# Exclusive listing agreement

The contract making one broker the only one who can sell a business.

It is the document a seller signs and a buyer never sees, and it sets three things that shape the whole process. The commission, how long the exclusivity runs, and the [tail period](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/tail-period). During the tail the broker is still owed a fee if the business sells to somebody they introduced. For a buyer, the tail is the clause worth knowing about, because it is why a broker who showed you a business two years ago may still be owed on it. For a seller, the length is the term to negotiate hardest, since an underperforming listing is otherwise locked up for its full run.

In numbers: An 8% success fee on a $4M sale is $320,000, and an exclusive owes it no matter who found the buyer.

Source: https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/exclusive-listing-agreement
Not dated: A definition is editorial: what a term means, why it matters, and an example. None of it reads a source that can go stale, so there is no date to take and a stamped one would be the build time wearing a costume.

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt