Flippa and Acquire.com alternatives for founders in Nigeria

Most of the big marketplaces close deals through Escrow.com, and Escrow.com lists Nigeria as a country it doesn't support. You can open an account from here, but to be paid you need a bank account in a country it does support.¹ If you don't have one, sort that out before you list, not after a buyer has agreed a price.

The second catch is revenue checks. Several marketplaces verify revenue by connecting to Stripe, and Stripe treats Nigeria as part of its extended network, pointing businesses here to Paystack.² So many Nigerian builders only have Stripe through a company set up abroad, and those who take payments on Paystack can't use a Stripe connection at all.

The biggest general marketplace, covering online stores, SaaS, content sites, apps and social accounts. You can list it yourself for asking prices up to $100,000; above that, Flippa's brokers handle it. Self-service listings start at $29 for 60 days, and you pay that whether or not it sells. When it does sell, the success fee is 10%.³

Buyers pay the escrow fee. Besides Escrow.com there's FlippaPay, from 0.5% on deals of $10,000 or more,⁴ which pays out in over 100 local currencies.⁵ Flippa doesn't say whether naira is one of them, so ask before you rely on it. Revenue can be checked through 15 connections, including Stripe, PayPal, Shopify and AdSense.⁶

Mostly SaaS and other software businesses. Sellers pay a monthly listing fee ($25 below a $250,000 asking price, rising to $100 above $1 million) and a closing fee of 8%, 7% or 6% depending on size, due in full when the deal closes. Escrow runs through Escrow.com, and Acquire pays its fee.⁷ Buyers pay $390 or $780 a year for full access.⁸ Because it only uses Escrow.com, the bank account problem above applies.

A vetted marketplace for businesses that already make a steady profit. There's no listing fee, but the success fee is a flat $10,000 on sales up to about $66,000, then 15% up to $700,000, and less above that.⁹ That makes it a poor fit for small apps. In return, its team checks up to three years of profit and loss and pulls numbers from your dashboards before a listing goes live.¹⁰

Microns.io is for small online businesses. Listing is free, and the commission runs from 10% on the smallest sales down to 6% above $100,000.¹¹ Deals go through its own transfer service, and payouts are in US dollars by bank transfer.¹²

Little Exits, which used to be Tiny Acquisitions, is for small creator projects. It charges a one-off $5 or $15 to submit and 9.5% when it sells.¹³

SideProjectors is free and takes no commission, but there's no escrow built in.¹⁴ You and the buyer agree how the money moves, so you'll need to arrange escrow yourself.

A few newer marketplaces focus on Africa, such as Maasai in Lagos.¹⁵ We couldn't find published fees or escrow details for them, so ask how payment and payouts work before you list.

We built Prow for builders here, so it's fair to say where it's strong and where it isn't yet. Payouts go to a Nigerian bank account in naira, prices show in naira and dollars, and revenue is pulled read-only from the seller's Stripe account so buyers can trust it. Posting a project and proving its revenue are free. Listing it is a one-off ₦10,000 for an early-stage project or ₦25,000 for Basic, and the seller and buyer each pay 1.5% when it sells, at least ₦5,000 each. See pricing for the rest.

On Prow: Prow is new, so there are fewer buyers than on the big sites. Only Stripe connects for revenue today, with Paystack coming. Escrow with our licensed partner is being set up; until it's switched on, you can post, prove revenue, take NDAs and receive offers, but no money moves through Prow.

If your project is small and you want a quick sale, start with the cheaper places: Microns.io if it earns, SideProjectors or Little Exits if it's tiny, or Prow if you want naira payouts and local buyers. If it's a SaaS making real money and you have a bank account Escrow.com supports, Acquire.com and Flippa reach far more buyers. Empire Flippers only makes sense once the profit is large enough that its fee stops hurting.

You can list in more than one place, but keep the price and the facts the same everywhere. Buyers notice. And fees change, so check each site's pricing page on the day you list. Our guide on selling an app in Nigeria covers the rest of the process, including tax.

• You know how you'll be paid: a bank account the escrow service supports, or a marketplace that pays out in naira.
• You've worked out every fee on your actual price: listing, success or closing, and escrow.
• Your revenue can be checked at the source, through Stripe, Paystack or bank statements.
• The price and the facts are the same on every site you list on.
• You've read each site's pricing page on the day you list.