Selling your app to several buyers: what to send, and how to compare offers

Why ask several buyers at once?

Because one offer on its own tells you little. Three or four offers for the same numbers, made in the same week, show you what your app is worth to people who pay for apps, and which terms each buyer attaches to the price. You don’t need a public listing or a broker for that: a short message to a handful of buyers does it in one or two weeks.

Asking everyone at the same time matters. If you talk to buyers one after another, the first offer ages while you wait for the next, and you end up comparing a number from last month with one from today.

What should the first message include?

Enough for a buyer to judge the app and name a price, and nothing that would hurt you if the message were forwarded. These are the fields that matter:

If you’re unsure what the numbers add up to, the app valuation calculator turns them into a rough range first, so you know whether an offer is in the right area.

What does a teaser look like?

Short. Buyers who know apps read it in a minute and reply with questions or a number. Copy this and fill in your own figures:

The last sentence does a lot of work: it makes every buyer answer the same questions, which is what makes the offers comparable later.

What should wait until the NDA?

Anything that identifies the app or would help a competitor: the app name and link, App Store Connect or RevenueCat screenshots, keyword and ad data, and the source code. Share them once a buyer has signed an NDA and is serious about an offer. User data never changes hands in a sale; the buyer gets the app and its listing, and users stay users of the app.

Naming the app early is your call. It speeds things up, because a buyer can look at the listing right away, but it’s the one detail you can’t take back. More on keeping a sale quiet in how to sell your app confidentially.

Who should you send it to?

Three to seven buyers is enough. More than that and you spend your week answering the same questions. Pick buyers who actually buy apps like yours:

• They buy your platform and category. Many buyers say what they don’t buy; take them at their word.
• They fit your size. Some buyers have a minimum profit or deal size; check it before you write.
• There’s a named person behind them. Someone who reads your numbers and can decide, not only a contact form.
• They pay in a way you accept. Full payment at closing through escrow is the safest; instalments and earn-outs move risk to you.
• They don’t charge you anything to look at your app or make an offer.

The types of buyers, and how each one works, are in who buys apps.

How do you keep the offers comparable?

Three rules:

1. Same numbers for everyone. If you correct a figure, send the correction to every buyer.
2. One deadline. Seven to ten days from the teaser gives serious buyers time to ask questions and still keeps the process short. Say the date in the first message.
3. Offers in writing, with terms. A price without terms isn’t comparable. Ask each buyer for the price, how and when it’s paid, who pays escrow and fees, what they need to check before closing, and how long it takes.

You don’t have to tell buyers who else you’re talking to. Saying that you’re asking “a small number of buyers” is enough, and it’s true.

How do you compare the offers?

By the cash you’d have at closing, and by how sure you are to get it. These are the questions that change the number:

A worked example. Offer A is $52,000: $36,400 at closing and $15,600 as an earn-out over 12 months, tied to the app’s revenue after the sale. Offer B is $48,000, all in cash at closing, and the buyer pays escrow. On headline price A wins; at closing you have $36,400 from A and $48,000 from B, and B’s money doesn’t depend on anyone else running your app well. The app sale fee calculator does the same arithmetic for fees at any price, and if the best offer still looks low, see how to respond to a low offer.

What happens once you pick one?

You tell the other buyers, thank them, and go ahead with one. The buyer you pick will usually ask for a short exclusivity period while they check the app: agree to it in writing, and keep it short, a couple of weeks rather than months (more in LOI and exclusivity). Then come the NDA (if it isn’t signed yet), due diligence, the purchase agreement, escrow and the App Store transfer. The whole path is in how to sell an iOS app.

Can I include you?

Yes, and I’d rather be compared than skipped. Send me the same teaser you send everyone else. I reply within 1 hour, and if the app fits, I send a written offer within a few days (NDA first if you want one).

My offer is easy to put next to the others: no fees for you, I pay the escrow fee, the full price is paid in cash at closing (no instalments, no earn-out), and a deal typically closes about 14 days after the first message, everything included. I buy iOS apps, and Android apps when the fit is right, in deals up to $1M+, with no minimum deal size. Once talks are serious, I can put you in touch with a founder who sold to me. Send me your app.