Seller preparation guide
Prepare the facts, evidence, transferable assets, operating details, and handoff plan buyers need before you publish a listing. The goal is a clear opportunity that can survive serious diligence, not a polished claim that falls apart later.
Before you list
This checklist mirrors the information SBM asks sellers to provide. It is educational marketplace guidance, not legal, tax, accounting, valuation, investment, brokerage, or escrow advice.
List every included domain, brand asset, code repository, content library, customer-facing account, dataset, document, and operating process. Identify exclusions and confirm whether each account, contract, license, and vendor relationship can actually transfer.
Prepare revenue, operating profit, monthly costs, refunds, chargebacks, and major expense categories for the same stated period. Keep dated source evidence available for diligence and separate business performance from forecasts or unsupported adjustments.
Document the main acquisition channels, traffic or audience evidence, customer concentration, repeat-purchase behavior, paid-spend dependence, and recent changes. Buyers need to understand both the demand and the risk behind it.
Map recurring weekly and monthly work, owner-only responsibilities, contractors, support volume, content or sales cadence, software costs, and technical maintenance. State what is automated and what still requires a person.
Identify hosting, APIs, marketplaces, payment processors, advertising accounts, suppliers, key people, licenses, and compliance obligations. Explain replacement options when a dependency cannot transfer.
Outline the order for transferring assets, documentation, training, credentials, data, customer communications, and post-sale support. Do not place passwords, private customer data, tax records, or sensitive credentials in a public listing.
Disclosure plan
Business model, asking price, stated financial period, seller-reported economics, workload, included assets, exclusions, dependencies, reason for sale, and the proposed handoff.
Dated analytics, processor or accounting exports, customer concentration detail, contracts, code or product demonstrations, supplier terms, and other evidence that needs controlled access.
Passwords, authentication codes, full customer records, private keys, regulated data, tax identifiers, banking details, and production credentials.
How this guide was built
The checklist maps to the financial, operating, asset, evidence, dependency, authority, and handoff fields required by SBM. It is maintained by The Small Business Marketplace editorial team and was last materially reviewed on September 18, 2026.
Read the listing standardsSeller questions
No. Sellers choose their asking price, and buyers perform their own diligence. SBM does not provide valuation, legal, tax, investment, brokerage, or escrow services.
No. The public listing should state what evidence exists without exposing sensitive records. Qualified diligence can happen directly between the buyer and seller using an appropriate controlled process.
Disclose it clearly and explain the replacement or migration plan. A buyer should not discover a material transfer restriction after relying on the listing.
Submit when you can describe the business, economics, transferable assets, dependencies, workload, evidence, and handoff accurately. Incomplete submissions may be returned for changes before activation.
Ready to submit?