About this reference

Business Brokerage Europe collects, in one place, the working practice behind the sale of an online business: what is agreed at the start, what is prepared, how candidates are found and what happens between an accepted offer and a completed transfer.

Why it exists

Most material on this subject is written either for large corporate transactions or as marketing for a single adviser. Neither is much use to the owner of a webshop turning over a few hundred thousand a year, or to the buyer looking at one. This reference sits in between: specific enough to be usable, general enough to apply across European markets.

How it is organised

Four sections. The handbook follows a transaction from mandate to handover. The methods section explains how value is calculated. The market notes describe how practice differs by country. The glossary defines the vocabulary.

Where the transactions happen

Listings, buyer registrations and the services described here are handled by Businessforsale.eu, a European marketplace for online companies (https://www.businessforsale.eu/). Its knowledge base carries detailed articles on individual subjects, and several chapters here point to it.

Accuracy

Tax treatment, employment rules and platform policies differ per country and change over time. Nothing here replaces advice on a specific transaction. Corrections are welcome by e-mail.