You get one shot at this. Here is what it costs to get it right.
Finding out what your business is worth costs you nothing. If you then decide to sell, there are two fees payable to me and that is the whole list: a fixed campaign fee that covers everything it takes to bring your business to market, portal listings included, and a success fee when it settles. The campaign fee comes off the success fee, so if your business sells you pay it once. The compulsory identity and company checks are run by me once you appoint me, and they come out of the campaign fee for up to two individuals, one company and one trust, so there is nothing separate for you to pay. Where the ownership runs wider than that, each additional check is charged at what it costs me, $15 plus GST for an individual and $30 plus GST for a company or trust, and quoted to you in writing before the listing is advertised.
Last updated 15 September 2026.
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What does a business broker charge in Queensland?
Two fees, and that is the whole list. A fixed campaign fee covers everything needed to take your business to market, portal listings included, and a success fee is payable when it settles. The campaign fee comes off the success fee, so a business that sells pays it once. The appraisal costs nothing. The identity and company checks are run by me and come out of the campaign fee for up to two individuals, one company and one trust. Wider ownership structures are quoted at cost, in writing, before the listing is advertised.
Work it out for your number
Slide to your price. See the whole fee.
One total, both parts shown, nothing left out. The same calculator a vendor sees in the appraisal meeting.
Above $5 million, everything changes.
The buyer pool moves from owner-operators to trade acquirers, private equity and offshore capital, and every one of them arrives with their own advisers. The information they want is deeper, the process runs in rounds rather than in one campaign, and the work before it goes to market is a different scale altogether.
A sale that size is not a bigger version of the one above. It is priced with you, in writing, before anything starts, so you know the whole number before you commit to me.
Ring me on 0431 124 128- Everything is in it. The memorandum, the photography, the confidentiality process, the buyer research and the portal listings.
- Nothing to pay while the campaign runs. No retainer, no renewals, no advertising invoices, no top-ups.
- If it does not sell, the $6,900 is the whole of it. No success fee, no cancellation fee, nothing further.
Drag the slider to your own number. Every figure comes straight from the bands below, so nothing here is rounded in my favour. Selling for under $250,000? Ring me and we will work it out.
Every figure on this page is plus GST. GST is added where it applies, at the rate applying at the time. Part 7 of your PO Form 6A states the commission including GST, so the figure written on your appointment is the higher one and it is calculated then, not quoted here.
Why there is a campaign fee at all
Because I do the marketing myself, and that is deliberate. The moment a confidential sale goes to an outside agency, a freelance copywriter or a photographer who does not know the rules, more people know your business is for sale. I write the memorandum, I take the photographs, I build the campaign, and your financials never leave my hands.
That is real work and it happens before anything sells, which is why it is paid for up front. It is also why it comes straight back off the success fee, you are not paying twice for the same job.
The campaign fee is not refunded if the business does not sell. Nothing in that limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law, including the consumer guarantees. That is why the appraisal comes first and costs nothing, and why I will tell you plainly if I do not think the business is saleable yet.
What a broker may charge, in six lines
Everything below expands on one of these, with the Act, the form or the regulator named so you can check it yourself.
At a glance
- Commission is not capped
- The Queensland Office of Fair Trading states: “We do not set a limit on how much commission you may charge as a property agent. You are free to negotiate any commission with your client.” Part 7 of the approved PO Form 6A, version 1 dated May 2024, records it as a percentage or a dollar amount. It must include GST and say so, and it cannot be changed once both parties have signed.
- No published market rate
- No Australian regulator or standards body publishes a business broking commission rate or range. Checked on 14 August 2026: the Queensland Office of Fair Trading, Queensland Government seller guidance, business.gov.au, the Australian Institute of Business Brokers and the Real Estate Institute of Queensland. A percentage range on a broker’s own website is that broker’s claim, not a market statistic.
- The fee lives in the appointment
- Section 89 of the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) says a person cannot sue for, recover or keep a reward or expense unless the person held the right licence, was authorised under it, and was properly appointed under part 4. Keeping the money anyway is an offence under section 89(2), maximum 200 penalty units. At the Queensland penalty unit value of $172.70 applying from 1 July 2026, that is $34,540.
- The form for a business
- A Queensland business sale is a commercial appointment and uses the PO Form 6A, commercial agent appointment or reappointment, version 1 dated May 2024. That is a different form from the residential Form 6. It runs to ten parts, with part 7 for commission and part 8 for the authorisation to incur fees, charges and expenses.
- Advertising money is separate
- Advertising is not commission and is not covered by it. Part 8 section 1 of the PO Form 6A requires an authorised amount for advertising and marketing with a stated time for payment, and part 8 section 4 requires disclosure of any rebate or discount the agent receives. Queensland Government guidance tells you the money goes into the agent’s trust account and the agent must produce receipts.
- What the claim fund pays
- Client money is governed by the Agents Financial Administration Act 2014 (Qld), which requires a received amount to be banked before the end of the first business day after receipt under section 16. Where trust money is stolen or misapplied, section 25 of the Agents Financial Administration Regulation 2014 (Qld) caps recovery at $200,000 for one claimant and $2,000,000 in total for contraventions by a single person. Both figures are current at 14 August 2026.
What the campaign fee actually buys
Itemised, because "marketing and document preparation" is not an answer.
- Information memorandum
- Written by me, from your numbers. The document a serious buyer reads before they ask for anything else.
- Photography
- Taken by me, on site, at a time that does not tell your staff anything.
- Blind advertisement
- Written so the business is genuinely unidentifiable. It is the part brokers get wrong.
- Confidentiality process
- Deed poll issued to every enquiry, signed before anything is released, and a record of who received what and when.
- Portal listings
- Your blind advertisement listed on the business-sale portals for the campaign period. Included in the fixed price. Whatever the portals cost me is my problem, not a variation on your invoice.
- Buyer research
- Trade buyers, operators and investors approached directly, not just people who happen to be browsing a portal.
- Vendor reporting
- What came in, who signed, what they asked, and what I think it means. Monthly, in writing.
That is the whole cost of bringing your business to market. One fixed price, agreed before we start. No advertising invoices arriving through the campaign, no top-ups, no request for more money if it takes longer than expected.
The campaign fee, all three tiers
| Expected sale price | Campaign fee, plus GST |
|---|---|
| Up to $500,000 | $3,900 |
| $500,001 to $2,000,000 | $6,900 |
| Above $2,000,000 | $9,900 |
| Three tiers, and that is all of them. The tier is set by the expected sale price agreed at the appraisal, written into the appointment before you sign, and credited in full against the success fee at settlement. Above $5,000,000 the whole fee is agreed with you in writing before anything starts. | |
The success fee
Banded, like income tax. Each rate applies only to the part of the price inside its band, so selling for more never costs you less. No minimum and no floor. If the business does not sell, no success fee is payable, and the campaign fee already paid is not refunded. Nothing in this limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law, including the consumer guarantees that services be provided with due care and skill and within a reasonable time.
| Portion of the sale price | Rate, plus GST |
|---|---|
| The first $500,000 | 8% |
| $500,001 to $1,000,000 | 6% |
| $1,000,001 to $3,000,000 | 5% |
| $3,000,001 to $5,000,000 | 4% |
| Above $5,000,000 | By agreement |
| Less the campaign fee already paid, which is credited up to the value of the success fee. Every rate here is plus GST. Part 7 of your PO Form 6A states the commission including GST, so the figure written on your appointment is the higher one. Above $5,000,000 the fee is agreed with you in writing before anything starts, because at that size the buyer pool and the process are different. | |
What ‘introduced’ means, and why the definition matters more than the percentage
A tail clause, sometimes called an introduction clause or a protection period, keeps a fee alive for a stated period after the appointment has ended. It applies where you sell to a buyer the agent introduced during the term. It is the clause that attracts the least attention at signing and causes the largest share of the arguments afterwards, because the dispute only starts once the relationship is over.
Here is the part that matters. The Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) does not supply the meaning of an introduction. Section 20 defines an open listing, section 23 separates sole from exclusive agency, and section 88 requires commission to be claimed only for actual amounts. None of them defines who counts as an introduced buyer for a fee payable after the term. The PO Form 6A sets the term in part 4, termination in part 5, the listing type in part 6 and the commission in part 7. So whatever an introduction means in your engagement, it means what your appointment says it means. It is a drafted term, not a statutory one.
That is why the definition is worth more of your attention than the rate. A narrow definition is a buyer who signed a confidentiality deed through the agent and received your information memorandum, named on a written list handed to you when the appointment ends. A wide definition can reach anyone who made an enquiry, anyone the agent contacted, or anyone who saw the advertisement. The same percentage applied to a definition twice as wide costs you twice as often. Widening the definition is the cheap move; raising the rate is the visible one.
Three practical protections. Ask for the list of introduced buyers in writing on the day the appointment ends, because without a list the dispute is about somebody’s memory. Check the date the tail runs from and the date it runs to, and check whether it is measured from the end of the term or from something else. And check what happens if you later appoint another agent, because Podium Project Marketing Pty Ltd v B Global (Aust) Pty Ltd [2024] QDC 219 confirms that an agent can be an effective cause of a sale without ever meeting the buyer, and section 23 means an exclusive agency does not need effective cause at all. Two live claims on one sale is not a theoretical outcome.
The questions to put before you sign: does the tail require the buyer to be on a written list, when is that list given to me, does it run from the end of the term, what happens if the buyer approached me directly before the agent ever contacted them, and does the fee reduce if another agent is also paid on the same sale.
What I don't charge
This is usually the part that only appears in the terms and conditions.
- No listing fee on top of the campaign fee.
- No monthly retainer, and no annual renewal fee to keep your business advertised.
- No separate advertising bill. The portals are inside the campaign fee. If a listing costs more than I expected, that is my problem.
- No charge for the appraisal. Not the conversation, not the site visit, not the written report. No obligation afterwards and no fee if you decide not to sell.
- No markup on the identity check. The checks inside the standard scope come out of the campaign fee. Anything beyond that scope is charged at what it costs me. I take no margin, no commission and no rebate on any of it.
- No cancellation fee. Sixty days' notice and you owe nothing further.
Advertising money is not commission, and it has its own rules
Part 8 of the PO Form 6A is a separate authorisation from part 7. Section 1 requires an “Authorised amount” for advertising and marketing with a stated time for payment. Section 2 covers repairs, section 3 covers other fees, each needing a description, an amount and a payment date, and section 4 covers any rebate or discount the agent receives. Nothing in part 8 is inside the commission, and nothing in part 8 is authorised unless it is written down before you sign.
Queensland Government guidance tells sellers they reimburse an agent for expenses “only if you discuss and agree on them in advance”, that the agent must “place the money in their trust account”, and that the agent must obtain receipts. That trust obligation is real: money received on your behalf must be paid into the general trust account before the end of the first business day after receipt under section 16 of the Agents Financial Administration Act 2014 (Qld), and it is not available to the agent’s creditors under section 20. So the sequence is that you authorise a number, the number goes into trust, the money is drawn against receipted spending, and you can ask to see the receipts.
An undisclosed margin or rebate on advertising breaks that in three places at once. First, part 8 section 4 has a field for it and the Office of Fair Trading requires agents to declare financial benefits received from third parties, including service surcharges and referral rebates, so an undisclosed benefit is a gap in the appointment, and section 89 of the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) bars recovering or keeping a reward or expense where the appointment is not a proper one. Second, it changes what the money is. A pass through cost and a marked up product are different things, and being told the first while receiving the second is conduct in trade or commerce that can mislead under sections 18 and 29 of the Australian Consumer Law. The ACCC standard is that claims “should be true, accurate and based on reasonable grounds” and that “A business must be able to prove any claim they advertise”. Since 28 March 2026 the maximum penalty for a corporation is the greater of $100,000,000, three times the benefit, or 30 per cent of adjusted turnover during the breach turnover period, and $2,500,000 for an individual.
Third, and most practically, it changes where your money goes. Once a margin attaches to a particular platform or supplier, the choice of platform stops being purely about which one reaches your buyer. Ask the rebate question before the form is produced, then check that part 8 section 4 matches the answer. An authorised amount written as an estimate rather than a figure is a blank cheque, and an amount that is never reconciled against receipts is one you cannot check.
The identity check, and why it comes before your listing
Everyone gets asked, on every listing. It is law, it is not done by me, and it has to be finished before your business goes to market.
The identity check, and why it comes before your listing, in full
Before you act on any of this
Tony Pope is a licensed business broker, not a solicitor. This explains how these rules and clauses usually work so you can have a better conversation with your lawyer.
Your contract should be drafted and reviewed by a solicitor. Where anything on this page differs from an official source or from your own legal advice, that source and that advice are right.
This explains how the rules generally work on a business sale. It is not advice about your situation, and nothing here should be acted on without your accountant running your actual numbers.
Tony Pope is not a registered tax agent and does not give tax advice. Deal structure changes what you keep, sometimes by more than the negotiation does, so get that advice before you sign anything.
Questions people ask
3 of the 26 answered in full on the questions page for this topic.
Is commission on a business sale regulated in Queensland?
No. The Queensland Office of Fair Trading states it plainly: “We do not set a limit on how much commission you may charge as a property agent. You are free to negotiate any commission with your client.” There is no scale, no cap and no prescribed rate for a business sale.
Why does this page not quote a typical commission percentage?
Because none of the official sources publishes one. On 14 August 2026 five were checked: the Queensland Office of Fair Trading, Queensland Government seller guidance, business.gov.au, the Australian Institute of Business Brokers and the Real Estate Institute of Queensland. None publishes a business broking rate or a range.
Which form does a Queensland business appointment go on?
The PO Form 6A, commercial agent appointment or reappointment, version 1 dated May 2024. Queensland now runs two approved appointment forms, a residential Form 6 and a commercial Form 6A, and a business sale is a commercial appointment.
More questions owners ask about fees, all 26 of them, or the twenty five questions owners ask before they sell.
Go deeper
The long form, where it belongs
The full detail is on the pages below, each on its own page.
Check it yourself15 primary sources
Primary sources, none of them affiliated with me and none of them endorsing this site. Where anything here differs from an official source, the official source is right.
The terms the Act uses, and what each one costs you14 definitions
Plain definitions of the words a buyer, a financier or a regulator will use. Where a term has a statutory anchor, it is named.
The reward paid to an agent for a sale. Section 88 of the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) is headed “Commission may be claimed only for actual amounts”, so a percentage is calculated on the price actually achieved rather than on an asking price or a notional figure. The Office of Fair Trading requires it to be in writing at the time of appointment, to include GST and say that it does, and it cannot be varied once both parties have signed.
The phrase used in section 89 of the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld). It covers what the agent is paid and what the agent recovers as an outlay, so an advertising reimbursement sits inside it alongside commission. What the invoice calls the money does not decide whether section 89 applies to it.
The written instrument by which you appoint an agent, required by section 102 of the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) before the agent may act for you at all. Acting without one carries a maximum of 200 penalty units, which is $34,540 at the Queensland penalty unit value of $172.70 applying from 1 July 2026. For a business it is delivered on the PO Form 6A.
The Office of Fair Trading approved commercial agent appointment or reappointment form, version 1 dated May 2024, used for a business or commercial sale. Ten parts: client details, licensee details including licence number and expiry, property or business details, the appointment and its term, termination, listing type, commission, authorisation to incur fees and expenses, signatures, and reappointment. Part 9 is preceded by the words “THE CLIENT IS ADVISED TO SEEK INDEPENDENT LEGAL ADVICE”.
Section 102(5) of the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) allows an appointment to be for “a particular service”, which is a single appointment, or for “services over a period”, which is a continuing appointment. Part 4 of the PO Form 6A asks which one you are signing, and part 5 sets termination differently for each.
Section 23 of the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld): under an exclusive agency the selling agent “is entitled ... to receive an agreed commission or other reward, whether or not the selling agent is the effective cause” of the sale. Part 6 of the PO Form 6A puts it in the form’s own words, that the client pays the agent “whether this agent, any other agent, or person (including the client themselves) sells the property”.
Section 23 of the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) draws the line here: under a sole agency the agent is not entitled to commission if you personally caused the sale. Part 6 of the PO Form 6A warns that appointing another agent during a sole agency term can mean paying “A commission to each agent (two commissions)”.
Section 20 of the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld): a written agreement under which you appoint an agent to sell stated property while keeping the right to sell independently or appoint other agents. The agent is paid only if the agent caused the sale, and either party may end it by written notice.
The test for entitlement where more than one party was involved. In Podium Project Marketing Pty Ltd v B Global (Aust) Pty Ltd [2024] QDC 219 the District Court of Queensland applied the formulation from LJ Hooker Ltd v Adams Estates Pty Ltd: “The inquiry is whether the actions of the agent really brought about the relation of buyer and seller.” The court held that more than one party can be an effective cause at the same time, and that an agent need not have had direct contact with the buyer.
The Real Estate Institute of Queensland states that section 112(4) of the Property Occupations Act 2014 (Qld) renders an appointment “ineffective from the time it is made if the appointment does not comply with section 104”. That is not a defect to be cured later, it is an appointment that never existed, which feeds straight into the section 89 bar on recovering a reward or expense.
The advertising and marketing figure written into part 8 section 1 of the PO Form 6A, together with a stated time for payment. Queensland Government guidance tells sellers they reimburse an agent only for expenses discussed and agreed in advance, that the money goes into the agent’s trust account, and that the agent must produce receipts.
Part 8 section 4 of the PO Form 6A requires an agent to disclose a rebate or discount the agent receives, with the source of the service and the estimated amount. The Office of Fair Trading states that agents must declare financial benefits received from third parties, including service surcharges and referral rebates.
Money an agent receives on behalf of someone else, governed by the Agents Financial Administration Act 2014 (Qld). It must be paid into the general trust account “before the end of the first business day after receiving the amount” under section 16, and it is “not available to the agent’s creditors” under section 20. A deposit on a business sale is trust money.
The fund established by section 78 of the Agents Financial Administration Act 2014 (Qld), which under section 79 “must be used to pay the amount of all claims allowed against the fund”. Section 82 lists the claimable events, including contravention of the trust account provisions and stealing or misapplying property entrusted to a relevant person. It is a fund of last resort for misapplied client money, not compensation for a disappointing sale.
Ask what it is worth
Free, in writing, and nobody finds out you asked. Tell me the trade and the suburb and I will do the rest.
Nobody finds out you are selling. This goes to me only, into my own database in Sydney. I will not contact your accountant, your landlord, your bank or your staff, ever, unless you ask me to.
If you would rather not put anything in writing yet, ring 0431 124 128. Prefer to pick a time yourself? Book a time in my diary.
Start with the number. Decide about the rest later.
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