Empire Flippers charges buyers a sliding-scale success fee on top of the purchase price. Here's the exact fee structure, what it includes, and how to calculate your true all-in acquisition cost.
Empire Flippers charges buyers a success fee that ranges from 2.5% to 5% of the final purchase price, paid at closing. This fee is in addition to the purchase price — it does not come out of the seller's proceeds. The fee is structured on a sliding scale, meaning the larger the deal, the lower your percentage rate. But even at 2.5%, on a $1M acquisition that's $25,000 in additional cost.
Understanding this fee upfront matters for two reasons: first, it affects your total acquisition budget (you need to have the purchase price plus the fee available); and second, it should factor into your ROI calculations. A business generating $60K/year in profit, purchased for $180K plus a $7,200 buyer fee, has a true acquisition cost of $187,200 — which changes your yield calculation from 33.3% to 32.1%.
| Purchase Price | Buyer Fee % | Buyer Fee Amount | True All-In Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | 5% | $2,500 | $52,500 |
| $100,000 | 4% | $4,000 | $104,000 |
| $150,000 | 4% | $6,000 | $156,000 |
| $200,000 | 3.5% | $7,000 | $207,000 |
| $300,000 | 3% | $9,000 | $309,000 |
| $500,000 | 2.5% | $12,500 | $512,500 |
| $1,000,000 | 2.5% | $25,000 | $1,025,000 |
| $2,000,000 | 2.5% | $50,000 | $2,050,000 |
Note: Exact fee percentages can vary by deal and may have changed. Confirm the current fee schedule directly with Empire Flippers during your account setup.
The buyer success fee is not just a transaction cost — it funds a comprehensive set of services that you would otherwise have to arrange and pay for separately. Understanding what's included helps you evaluate whether the fee is fair relative to alternatives.
| Service | Included in EF Fee | If DIY on Flippa |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue & traffic verification | Yes — pre-listing | Buyer's responsibility |
| Deal documentation (P&L, listing package) | Yes | Buyer creates from seller data |
| Escrow / secure funds transfer | Yes | Escrow.com (~1% + fees) |
| Migration team (domain, hosting, assets) | Yes | Hire a tech consultant (~$500–$2,000) |
| Seller communication management | Yes | Direct — no support |
| Post-sale training period coordination | Yes | Negotiate directly |
| Dispute resolution | Yes | Legal costs if dispute arises |
When you factor in what a DIY approach costs — Escrow.com fees (~1%), a tech consultant for migration ($500–$2,000), and your own time doing verification that EF does pre-listing — the EF buyer fee becomes more competitive, especially on deals above $150K where migration complexity is higher.
The buyer success fee is the primary EF-specific cost for buyers. But there are several ancillary costs that buyers often underestimate:
Empire Flippers does not provide an independent accountant review — their verification covers the listing's core financial data, but for deals above $200K, most serious buyers hire an independent CPA to review the P&L and tax returns. Expect $500–$2,500 for a formal accountant review depending on deal complexity.
EF provides a standard asset purchase agreement template, but for deals above $300K, buyers often engage an attorney to review or customize the purchase agreement. Online business purchase agreements are relatively standard, so legal costs are modest compared to traditional M&A — typically $500–$2,000 for attorney review at this deal size.
The business you're buying has operational costs that continue from day one: hosting, subscriptions, content creation, ad spend (if applicable), contractor payments. Model these into your budget separately from the acquisition cost — they're not EF fees, but they affect your first-year cash position.
Smart buyers budget 10–20% of the purchase price as a working capital reserve for unexpected post-acquisition costs. For a $200K acquisition, that means having $220K–$240K accessible, not just the $207,000 needed for the business and EF fee.
A $200K EF listing requires approximately $229,500 in total liquidity to close safely — the purchase price, EF fee, professional review costs, and a working capital cushion. Budget for this full number, not just the listing price. When evaluating your ROI, use $207,000–$209,500 (purchase + EF fee + professionals) as the true acquisition cost denominator.
How does EF's fee structure compare to other major brokers?
| Broker | Buyer Fee | Seller Commission | Verification Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empire Flippers | 2.5–5% (sliding scale) | 10–15% | Full manual verification |
| Motion Invest | None (built into price) | 15–20% | Verified for content sites |
| Quiet Light | None | 8–12% | Broker-verified |
| Flippa | None | 4–10% + listing fee | Seller-reported only |
| BizBuySell | None | 10–12% | Seller-reported only |
Empire Flippers is the only major online business broker that explicitly charges buyers a success fee. Quiet Light and Motion Invest build their broker economics into higher seller commissions instead. The net effect for buyers: EF's listed prices may appear lower (sellers net less after the higher seller commission), but buyers pay an additional fee at close. Always calculate the total all-in cost when comparing listings across platforms.
The honest answer: for most buyers above $150K, yes. The verification EF does pre-listing — confirming revenue through payment processor data, verifying traffic through direct GA access, and structuring the full listing package — is work that would cost you $2,000–$5,000 to do independently on an unverified platform like Flippa. At that deal size, the EF fee buys you a significantly lower risk of acquiring a business with misrepresented metrics.
Below $100K, the value calculation is tighter. Motion Invest offers verified content site listings with no explicit buyer fee. For content or niche sites under $150K, comparing equivalent deals across EF and Motion Invest often shows that the EF fee disadvantages buyers meaningfully.
The fee also buys you EF's Migration Team, which handles the full technical transfer. For buyers who aren't technical, this alone — which would cost $500–$2,000 to outsource — is a meaningful benefit. Read the full Empire Flippers process guide for a detailed look at what the Migration Team actually does.