Buy and sell websites: Flippa, Empire Flippers, Motion Invest and every marketplace compared (2026)

Four ways to buy or sell a website

Websites change hands every day, from $500 hobby blogs to eight-figure software companies. Where you list decides who sees the site, what you pay and how much of the work you do yourself. Pick the model first, then the platform.

• Open marketplace. Anyone can list, anyone can browse. You pay a listing fee and a success fee and run the sale yourself. Flippa works this way; an Investors Club DIY listing is a free version.
• Vetted broker. The firm checks your numbers, sets the price, finds the buyer, holds the money and often runs the move. You pay a bigger commission. Empire Flippers, the Motion Invest marketplace, FE International and Quiet Light work this way.
• Instant buyer. The company buys your site itself: faster, no commission, lower price. Motion Invest’s Direct Buy is one example.
• Startup marketplace. A screened, self-serve marketplace for SaaS, apps and small online businesses. Acquire.com works this way.

The platforms side by side

Flippa’s pricing page shows two prices for some packages (Standard $49 or $129, Ultimate $599 or $699), so we give the full range. FE International lists its 5%, 4% and 3% under self-serve listings; it doesn’t publish a fee for its full advisory service.

What you pay on the same sale

Seller fees on three sale prices, before any escrow share. Acquire.com assumes 3 months listed at $25.

• Flippa: 10% of the price plus a $29 to $699 package.
• Empire Flippers: $10,000 on sales up to $66,666.66, then a flat 15% of the sale price up to $700,000. A $10,000 sale would pay the whole price in fees, and no business at its $24,000 profit minimum would list that low.
• Motion Invest: its table puts $50,000 and $100,000 on the line between two bands, so we show both rates. Ask which applies.
• Acquire.com: 8% plus $75 in listing fees.

On Flippa, escrow is extra: Escrow.com’s standard fee is $240 on $10,000, $1,200 on $50,000 and $1,900 on $100,000, split as buyer and seller agree. Empire Flippers and Motion Invest hold the funds as part of the service, and Acquire.com pays for Escrow.com.

The cheapest fee isn’t always the best deal. A broker that vets, prices and moves the site earns part of its higher fee in time saved and buyers who have shown proof of funds. On a $100,000 sale, the gap between Flippa and Empire Flippers is $4,301 to $4,971, which is what the vetting, buyer screening and migration cost you.

Lock-in: when you can list elsewhere

• Flippa: Terms updated October 22, 2026 add exclusivity for assets priced at $25,000 or more: no other platform while listed and for 90 days after removal (180 days above $100,000).
• Empire Flippers: 2 months.
• Motion Invest: its help center mentions 30 days for marketplace listings.
• Acquire.com: a removable no-shop clause in the letter of intent; the closing fee is owed even if you close off-platform.
• Investors Club DIY: none.

How long each route takes

Speed is part of the price. These are each company’s own figures:

• Motion Invest: “Average time from listing to sale is 12 days”, after 3 to 7 days of due diligence, then a 3 to 7 day transfer and a wire 3 to 6 business days later. A Direct Buy is faster still.
• Empire Flippers: an average of 130 days to sale on its sell page (101.8 days on market in 2025 in its industry report), plus 3 to 8 weeks of migration.
• Investors Club: “over 100 days” on average.
• Acquire.com: “in as little as 90 days”.
• Flippa: a median close of 84 days for businesses valued at $1M+; no median published for small sites.

How a sale works, step by step

1. Value the site. Most small sites sell for 12 months of net profit times a multiple, which Empire Flippers says is typically 1.7x to 5x+. See how much is my website worth.
2. Prepare. Clean books for 12 months, separate accounts, a written routine.
3. List or submit. On a broker, vetting comes first: 3 to 7 days at Motion Invest. On an open marketplace, you write the listing.
4. Talk to buyers. Share read-only access to analytics and income dashboards, not screenshots.
5. Agree terms. A purchase agreement lists every asset handed over. Deposits vary: 10% or $9,900 at Empire Flippers, $1,000 non-refundable at Motion Invest.
6. Money into escrow. Escrow.com, FlippaPay or the broker’s held funds. Never a direct payment.
7. Hand over. The site, domain, hosting and accounts move to the buyer. Brokers run the migration: 3 to 8 weeks at Empire Flippers, 3 to 7 days at Motion Invest. On Flippa and Acquire.com, the seller does it.
8. Inspect and release. The buyer checks everything works, and the money is released. On Escrow.com, funds release automatically when the inspection period ends.
9. Paperwork. In the US, buyer and seller generally both file IRS Form 8594 for an asset sale.

The others worth knowing

Investors Club reviews every submission by hand, usually in about 36 hours. A DIY listing is free with “0% success fee” and no exclusivity, but no escrow. Full service costs 5% to 20% and includes negotiation, legal documents, escrow and migration. Sellers need at least $30 a month in revenue over 12 months and a year of history. Buyers can join free or pay $59 a month or $390 a year for premium membership. It says the average time to sale is “over 100 days”.

FE International is a full-service M&A advisor, founded in 2010, for businesses worth $1M to $100M+. It claims a “94.1% Success Rate” and charges no upfront fee; it is paid only on completion.

Quiet Light brokers Amazon FBA, ecommerce, content, SaaS, agency and membership businesses. It doesn’t publish its fee or a minimum. It offers a 90-day agreement you can end anytime and says “85% of Quiet Light listings” sell within 90 days.

Why the platform the site runs on matters

A buyer isn’t only buying traffic and income. They are buying something they have to move into their own accounts and pay to run.

A self-hosted WordPress site moves as files and a database to any host and scores 10/10 on our exit scores. A site on a closed builder has to change owners inside that builder, on its terms: Shopify and Squarespace score 5/10, Wix 3/10. If you might sell one day, build on something that moves easily. If you’re buying, check the score before you offer.

Then budget for the next three years. Our site-wide baseline for a small WordPress site is $432.60: 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. A Squarespace Core or Wix Core site is $1,332.96 on the same baseline.

Before you buy: five checks

1. Income checked in the real affiliate, ad or payment dashboards, by screen share.
2. At least 12 months of traffic, with no unexplained drops and no reliance on a few pages.
3. Every running cost, at renewal prices.
4. A written list of what is included and how each part moves.
5. Payment only through escrow or the broker’s held funds, with an inspection period long enough to test the site.

Which one should you use?

• A small blog or site worth a few thousand dollars: Flippa, or a free Investors Club listing.
• A content or affiliate site earning a few hundred to a few thousand a month: Motion Invest, or Empire Flippers once you pass $24,000 a year in net profit.
• You want it sold fast and accept less: ask Motion Invest for a Direct Buy offer.
• SaaS or an app: Acquire.com, or FE International for larger businesses.
• Ecommerce or seven figures: Empire Flippers, FE International or Quiet Light.
• Just the domain: a domain marketplace such as Sedo, Afternic or Atom.

Where next

• Flippa review: the new 10% fee and exclusivity rules.
• Empire Flippers review: vetting, deposits and the 3 to 8 week migration.
• Motion Invest review: commission bands and Direct Buy.
• Acquire.com review: selling a SaaS or app.
• Flippa vs Empire Flippers: what you keep on the same sale.
• How much is my website worth: profit multiples and a worked example.
• Buying a website checklist: due diligence, escrow and transfer by platform.
• How to sell a website: prep, venues, fees on $50,000 and tax basics.
• Where to sell a domain name: Sedo, Afternic, Atom and the end of Dan.com.

Sources: Flippa sell page, Flippa terms, Empire Flippers seller FAQ, Motion Invest sell page, Acquire.com seller pricing, Investors Club seller FAQ, FE International seller pricing, Quiet Light and the Escrow.com fee calculator.