What do business brokers charge in Illinois?

Percentages owners actually see on Illinois Main Street

Owners call after a golf-course number. Someone’s cousin “sold for 5%.” Someone’s coach said “always 10.” Both can be true on different deals. Illinois Main Street listings — the shops, trades, and practices that make up most of this state’s privately held economy — commonly use a success fee in the high-single to low-double digits of the consideration defined in the listing agreement. On smaller enterprises, a minimum fee is normal so a $180,000 close is not worked for a $9,000 commission after a year of NDAs.

That range is educational, not a quote. Your agreement will define whether the percentage applies to cash at close, to a note, to assumed debt, or to a mix. It will also define when the fee is earned. Handshake math is how fee disputes start. Written math is how they do not.

BizBuySell’s Q2 2026 Insight Report put the reported median sale at $349,250 with a 2.7× cash-flow multiple across 2,117 closed deals. Read the Q2 2026 report. On a hypothetical $349,250 sale at a 10% success fee, the commission is about $34,925 before you model tax and debt. That is an illustration. It is not “what Illinois brokers always charge.” It is why a 2% difference in fee language is smaller than a 10% difference in price caused by a bad recast.

The same report found 35% of owners had no idea of value and only 14% used a professional valuation. Fee shopping before you know the number is backwards. A cheaper percentage on a lower price is not a win. Start with a defensible range, then read the listing agreement.

The seller usually pays sell-side representation

In a listing engagement, the seller pays the success fee from closing proceeds. Buyers sometimes have their own representation. That is a separate invoice. Do not assume a “standard” split the way residential real estate trained you to think. Business brokerage is not MLS culture. If two firms are involved, the agreement — not a custom — decides who bills whom.

Buyer-side work, when we do it, is scoped in writing. It is not hidden inside a seller fee. If you are buying, start at buy a business. If you are selling, the fee conversation belongs in the listing agreement before confidential marketing starts — not after an LOI when everyone is tired.

A fee is not a listing ad

A success fee buys a confidential process: recast, buyer screening, NDAs, negotiation, and coordination with counsel on Illinois items — Bulk Sales when it applies, Secretary of State filings when the entity moves, license transfers, and lease assignment. A portal fee buys a page. Those are not the same SKU. See our longer fee article and broker versus selling yourself.

SBA-financed buyers still need a file that underwrites. The SBA 7(a) loan overview is the public starting point. A cheaper listing that cannot survive underwriting is not cheap.

We do not take an upfront listing fee. If that sentence is why you are here, book the consult. Bring questions. Do not upload financials to a form.

A classic Lehman formula steps down as value rises — a higher percent on the first slice of consideration, less on the next, less again above that. Investment-banking and larger M&A shops still use versions of it. It exists because a 10 percent fee on a $20 million close is a different economic product than a 10 percent fee on a $400,000 shop. If someone quotes “Lehman” at a chamber breakfast, ask them to write the breakpoints. The word is not a number.

Most Illinois owner-operated businesses we see use a flat success-fee percentage, sometimes with a minimum, payable from proceeds at closing. That aligns incentives: we are not paid to list, we are paid to close. It is a different product from a portal ad and from a retainer-plus-success M&A advisor who will staff a CIM process for a year. Compare scope. See brokers versus M&A advisors and what brokers charge.

Some advisors charge retainers plus a success fee, especially above Main Street size. That can be rational for a long, analyst-heavy process. It is a different product than a success-fee Illinois brokerage listing. Mixing the two in a hallway conversation is how owners compare apples to a formula they never received in writing.

Minimum fees exist because small closes still take NDAs, landlord calls, and a Bulk Sales calendar. A $200,000 close worked at a tiny percentage after a year of screening is how shops go unrepresented — or represented badly. Ask what the minimum is. Write it down. The same Q2 2026 report found 35 percent of owners had no idea of value and only 14 percent used a professional valuation. Fee shopping before you know the number is backwards.

Portals charge a listing fee whether or not you close. They do not run Bulk Sales, screen buyers, or sit with a landlord. That can be the right tool for a simple file with a known buyer. It is the wrong tool when confidentiality, licenses, or a competitor is in the mix. The SBA’s close-or-sell guide still tells owners to organize records and use professional help. A $99 ad is not that help.

Book /contact to talk through fees on a consult. We will tell you whether a success-fee listing is the product you need, whether DIY is enough, or whether you should be talking to an M&A advisor with a retainer. No upload portal. No listing retainer to “get on the calendar.”