Frequently asked questions

1.1 What does it cost to sell on Fair Handover?

Two pricing plans, you choose:

• Monthly plan: £19 per month. No success fee on sale. Cancel any time.
• Success plan: 1% of the final sale price on completion. Nothing upfront.

For most sellers, monthly works out cheaper. On a typical £200,000 sale, 1% is £2,000 — equivalent to over 8 years of monthly payments.

Full pricing detail at /listing/pricing. The pricing rules are in the Seller Agreement.

1.2 What about VAT?

Mitigate IT Limited, the company behind Fair Handover, is not currently VAT registered. All prices on the site and on broker invoices are the total payable — no VAT is added.

If and when the business crosses the VAT registration threshold (currently £90,000 of taxable turnover in a 12-month period), this notice will be updated and VAT will be charged in addition to the headline fee, in line with §5 of the Seller Agreement.

1.3 Why is it so much cheaper than a traditional broker?

Traditional small-business brokers charge 8–12% of the sale price — £16,000 to £24,000 on a £200,000 sale. That covers their cost of advertising, relationship-building, and matchmaking with buyers.

Fair Handover does all of that with software and a direct-to-buyer model rather than a sales team. Lower costs, passed on as lower fees.

1.4 What if the buyer comes from somewhere else?

The Seller Agreement covers this in clauses 6.2 and 6.3. In short: if you complete a sale with a buyer who first found out about your business via Fair Handover — even if the final negotiation happens off-platform — the 1% success fee is still payable (on the Success plan), within an 18-month tail period from when your listing went live.

If you complete a sale with a buyer who genuinely came to you independently of Fair Handover, nothing is owed under the Success plan beyond your monthly subscription (if applicable).

1.5 Can I cancel?

Yes, any time. What that looks like depends on which plan you’re on.

• Monthly plan (£19/month): cancel whenever you like. Your subscription stops at the end of the current month and your listing stays live through the paid period so you can wind up any open enquiries cleanly. No cancellation fee, no minimum term, no questions asked.
• Success plan (1% on completion): there’s nothing to cancel — you only pay if and when you sell. If you decide not to sell, you owe nothing.
• Brokers (30p per listing per day): invoiced monthly. To stop billing, pause or remove your listings — you’re never billed for listings that aren’t live. New brokers also get a six-month free trial that can be ended at any point.

Refunds beyond the standard “cancel and stop being billed” are at our discretion under §7 of the Seller Agreement. If you’ve been billed for something you didn’t intend, write to hello@fairhandover.co.uk and we’ll work it out.

2.1 What information do I need to list my business?

At minimum: business sector, location, annual turnover, profit, years trading, and an asking price (either fixed, a range, or “price on application”). The full guided flow asks more nuanced questions to build a proper listing, but each question is straightforward and can be skipped if not applicable.

The whole listing creation takes 15–30 minutes for most sellers. You can save as a draft and come back later.

2.2 What about a valuation?

The free valuation takes about 5 minutes and uses your turnover, profit, sector, growth trend, and customer characteristics to produce a realistic estimate. It’s an estimate — not financial advice — but it’s based on how real UK business sales actually price.

You can start with the valuation and then convert it into a listing, or list directly without a valuation.

2.3 What private details can I keep hidden?

By default, the most sensitive fields — full address, postcode, contact details, named business identity — are post-NDA: only shown to buyers who have signed an NDA with you. The listing builder lets you adjust the disclosure level of every field individually: pre-NDA (visible to anyone), post-NDA (visible after they sign), or never (kept entirely private).

See the Privacy Policy §2 for the full data flow.

2.4 Can I list more than one business?

Yes. There’s no limit. Each listing is priced independently under whichever plan you’ve chosen.

2.5 Can I pause or close a listing?

Yes — both, from your seller dashboard. You can pause a listing while you think things over (it disappears from search but you keep your settings), or close it entirely. If you close after taking enquiries, the cross-reference flow may ask NDA-signed buyers whether they completed the purchase — this protects everyone against accidental off-platform sales.

3.1 Do I need an account to browse?

No. Anyone can browse listings without signing up. You only need an account when you want to sign an NDA, message a seller, or save favourites.

3.2 What is the NDA and when do I sign?

When you find a listing you’re seriously interested in, you sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with that seller. The NDA is per-listing — you don’t sign one giant NDA for the whole platform.

Signing the NDA unlocks the private details on that listing: full address, business identity, contact information, and any post-NDA-disclosure fields the seller has chosen. Read the standard NDA in full before you sign — it’s short and uses plain language.

3.3 What does the NDA actually commit me to?

The short version: don’t share what you learn about the business with anyone else, don’t use it to compete with the seller, don’t solicit their staff or suppliers, and don’t use it to bypass the seller. The full document is 3 pages of plain English.

3.4 How do I contact the seller?

Once you’ve signed an NDA, you can message the seller through the platform inbox. All messages are stored and viewable from your buyer dashboard. The seller can also reach out to you. You decide how the conversation progresses.

3.5 What if I find a problem with a listing?

Both buyer and seller can flag a conversation for our review — spam, abusive language, suspected scam, off-topic, or any other concern. Flagged conversations are looked at by our team, usually within 3 working days. The process is described in our complaints procedure.

4.1 How do you know who signed the NDA?

When you sign an NDA, we record the timestamp, your IP address, your device’s user-agent string, and the exact version of the NDA you agreed to. That’s the evidence trail if the agreement is ever tested.

4.2 What if I sign an NDA and then change my mind?

The signed NDA stays binding — you’ve already received confidential information once it’s unlocked. What you can do: stop using the platform, ask for your data to be deleted (which we’ll honour, though we keep the NDA record itself for legal-defence purposes), and not progress the enquiry. The NDA’s duration is 3 years; after that, the obligations expire.

4.3 Can a seller revoke an NDA?

Yes. From their dashboard. The seller can revoke a buyer’s NDA if they consider it appropriate — for instance, if the buyer turns out to be a competitor in disguise. Revocation cuts off the buyer’s access to the post-NDA details going forward but doesn’t cancel the existing confidentiality obligations under the NDA they signed.

5.1 I’m a business broker. Can I use Fair Handover for my clients?

Yes. Fair Handover has a dedicated broker portal. You apply at /brokers, we review the application personally, and on approval you can manage multiple listings (your clients’ businesses) under one broker account, with agent users underneath.

5.2 How does broker pricing work?

Brokers pay 30 pence per listing per day, invoiced monthly. New brokers get a six-month free trial. There’s no success fee on broker-managed listings — the daily rate is the only platform charge.

Full terms are in the Broker Agreement.

5.3 Do brokers see buyer NDAs?

Yes, when a buyer signs an NDA on a broker-managed listing, the broker (and any authorised agent) can see the NDA record and message the buyer through the same inbox as a direct seller would. The buyer is told upfront which firm is brokering the listing.

6.1 What data does Fair Handover collect about me?

At account level: name, email, optional phone, role (seller / buyer / broker). For sellers, the listing content you provide. For buyers, your signed NDA records and messages. For brokers, the broker-firm details. We do not collect tracking data for third-party advertising, and we don’t use third-party analytics that profile users.

Full breakdown in the Privacy Policy.

6.2 Where is my data stored?

All data is held in UK / EU data-centres run by reputable processors (Supabase for the database, Vercel for the hosting, Resend for transactional email, Microsoft 365 for inbound and outbound mail). We have signed data-processing agreements (Article 28 UK GDPR) with each of them. No international transfers outside the UK / EU.

6.3 Can I get a copy of my data, or have it deleted?

Yes — both. Under UK GDPR you have the right of access (a copy of your data), the right of erasure (deletion), the right of rectification, and several others. To exercise any of them, email privacy@fairhandover.co.uk and we’ll respond within one calendar month, per the legal deadline.

6.4 Are you registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office?

Yes. Mitigate IT Limited is registered as a data controller with the ICO. The registration number is shown in §1 of the Privacy Policy.

7.1 How do you verify users?

Every account is created from a verified email address — a one-time code is sent to that email and must be entered before the account is usable. Sellers and brokers go through additional identity checks at our discretion before listings go live. We’re a business-to-business platform — all users confirm at sign-up that they’re acting in a business or investment capacity, not as consumers.

7.2 What happens if someone abuses the platform?

Conversations can be flagged. Listings can be reviewed and paused or removed. Accounts can be suspended. Genuine wrongdoing is escalated to the relevant authority — ICO for data complaints, NCA for suspected money-laundering, the police for fraud. The internal process is documented in our trust-and-safety policy (available on request).

7.3 Does Fair Handover ever hold money on a buyer’s or seller’s behalf?

No. Fair Handover is an introductions platform. All money in a sale flows directly between the buyer and seller (typically through their respective solicitors). We don’t operate a client account, an escrow service, or any kind of holding mechanism. The only money flows we touch are our own fees: monthly subscriptions, success fees, and broker invoices.

8.1 Who’s behind Fair Handover?

Fair Handover is operated by Mitigate IT Limited (Company No. 16874891), a UK company registered at 41 Plassey Street, Penarth, CF64 1EL. Mitigate IT Limited trades as Fair Handover.

8.2 How do I get in touch?

• General questions: hello@fairhandover.co.uk
• Privacy and data: privacy@fairhandover.co.uk
• Legal: legal@fairhandover.co.uk
• Complaints: hello@fairhandover.co.uk with “Complaint:” at the start of the subject line. See /complaints for the full process.