Guide
Motion Invest review: commission, Direct Buy and how selling works (2026)
The short answer
Motion Invest is a curated marketplace for content and affiliate sites that also buys some sites itself. Listing is free; its sell page shows a commission of 20% under $20,000, 15%, 10%, 7% and 5% over $500,000. A Direct Buy offer has no fees and pays faster but at a lower, unpublished multiple. Buyers pay a non-refundable $1,000 deposit on sites over $2,000, and Motion Invest holds the money and moves the site.
What Motion Invest is and who it’s for
Motion Invest is a curated marketplace for content sites, the blogs and review sites that earn from affiliate links or display ads. Its site title now reads “Buy and Sell Profitable Websites and YouTube Channels”. It also buys some sites itself.
After it reviews your site, Motion Invest sends one of two offers. A Marketplace offer lists your site for sale to its buyers. A Direct Buy offer means Motion Invest buys the site. Its help center says you can state a preference, but the team makes the final call, and it is “not able to purchase every site that comes into our system.”
The accepted-sites article (last updated several years ago) describes English content sites earning from programs such as Amazon, CJ, Impact, AdSense, Ezoic, Mediavine or AdThrive, with about 80% or more organic search traffic, mostly from the US, spread across many pages. It turns down ecommerce, dropshipping, SaaS, non-English sites, sites in decline and sites whose earnings can’t be separated from the seller’s other sites. That article also excluded YouTube channels sold without a website, which no longer matches the current site title, so ask if that is you.
A separate article puts the minimum at about $20 a month in average revenue. Sites with no revenue can’t be listed yet.
Right for: owners of small and mid-size affiliate and ad sites, and buyers who want a site checked and moved for them.
Fees, with the math on a $10,000 and a $100,000 sale
Listing is free. Motion Invest’s sell page shows “Our Regular Commission Rates”, charged only when the site sells:
| Sale price | Commission |
|---|---|
| Under $20,000 | 20% |
| $20,000 to $50,000 | 15% |
| $50,000 to $100,000 | 10% |
| $100,000 to $500,000 | 7% |
| Over $500,000 | 5% |
- $10,000 sale: 20% x $10,000 = $2,000. You keep $8,000.
- $100,000 sale: the table puts $100,000 at the edge of two bands. At 10% the fee is $10,000 and you keep $90,000; at 7% it is $7,000 and you keep $93,000. Ask Motion Invest which band applies before you sign.
The same edge shows up at $20,000 and $50,000. A $50,000 sale costs $7,500 at 15% or $5,000 at 10%.
A Direct Buy has no fees and pays faster, but the help center says it comes at a lower multiple than a marketplace sale, and these offers are less common. Motion Invest doesn’t publish the multiple or a formula, so you can’t work out the Direct Buy price in advance. Compare the offer with what the marketplace route would leave you after commission.
A quick way to compare: if a marketplace listing would sell at $15,000, the 20% commission leaves you $12,000. A Direct Buy offer is worth taking on price alone only if it comes in at $12,000 or more. The gap below that is what you pay to get your money sooner.
No buyer fee or membership is published. Buyers create a free account to see listings. An older help article says paying by credit card or PayPal adds 5%, so wire is the cheaper route.
How a sale works at Motion Invest
For sellers, the sell page lays out these steps:
- Fill in the valuation form. The team contacts you within 24 hours.
- Due diligence: a 10-step review that takes 3 to 7 days.
- An offer, if the site is a good fit, then a marketplace agreement.
- The listing goes live within 1 to 2 days. Motion Invest says the “Average time from listing to sale is 12 days”.
- Transfer in 3 to 7 days.
- Payment by wire 3 to 6 business days after the transfer is confirmed.
Before you submit, get the site ready for a 10-step review. Have 12 months of income by program, the analytics account and the hosting and domain logins in one place. If the site shares an affiliate account, ad account or hosting plan with your other sites, split them out first: the accepted-sites article says earnings that can’t be separated from your other sites are a reason to say no. Our guide to selling a website has the full prep list.
For buyers, the buy page says “Buy Now” means paying in full on sites under $2,000, or a non-refundable $1,000 deposit on sites over $2,000. An Asset Purchase Agreement arrives by email within 24 hours. Motion Invest holds the money until the transfer is done, and its transfer team moves the site or channel, including swapping up to 20 affiliate links on websites to yours. The seller is paid after a successful transfer.
An older help article on selling (about two years old) describes a 2-day window for the buyer to confirm everything works, payment through Veem and a 7 to 10 day transfer. The newer sell page says wire payment and 3 to 7 days. Go by your agreement.
Vetting, escrow and protections
Motion Invest screens every site before it lists. That is the main difference from an open marketplace such as Flippa.
Its money handling is in-house: the buy page says Motion Invest holds the funds until the transfer is complete. That is not a third-party service like Escrow.com, which is licensed as an escrow company in several US states.
There is no guarantee. Its guarantee article says due diligence is “very lengthy” but issues may be missed, buyers should do their own checks, such as chatting with the seller and getting Google Analytics access, and there is no refund after purchase and transfer. We found no buyer-guarantee program on any official page we could read.
Gotchas
- The $1,000 deposit is final. “Once this is paid, it means the site is yours.” Do your checks before you click Buy Now, not after.
- Band edges. The commission table doesn’t say which rate applies at exactly $20,000, $50,000 or $100,000.
- Old help articles. Several are two or more years old and some details differ from the current sell and buy pages. The help center says marketplace listings carry 30 days of exclusivity; confirm what your agreement says.
- Only up to 20 links swapped. If the site earns from more affiliate links than that, plan to swap the rest yourself.
- One niche. Ecommerce, SaaS and most non-content businesses don’t fit.
The 3-year view for a buyer
Most sites here run on WordPress. Once you own one, our site-wide baseline is $432.60 over three years: Bluehost Starter at $3.99 a month on a 36-month term ($143.64, renewing at $9.99 a month), $36.96 in domain renewals and $252 for one Google Workspace inbox. Content, tools and paid plugins come on top.
Self-hosted WordPress scores 10/10 on our exit scores, so the site you buy can move to another host later as files and a database.
Who should use Motion Invest
Use it if you own an English affiliate or ad site with steady search traffic, and you want it checked, listed and moved for you without a listing fee. Use the Direct Buy route if speed matters more than price.
Look elsewhere if you sell ecommerce, SaaS or a site with no revenue, or if your site makes $24,000 a year or more in net profit and you want a broker that also sells larger businesses, which is where Empire Flippers starts.
Alternatives
- Flippa: any size, 10% self-service success fee plus a listing package.
- Empire Flippers: $10,000 flat, then 15%, for profitable businesses.
- How to sell a website: the fees on a $50,000 sale across every venue.
- Every option side by side: buy and sell websites.
Questions people ask
What commission does Motion Invest charge?
Its sell page lists 20% under $20,000, 15% from $20,000 to $50,000, 10% from $50,000 to $100,000, 7% from $100,000 to $500,000 and 5% over $500,000. Listing is free.
What is a Motion Invest Direct Buy?
Motion Invest buys your site itself, with no fees and faster payment. Its help center says the price comes at a lower multiple than a marketplace sale, and these offers are less common.
Is the Motion Invest deposit refundable?
No. On sites over $2,000 the $1,000 deposit is non-refundable, and sites under $2,000 are paid in full. Do your due diligence before you pay.
How fast does Motion Invest sell a site?
Motion Invest says the average time from listing to sale is 12 days. Its sell page gives 3 to 7 days for due diligence, 3 to 7 days for transfer and 3 to 6 business days for the wire.
Does Motion Invest take ecommerce or SaaS sites?
No. Its accepted-sites article lists content sites earning from affiliate programs or display ads, and turns down ecommerce, dropshipping and SaaS.
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