For brokers
Every guide explains what the seller pays. This one explains what you keep.
Search for the commission split and you get a page about seller fees, written for the seller. If you are the broker, the number you were looking for was not on it.
The stack, in the order it comes out
A commission is divided several times before any of it reaches the person who did the work.
- 01
The fee the seller pays
Quoted as a percentage of the sale price, on a scale that falls as the deal gets larger, usually with a minimum fee. This is the number every published guide explains, and it is not your number.
- 02
Minus the franchise royalty
If the office is franchised, a share of gross commission leaves before anyone is paid. It is calculated on gross, so it is taken whether or not the office made money on the file.
- 03
Minus the office split
What remains is divided between the office and you. This is the number nobody publishes, and the one that decides your year.
- 04
Minus anything billed to you monthly
Technology, CRM and marketing fees are charged in some models whether or not you close. A desk fee by another name is still a desk fee.
- 05
What is left
Then multiply by how many engagements of that size you can realistically run in a year, which is the part that deal size decides rather than the split.
What is actually published
The only benchmarks anyone prints
These are other firms' figures, reproduced with their sources so you can check them.
"Payouts to agents range from 50% to 70% or more in most cases. Some offices charge a desk fee, and some do not."
Morgan & Westfield, business broker and M&A advisor fees guide. Checked 2026-09.
This appears inside a guide written for sellers rather than for brokers, which is where the only published payout benchmark in the category happens to sit.
A competitor career guide states that Main Street brokerages typically hire 1099 producers with no base, a split running from 50/50 to 70/30 in the broker's favor after a ramp, and a six-month draw against future commissions, while lower-middle-market M&A firms more often hire W-2 employees on a $60,000 to $120,000 base with a smaller share of the fee.
CT Acquisitions, become a business broker guide. Checked 2026-09.
A competing firm's own guide, not a survey. Treat it as the category describing itself, and note the two models it names sit at opposite ends: no base with a large share, or a base with a small one.
The same guide puts a franchised office's ongoing cost at 6 to 10 percent of gross commissions in royalties plus a 1 to 3 percent brand marketing fee, taken before the office and the broker divide anything.
CT Acquisitions, become a business broker guide. Checked 2026-09.
Franchise versus independent
What the networks charge before anyone is paid
Published by each network about joining them. Most of these pages are selling a franchise rather than hiring an advisor, which is a different transaction.
Transworld Business Advisors
Franchise fee $69,500 to buy a territory, a royalty on gross revenue that tiers at 10 percent, 9 percent and 8 percent by volume band and is subject to a monthly minimum, and a marketing fund contribution. Total investment to launch stated as $114,040 to $143,615.
Transworld Business Advisors, franchise investment page. Checked 2026-09.
Sunbelt Business Brokers
Initial franchise fee $49,500 or $39,500 by territory type, a marketing fee of 4 percent of the first $1M of gross revenue with a monthly minimum, plus $250 a month technology, $200 a month CRM and $200 a month third-party marketing. Estimated initial investment $61,400 to $114,500.
Sunbelt Business Brokers, franchise investment page. Checked 2026-09.
We Sell Restaurants
Franchise fee $49,750, a 15 percent royalty on commissions earned, and $750 a month in fees. Total investment stated as $106,225 to $151,400.
We Sell Restaurants, franchise FAQ. Checked 2026-09.
Murphy Business
Franchise fee $47,500, with total investment stated as $65,090 to $85,900. The ongoing royalty is not published on the investment page.
Murphy Business, franchise investment page. Checked 2026-09.
Franchise terms change and the disclosure document governs. Read the current one before relying on any figure here.
Questions brokers ask
- What is a typical business broker commission split?
- The only published benchmark found is Morgan & Westfield stating that payouts to agents range from 50 percent to 70 percent or more in most cases, and that some offices charge a desk fee. A competitor career guide describes Main Street firms hiring 1099 producers with no base at 50/50 to 70/30 after a ramp, against lower-middle-market firms paying a base with a smaller share of the fee. Neither is a survey, and almost no firm publishes its own number.
- Why will nobody tell me the split before I interview?
- Because the split is the weakest part of most offers and the strongest part of the conversation. Of the eighteen competitor recruiting and franchise pages we read in September 2026, we did not find one that published the advisor's percentage. The closest any of them came was to describe its commission structure as competitive without giving a number.
- Does a better split beat a bigger deal?
- Usually not, and the arithmetic is quick. The published median price of a business sold through the largest marketplace in 2025 was $350,000. A percentage point of a fee on a deal ten times that size is worth more than several points on the median one. Split matters; deal size usually matters more.
- What does a franchise cost a broker?
- At the office level it is a fee to join plus a royalty on gross commission, and in some networks a fixed monthly charge as well. The figures each network publishes are set out above, with links, so you can check them rather than take a recruiter’s word.
- What does Wraith pay?
- Commission only. There is no base, no draw, no franchise fee, no royalty and no monthly fee billed to you. The split is a real number, and you get it in writing on the first call, before you tell us anything about your book.
If you want our number, ask for it on the first call.
We will put it in writing before you tell us anything about your book, your clients or your current agreement. Nothing gets filed, and we do not contact your firm.