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How and Where to Find a Business for Sale

Last Updated
August 22, 2009

Searching For a Business

The first thing to do before you search for a business is to make a criteria list for the ideal business you are looking for. Don’t be too specific or your list will eliminate practically every business out there. Instead, just write down a few requirements from the list below:

  • The type of business (service/product, industry, etc)
  • The location of the business
  • The size of the business (customers, suppliers, administration, number of employees etc)
  • The performance (minimum level of profit/turnover you expect)
  • The expected salary you hope to achieve
  • Level of commitment (hours you are willing to put in)
  • Required Assets (machinery, equipment, vehicles, etc)
  • Premises (leased or owned, office or home, factory or lock-up)

The list can go on, so feel free to add anything that you feel essential.

Franchises

If you would prefer to buy a business that has already proved successful, you may want to buy a franchise. You can find franchises the same way you would any other business that is for sale (see below). To read more about Franchising, Buying a Franchise

Finding That Business

This is the part that can take some time. You may already know which business you want but it is still a good idea to short list a few just in case the deal doesn’t go through. Below are some of the main places that you can find businesses for sale:

Newspapers/Magazines:

Advertisements are found in media mainly concerned with business or finance issues: for example; Exchange and Mart, Loot, local papers on specific days, quality weekend newspapers. Although the adverts may not give as much detail as you wanted, there will be contacts specified to make any queries. If you want to find a business locally, it is always best to look in your local and regional media.

Internet:

There are many web sites on the Internet that list businesses for sale. Your best approach would be to go through a search engine to find the relevant sites. We have managed to get hold of a few web sites to get you started.

Finance Services:

These will include Banks and accountants and they too will have details of businesses wanting to sell. The added advantage of consulting these services is that they will able to provide you with financial reports of the business (very useful).

Business Brokers and Estate Agents:

There are also a number of business brokers and business estate agents. These organizations have details of businesses for sale but you have to take in to account that they may also be employed by the business to help sell it. Such agents can be found listed in telephone directories. Business brokers will be detailed further on the following page.

Self-Advertising:

In addition to those said above, why not let the right business come to you? Advertise what you are looking for in a newspaper/magazine: this way you can be more specific about your requirements. Use word-of-mouth to widen your search – you never know what’s out there until you ask!

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