. We are going to do a full review and give our thoughts at the end.
UPDATED: April 2024
Our Overall Rating
Overview of BuySellEmpire
BuySellEmpire is billed as one of the top website brokers online today. Their website landing page is clean and business-like.
They also have a fully fleshed out FAQ page for both buyers and sellers. BuySellEmpire also has a blog that you can access from the site.
There is also a very clear brokering process. They walk you through the seven steps in detail. We like that this doesn’t leave room for lingering questions.
However, the About Us page left something to be desired. It didn’t talk in detail about the business or history.
We didn’t see an established date or who the founders are. BuySellEmpire does say something about the success rate and dedicated brokers but there isn’t any detail.
Also after a quick Google search, we still did not find out who the founder or CEO was. We did find out that they operate out of the US and India.
We would like to at least see a picture and short blurb about the founder or CEO.
While we didn’t see any awards their website does claim that they are the “most experienced website brokering firm.”
Types of Business BuySellEmpire Sells
BuySellEmpire sells many different types of internet businesses. It can vary from time to time but they strive to only sell well-established websites.
These websites can be a variety of websites such as:
- Content
- Adsense or Affiliate
- eCommerce
- Amazon FBA
- Dropshipping
- Apps and SaaS-based projects
They do like to keep the quality of their buying and selling platform high. Because of this BuySellEmpire carefully screens for certain sites.
- Fake or Spam Sites
- Sites with no organic search or revenue
- Sites that have consistently decreasing visitors
- Sites with duplicate content
BuySellEmpire does have a certain range of value that they sell. If your website is valued at less than $100,000 they are unlikely to sell your site.
They will sell sites that are valued at up to five million dollars.
BuySellEmpire Valuation Process
Like most website brokerage businesses BuySellEmpire does offer a free website valuation. This will help start the process and help you decide if you want to sell.
It is a very quick and simple valuation. You simply fill out a form with the pertinent information.
The site will then generate your website’s value. You have to be honest with your information if you want a correct or close to correct valuation.
Once you get your valuation you can decide to move forward with BuySellEmpire or not. If you do they will verify all of the information you gave them on the valuation form.
A valuation is just a preliminary number. This could change once all of the numbers and variables are taken into consideration.
Sales Process
The sales process can vary slightly from brokerage firm to brokerage firm. What we love about BuySellEmpire is how thoroughly they have laid it out.
They go through the whole brokerage process from start to finish on their website. They break it down into seven steps and they are applicable to the buyer and the seller.
According to the website, they estimate the whole process to take two or three months. That is from the initial assessment to the closing of the sale.
Initial Assessment
This part of the sales process is right at the beginning. This is when the seller is trying to decide if they want to sell. And also if their business is worth enough to sell.
For the buyer, they are testing the waters and seeing if they qualify to be a buyer.
While you can get a free valuation of your website that is not part of the initial assessment. This is more BuySellEmpire doing their research. Or what they call “due diligence.”
Basically they are going to find out if what you said is true and if your website is high enough quality to be listed. They want to protect their brand and business so they have high standards for what makes it into the listings.
During this assessment, they will look at some specific things. There are more than what is listed but these are the basics.
- Traffic
- Revenue
- Cost
- What is done day to day
Detailed Evaluation
One the initial assessment is done and BuySellEmpire has decided they want to take the next step it is time for the detailed evaluation.
This is the part where the broker takes a deep dive into your business. They will want quite a bit of information from you.
BuySellEmpire will want all of your financials, website performance, profit/loss statements, and other very detailed information.
Another aspect of what they will do during this time is to look at the trends. This will help them evaluate how well the website might do for a future owner.
Even though the business may have passed the initial assessment, there is no guarantee it will pass the details evaluation.
If the broker decides upon closer review that the website is not up to standards then the website will be rejected.
However, the good part is that they will tell you exactly why and what would need to be fixed for BuySellEmpire to sell the site.
Preparation for Sale
If your website happens to make it through the first two steps with a thumbs up it will be time for the next step.
This will be the time that your website is prepared to list. This is similar to when a house is listed. There will be things that will need to be done to get ready.
Part of what BuySellEmpire does during this process is to identify potential buyers before they list. This will start to peak interest in the site before it officially hits the market.
Doing this contributes to their high success rate.
They do want to find a set of buyers that are serious about the website before they encourage the seller to look at offers. This helps keep the price up and gives the seller options.
There is then a Letter of Intent signed by the buyer and the seller. This is what allows BuySellEmpire to continue with the next step of the sale.
Negotiations then start to make sure that the right buyer and the right offer is selected.
Due Diligence
This is the part of the process the broker makes sure everything that there isn’t an unknown that could undo the deal.
The buyer also has the time to thoroughly look at the investment to make sure it will actually be an investment.
They will look deeply into the details and verify what the seller and broker have given them. This process is not supposed to take more than three business days but there are exceptions sometimes.
The specifics that are usually verified are as follows:
- Technology and operational requirements
- Cost and revenue
- Background check
- Legal contracts that might be in play
- Traffic sources and rates
Buyers also have the opportunity to ask questions for clarification.
Closing
One of the last parts of the brokerage process with BuySellEmpire is the closing. After everything else is done, as long as there are no issues, the closing should happen.
This is decided after the due diligence process. At this point, there will be what will feel like piles of legal documents to sign.
The main document is the Asset Purchase Agreement. Both the buyer and the seller along with legal counsel if they have it are very involved in the development of the agreement.
Not just the terms but the structure will be evaluated as well. Once both parties agree to everything the contract is then signed.
Once signing is completed there is then a secure escrow transfer. BuySellEmpire uses a very safe service called escrow.com to complete the transfer.
Post-Sale Services
There are plenty of brokerage companies that are done once the sale is complete. One of the things we like about BuySellEmpire is that they provide post-sale services.
All of the agreement contracts have a clause written in that provides the buyer with post-sale support from the seller. How much and how long is agreed upon before the contract is signed.
BuySellEmpire is active in making sure that the agreement contract in honored in this aspect.
They do this because it sets the new owner up for the highest level of success.
BuySellEmpire Success Rate
When it comes to success rate, it really is one of the most important things to look at when choosing a brokerage company.
There are few companies that have a success rate as high as BuySellEmpire. Operating at a 95% success rate is a nearly perfect rate.
After looking at their sales process and how they manage the brokerage side of things, it is not hard to see why. They are invested and put in the time needed to maintain that number.
Because they are so selective with what website businesses that they sell they are setting themselves up for success.
Another aspect that we believe contributes to that number is finding buyers that might be interested before the listing goes live.
They are priming potential buyers. That can only lead to successful sales and closings.
Fees Charged by BuySellEmpire to Sell a Business
While BuySellEmpire claims that have some of the lowest brokerage fees on the market, we couldn’t find what they actually charge.
They do not list fees on their website but after we contacted them, we found out more about the fees charged by this business broker. You can see the fees below:
BuySellEmpire charges a variable commission rate from 5% to up to 15% depending on the final sale price.
- 15% for any business under 100k
- 12% for any business under 1M
- 8% for any business under $5M
- 5% for any business under $10m
Transparency is important for this BuySellEmpire Review.
The only way to know for sure is to contact them and ask directly what their fees are.
They do however talk about a fee on the buyer FAQ page. One of the questions is whether or not there is a fee for viewing the listings.
There is no fee to see what businesses are for sale or even for buying through BuySellEmpire. They do caution that there is a 1% fee associated with using escrow.com.
Pros and Cons of Using BuySellEmpire
There are certainly pros and cons to all businesses. BuySellEmpire has them as well.
We have listed out our tops pros as well as the three things that we really do not like about BuySellEmpire.
Pros
The following pros are all great reasons to sell your website with BuySellEmpire. We really do believe that they are a good company.
- Very clear brokerage process
- 95% success rate for sales
- Offer post-sale services and agreements
- Free valuation
- Some of the lowest brokerage fees on the market
- Prepares potential buyers before site is listed
- Great response times at 23 minutes
Cons
As for the cons, they a few of them are no big deal. But not being upfront about the fees that they charge is a big one.
- No detailed about section
- No information on founders or CEO
- Does not list fees or give any idea of what they are unless you contact them
Conclusion And Verdict
After looking through every part of the BuySellEmpire website and also doing a Google search to try and find more information, we have come to our conclusion.
There are so many good things about this company. We cannot say enough about the high success rate.
Having a 95% success rate with sales in one of the highest in the industry. That shows their level of dedication and commitment to the buyers and the sellers.
The detailed brokerage process that they broke up into seven easy to follow steps has us impressed. They leave nothing to chance.
It is clear what they expect from their buyers and sellers. It is also clear to the buyers and sellers what they should and can expect from BuySellEmpire.
Another thing that would have us signing up to sell or buy a website with BuySellEmpire is the post-sale services. They write this into the agreement and the specifics are determined by the buyer and seller.
What we don’t love is that we can’t find out from the website or a Google search who the founder or the CEO is. And we would also like to see something about the fees they charge.
It appears this business broker started in 2017 so this does not give them anywhere near the experience to be labeled the most experienced website broker.
However, overall, we were impressed with BuySellEmpire and their stats and would recommend them.
