On-market vs off-market deals: which is better?

The pros and cons of each sourcing strategy

Author

Ben Kelly
December 09, 2025

When you’re looking for businesses to buy, you have two main options:

  1. On-market deals (listed on sites like BizBuySell or working with brokers)

  2. Off-market deals (reaching out directly to business owners who aren’t actively selling)

Most first-time buyers only know about on-market listings, but some of the best deals I’ve seen came from off-market sourcing.

Today, I’ll break down the pros and cons of each so you can decide which strategy makes sense for you.

On-market deals

The pros:

First, these businesses are easier to find.

Just filter on sites like smbmarket.com for 15-35% margin businesses in boring industries, and you’re golden.

The financials are usually organized and ready for review, and brokers can facilitate the process (though they have their own motivations).

The cons:

You’re competing with other buyers, which can drive up price.

Brokers take 8-12% commission, which the seller usually bakes into the asking price, and brokers will typically push for heavy lending (SBA loans, commercial financing) because they get paid at closing.

Off-market deals

The pros:

One of the best parts of these setups is zero commission fees.

Those 8-12% savings give you more negotiating room, and you’re the one leading negotiations, not a broker, giving you more power to structure deals creatively.

Second, if it’s truly off-market, you won’t have to compete with other buyers!

These deals are great for helping to fill your pipeline while you wait for on-market opportunities.

The cons:

These are cold leads, meaning you’ve got to do all the work of finding them and convincing them to sell.

Next, the financials might be messy if they’ve been DIY-ing taxes with sloppy bookkeeping.

And last, having no broker means no one is facilitating introductions or handling paperwork.

A real off-market success story

One of my students, Adam, bought a marketing agency off-market from two partners.

He structured a deal with an SBA loan plus 25% seller financing on full standby (no payments for 2 years), which the bank counted as his capital injection.

This allowed him to buy a business listed at $3.8M off-market for $2.79M with zero out of pocket.

My recommendation?

Do both.

Use on-market sites to find organized deals you can move on quickly.

At the same time, build your off-market pipeline by reaching out to business owners directly.

The on-market deals keep you moving forward while off-market sourcing builds long-term opportunities.

Buying businesses is a numbers game, and the more deals you look at, the better your chances of finding a winner.

Now, speaking of finding great deals...

I occasionally share acquisition opportunities with subscribers who are ready to move beyond just researching and start making offers.

If that describes you, fill out this quick survey:

Or if you’re looking to sell your business:

Onward,

— Ben Kelly