Advertising On BizBen.com: Frequently Asked Questions About Advertising

BizBen.com is an online marketplace that matches business buyers with sellers of existing businesses for sale. In addition, BizBen offers resources, articles, live workshops, online webinars, a syndicated blog, and a podcast on the topic of buying and selling small to mid-sized businesses.

The key to quickly selling your business for the highest price possible can be summed up in three words - Exposure, exposure, exposure! The most exposure you can get for your business the more successful you will be in trying to sell it, and BizBen delivers eager, motivated business buyers quickly! Advertising on BizBen is easy and fast - go to sell a business to place an ad.

Absolutely not. There are no hidden commissions or fees. Our advertised prices are all you will ever pay to sell your business on BizBen.com. BizBen is the most effect and least expensive method of reaching the right buyers and selling a business.

BizBen reaches hundreds of thousands of potential buyers each month with its advertising & marketing campaigns throughout online & print mediums. Since our company has been assisting those selling businesses since 1994 we have a huge following of buyers - over 60,000 daily! Our listings are also fed via RSS feed to a network of small business sites and resources. This means you will get more exposure for your business with BizBen than with other media. Plus, BizBen is extremely affordable so you don't spend a fortune trying to generate interest in selling your business.

To create a new ad to sell your business, click on Sell a Business. Follow the directions to create your ad - determine which advertising program best fits your needs and expectations - there approximately 3 steps, and we accept all major credit cards to complete your ad placement process. Your business for sale will be added to our online database in a matter of minutes.

Listing a business or opportunity on BizBen.com is very economical. You have several options for selling your business, and one is sure to fit your budget. To see the costs and programs for individual ads go to our sell a business page. For brokers and agents with mutiple listings (ads) please refer to our multiple listings ad rates page.

To assure quality listings, we review every new listing being posted on BizBen. Your ad will appear immediately in the New Listings section while we make sure your new ad is placed in the appropriate areas and catagories on BizBen making it easier for potential buyers to find and contact you about your business for sale. Unlike other webites your ad on BizBen usually only takes between 30 minutes to 3 hours (depending on the number of new listings being posted at the time) to get reviewed and fully distributed into our network!

First you want to include as much possible information as possible (as much as confidentiality will allow provided that it is important) in your ad - talk about the history of the business, where its at now, and the potential in the future. Buyers also want to know about: lease factors, number of employees, geographic area, competitive factors, etc. We have found the advertisers who write a comprehensive ad are usually the ones who get the best response from the most number of motivated buyers.

You can update and modify your BizBen business for sale ad at any time - 24/7. To do so, go to the Advertising Log In page and enter your User Name & Password. You will then see your advertising account where you can revise your ad, see your advertising stats, emails received concerning your ad and other important data.

You determine the time period of your ad (Standard or Fast Track) you select one, two, or a three month run. You can "turn-off" your ad at anytime by making it inactive if you want to turn off your ad if lets say you are in escrow and you want to limit or eliminate calls or emails for a period of time.

Yes you should. Why waste anyones time and have them call you and waste your time if the price isn't close to what buyers are searching for. Also have someone assist you to realistically figure out the adjusted net income of the business (for the previous three years) - this is one of the most important numbers to potential buyers (and usually the price of the business is some multiple of this number). Some of the more successful business for sale ads on BizBen include in the long description field the last three years of these numbers: Gross Sales, Adjusted Net Income, Inventory Amounts, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable (if any), working capital required for a new buyer, etc. Put some effort into this information - it will make the sale of a business much faster and easier on everyone.

Most buyers will be understand they will need to sign a non-disclosure agreement before reviewing any imformation about the sale of your business. Only a limited amount of information should be disclosed prior to determining if the potential buyer is either legitimate or capable of completing the transaction. BizBen offers advertisers an example of a Confidentiality Agreement or Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) in the Advertising Managment section when you log into your BizBen account.

Surveys have found that the national average is approximately six months from your decision to sell to the actual closing. Advertising a business for sale on BizBen usually takes between one to three months from start to finish. The amount of time it will take to sell your business may vary significantly from this average depending upon a number of factors. These factors include deal structure, the time of year, the true value of the business versus the asking price, the size of the business and the local market. The most important factors are usually price and the ability to effectively locate qualified, motivated business buyers. Also very important is the level of exposure you give your listing - make sure you review the BizBen Fast Track advertising program - designed for those looking to sell a business quicker and with usually a much higher response from buyers.

Timing is very important. Your business should be performing well and the likelihood that your customers will remain with the new business owner(s) should be good. The less uncertainty a buyer has to evaluate the better. Buyers will reduce their bid if an important contract may be expiring soon. In addition, buyers will want to be able to accurately predict the business's material costs.  Advance planning is also an important part of making sure your business is performing well. Many times business owners manage their business expenses to reduce their taxes. Although this is certainly a legitimate business strategy, many times buyers rely on income as reported in the tax return to serve as the basis for valuing the business. Some experts thus recommend a more arm's length approach to tax accounting in the years immediately prior to the sale of a business. It is also important to allow enough time for the transaction. If the seller has time pressures, he or she may have to accept a lower price. Another factor in finding the right time to sell your business is for you personally to be prepared for a significant change. As the owner and primary decision maker, you must be willing to separate yourself from your business. Other factors over which you have less control are the level of mergers and acquisitions activity in your industry and general economic trends.

BizBen.com does not directly represent the purchase or sale of any business like most traditional business brokerage companies. Instead, we provide a forum for independent business owners, brokers, and franchisors to advertise and sell their businesses to potential business buyers.

You can remove your ad at anytime by logging into your advertising account and the making your ad "inactive" or deleting it.

Yes, you can upgrade your advertising on BizBen at anytime by calling toll free 866-270-6278, we will prorate and upgrade your advertising right over the phone.

No, due to confidentiality your email address is "masked" or hidden behind our online form for potential buyers to contact you by email - they will not know your email address unless you respond to their email to you from BizBen.

The whole idea of pictures with your ad is to show potential business buyers what your business looks like and give your ad more exposure, therefore we only accept pictures of the business - no logos, line artwork etc. We need 4 pictures in jpg / landscape (horizontal) orientation. At the time of ad placement we will inform you to what email address to email us your pictures of the business.

Pictures for the Fast Track program should be in jpg format and in landscape mode. The pictures should be at least 420 pixels wide. We will resize them to the correct size and best suited for the site. Please phone your Fast Track advertising account representative and they will let you know where to email 4-6 pictures for your Fast Track ad on BizBen.