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Murphy Business Sales vs Raincatcher

Side by Side

Murphy Business Sales and Raincatcher, attribute by attribute
AttributeMurphy Business SalesRaincatcher
What It IsA franchised business brokerage network founded in 1994 with offices across the United States and Canada, where each office is an independently operated franchise, so the broker and the fee both vary by market.National sell-side brokerage and M&A advisory for businesses from roughly $3M to $100M of revenue, with a brokerage arm for companies under $2M of earnings, plus buy-side advisory and valuations.
CategoryBusiness Brokers & M&A AdvisorsBusiness Brokers & M&A Advisors
Pricing ModelCustom PricingSuccess Fee
What It CostsNo fee of its own appears anywhere on the corporate site. Its blog states the industry's range rather than Murphy's: 'Brokerage fees tend to run between 5 and 10 percent of the selling price of a business.' A reader on a Murphy page can easily take that for a Murphy rate, which is why it is worth saying plainly that it is not.Success-fee model; rates and minimums are not published and require a consultation. Third-party figures circulate without a primary source behind them.
Best ForBuyers who want the widest possible office coverage and are willing to work office by officeOwners preparing a sale in the $3M-plus revenue range who want a national process; buyers who want revenue and earnings before registering anywhere
Where It FitsDefine & Test Your Thesis, Source & Screen DealsSource & Screen Deals
Our VerdictCoverage almost everywhere, on terms you have to ask each office for one at a time.A credible national option to interview alongside a local CBI; make them state the fee and the minimum in the first call.
Pros
  • The broadest published US office list of any firm on this shelf, at a level of detail a buyer can act on
  • Publishes a founding year and a lifetime volume: 1994, and over $4.3 billion in completed transactions
  • The franchise model is confirmable from its own franchise site, so the label is not inferred
  • Publishes revenue and earnings to the dollar for every business on its home page, before any registration, which most national shops do not
  • Team mixes former owners, public accountants, and middle-market bankers rather than pure salespeople
  • Offers both a broker opinion of value and certified valuations, useful before committing to a process
Cons
  • No fee of its own anywhere, and the only percentage on the site is an industry range that reads like one
  • Its own pages disagree on how many states it covers, which is a disclosure-quality signal in itself
  • Nothing published for buyers, and because each office is a separate business, ask the broker means asking a different company each time
  • Fees are consultation-gated: a seller cannot compare their cost against a local broker without getting on the phone
  • Success-rate and award claims are self-reported or drawn from lists with their own commercial interests; treat them as marketing
  • Sell-side first: a buyer in their process is the counterparty, not the client

Our take

Choose Murphy Business to work a book yourself: its listing search returns an asking price and a seller's discretionary earnings figure for every business, with no NDA and no account before you see them, and the NDA sits on the listing you pick.

Choose Raincatcher if its size band suits you and you will register: the home page publishes revenue and earnings for each business it represents, and the listing page itself opens only after a buyer login.