Sell your app privately, without a broker

What are my options for selling an app?

There are four, and they differ most on who sees your numbers:

• A direct buyer (me, and others like me): one person sees your figures, under an NDA if you want one. Nothing is published.
• A marketplace (Flippa, Acquire.com, Microns, TrustMRR): a listing that the platform’s buyers can browse, with fees of roughly 6–10%. Some platforms keep your name and app behind an NDA (Acquire.com hides your name and domain until a buyer signs one), but your headline numbers still reach many buyers.
• A broker (Empire Flippers, FE International and others): your app is packaged and shown to the broker’s buyer list, at 3–5% (FE International) up to 15% or a $10,000 minimum (Empire Flippers).
• A strategic buyer: a company that wants your users or your category. Rare, slow, and usually only for larger apps.

Side by side on fees, speed and privacy: direct buyer vs marketplaces and brokers, or the wider view in where can I sell my app?

Who sees what in a private sale?

• Your numbers: only me. They are never published and never shown to another buyer, and I sign an NDA on request.
• Your users: the app keeps its listing, ratings and reviews through Apple’s transfer, so from the outside it’s the same app. What can be seen publicly after a transfer is covered in how to sell your app confidentially.
• Your other apps and your company: untouched. Only the app we agree on moves.

How does selling directly to me work?

1. You send two things: the store link and rough monthly proceeds and costs (average of the last 3 months). No data room, no deck, and nothing that has to be public.
2. I read it myself and reply within 1 hour, with a question, a rough range, or a clear no.
3. An offer, with the reasoning: what pushed the multiple up, what pulled it down.
4. Checks. App Store Connect numbers, your costs, and anything unusual, shared with me only. Prepared sellers get through this in a day or two; the due diligence checklist is the seller’s side of it. It works both ways: after an NDA I can show proof of funds, and once talks are serious, I can put you in touch with a founder who sold to me.
5. Escrow. The money is secured before the app moves, and you get the full price in cash at closing.
6. The transfer, through the official App Store app transfer or its Google Play equivalent, then the handover: source code, assets, accounts, and whatever context I need to keep the app running.

Which apps do I buy this way?

Mainly iOS apps with steady revenue, with Android open when the fit is right, and no games, SaaS, or web-only products. Apps with little or no revenue fit too at 5K+ downloads a month. The full list is in my acquisition criteria, and the App Store side of a sale is in selling your iOS app.

What should I prepare before writing?

Less than you think. For the first message: your store link, average monthly proceeds and costs over the last 3 months, and roughly how much time the app takes you. For the checks later: App Store Connect or Play Console screenshots of the same period, your cost invoices, and a list of the accounts and services the app depends on. If you want to know your number first, the free app valuation calculator gives a range in about two minutes, and how I value an app explains what moves it.

Collecting offers from several buyers? Include mine.

A private sale doesn’t have to mean talking to one buyer only. If you’re sending the same summary to a few buyers, send it to me too: I reply within 1 hour, and if the app fits, you get a written offer within a few days (NDA first if you want one). Nothing comes off it, since there are no fees for you and I pay the escrow fee, so it’s a clean number to hold the others against. What to put in that summary, and how to compare what comes back, is in selling your app to several buyers.

When is a marketplace the better choice?

When your app is something I don’t buy: a game, SaaS, or a web-only product. I’d rather tell you that than waste your week. If you want a benchmark before you list, a private offer costs nothing and gives you one.