# Business For Sale Aggregator — Normalized Deal Feed (`shelvick/business-for-sale-aggregator`) Actor Find businesses to buy: aggregate business-for-sale and small-M\&A listings from many broker marketplaces into one normalized, deduplicated acquisition deal feed. Filter by sector, location, asking price, and revenue; get price, revenue, cash flow, broker, and source link per listing. - **URL**: https://apify.com/shelvick/business-for-sale-aggregator.md - **Developed by:** [Scott Helvick](https://apify.com/shelvick) (community) - **Categories:** Automation, Lead generation - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $127.50 / 1,000 deal feed returneds This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## Business For Sale Aggregator — Normalized Deal Feed **Find businesses to buy** without tab-hopping across a dozen broker marketplaces, each with its own layout, currency, and price formatting. This Actor aggregates business-for-sale and small-M&A listings from multiple broker marketplaces into **one normalized, deduplicated acquisition deal feed** — a searchable deal database with structured asking price, revenue, cash flow, sector, location, broker, and a link back to each source listing — so acquirers, search funds, and brokers can screen acquisition deal flow in a single pass. ### What this does - Pulls listings from multiple broker marketplaces in one run — currently **DealStream, BizQuest, and BusinessesForSale** — and merges them into a single structured dataset. - Returns **structured financial facts** per listing: asking price (USD), annual revenue, cash flow / SDE, sector, location, broker, and the canonical source URL. - **Filters across all sources at once**: by sector/industry, location, asking-price range, and minimum revenue — so you screen the whole field with one set of criteria. - **Deduplicates** by source + listing id, returning a clean, agent-ready feed. - **Facts-first, link-out:** each record carries the structured facts plus a short summary and a link to the full listing on its source — it points you to the deal, it doesn't rehost the seller's full write-up or photos. - Built **agent-first**: one structured dataset record per listing, designed to be filtered and ranked by an LLM or a downstream pipeline. ### Why a normalized multi-source feed matters The business-for-sale market is fragmented across many independent and franchise-broker marketplaces, each siloed behind its own search UI. Single-site scrapers hand you one marketplace in that marketplace's raw shape — you still do the cross-source merge, currency normalization, and dedup by hand. The value here is the **layer above the single-site scrape**: consistent fields across sources, USD-normalized prices, dedup, and one filter pass — the part that's tedious and brittle to build yourself, and that no single-site scraper provides. ### How it compares to single-site scrapers | | Single-site scraper | Business For Sale Aggregator | |---|---|---| | Sources per run | one marketplace | multiple marketplaces | | Output shape | each site's raw fields | one normalized schema | | Price | as-displayed (mixed currencies) | USD-normalized (non-USD left explicit) | | Cross-source dedup | none | yes | | Filtering | per-site | unified across sources | | Use | scrape one site | screen the whole field | ### Input | Field | Type | Required | Description | |---|---|---|---| | `sources` | array of string | no | Which broker marketplaces to aggregate. Valid: `dealstream`, `bizquest`, `businessesforsale`. Empty = all supported. | | `sectors` | array of string | no | Industry/sector keywords to filter on (e.g. `software`, `restaurant`). Empty = all sectors. | | `locations` | array of string | no | Location keywords (country/state/region/city). Empty = all locations. | | `minAskingPriceUsd` | integer | no | Only listings at/above this asking price (USD). | | `maxAskingPriceUsd` | integer | no | Only listings at/below this asking price (USD); excludes undisclosed-price listings. | | `minRevenueUsd` | integer | no | Only listings reporting at/above this annual revenue (USD). | | `maxListings` | integer | no | Cap on normalized listings returned (default 100, max 1000). | ### Output One dataset record per normalized, deduplicated listing: ```json { "listingId": "bizquest:abc123", "title": "Profitable SaaS Business with Recurring Revenue", "askingPriceUsd": 1200000, "revenueUsd": 850000, "cashFlowUsd": 300000, "sector": "Software & Technology", "location": "California, United States", "broker": "Acme Business Brokers", "source": "bizquest", "sourceUrl": "https://www.bizquest.com/business-for-sale/profitable-saas/abc123", "listedAt": "2026-05-30", "description": "Established SaaS with high gross margins and low churn...", "fetchedAt": "2026-06-17T08:00:00Z" } ```` Financial fields are `null` when the source doesn't disclose them. `askingPriceUsd` is populated only when the source quotes USD — non-USD listings keep a `null` USD price (so a foreign-currency figure is never silently mislabeled) until currency conversion ships. ### Example ```json { "sources": ["bizquest", "businessesforsale", "dealstream"], "sectors": ["software", "ecommerce"], "maxAskingPriceUsd": 5000000, "maxListings": 100 } ``` Returns up to 100 normalized software/ecommerce listings under $5M asking price, merged and deduplicated across the three marketplaces. ### Calling from an AI agent Discoverable via the **Apify MCP server** (`mcp.apify.com`) as `shelvick/business-for-sale-aggregator`. Run it from the Apify Python SDK: ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient client = ApifyClient("") run = client.actor("shelvick/business-for-sale-aggregator").call( run_input={"sectors": ["software"], "maxAskingPriceUsd": 2000000, "maxListings": 50} ) for listing in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(listing["title"], listing["askingPriceUsd"], listing["sourceUrl"]) ``` Or the REST run-sync endpoint (`POST /v2/acts/shelvick~business-for-sale-aggregator/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=…`) with the same JSON input. Every output field is structured for direct filtering/ranking. ### Pricing Pay-per-event, billed only on success: a single flat fee per run that returns at least one listing, charged after the records are pushed. The fee is the same whether the run returns one listing or hundreds, so broad multi-source searches stay predictable — and runs that fail or return no listings are never charged. See the **Pricing** tab on this Store page for the current per-run rate and any active subscriber discounts. ### Behavior - **Per-source resilience:** if one marketplace fails to fetch, the run continues with the others and reports what it returned — a partial source outage never fails the run. - **Latency:** typically under a minute for a single-sector run across all three sources; scales with the number of sectors requested. - **Coverage:** v1 fetches the first search page per source per sector; very large result sets are sampled to `maxListings`. - **Deduplication:** exact source+id dedup within a run. ### FAQ **Which marketplaces are covered?** DealStream, BizQuest, and BusinessesForSale today. More sources are planned. **Are prices converted to USD?** USD-quoted listings are returned in USD; non-USD listings return a `null` USD price (never a mislabeled figure) until currency conversion ships. **Does it return seller contact details or full prospectuses?** No — it returns structured facts plus a link to the source listing, where the full write-up lives. **Can I filter by revenue or cash flow?** You can filter by minimum revenue and by asking-price range; every record also includes revenue and cash flow when disclosed for your own downstream filtering. ### What this doesn't do - No authentication / no gated or members-only listings — public search results only. - No full descriptions or photos rehosted — facts + a source link only. - No commercial real estate (LoopNet-style property listings) — this is operating businesses for sale. - No buyer/seller PII or contact scraping. - No automated outreach or CRM sync. Use a **single-site scraper** if you only need one marketplace in its raw shape and don't need cross-source normalization. Use a **commercial-real-estate listings** tool for property (not business) deals. Use a dedicated **company-financials** tool if you need audited financials rather than broker-reported figures. *** Design notes: [www.scotthelvick.com/tools/business-for-sale-aggregator](https://www.scotthelvick.com/tools/business-for-sale-aggregator) # Actor input Schema ## `sources` (type: `array`): Which broker marketplaces to aggregate. Valid values: bizquest, businessesforsale, dealstream. Leave empty to use all supported sources. Validated at runtime; unknown values are rejected with a clear error. Returns facts plus a source link per listing (no rehosted descriptions or photos). ## `sectors` (type: `array`): Optional industry/sector keywords to filter listings (e.g. software, ecommerce, manufacturing, restaurant). Matched case-insensitively against each listing's sector/category. Leave empty for all sectors. ## `locations` (type: `array`): Optional location keywords to filter listings (country, state, region, or city, e.g. 'United States', 'California', 'London'). Matched case-insensitively against each listing's location. Leave empty for all locations. ## `minAskingPriceUsd` (type: `integer`): Only return listings with an asking price at or above this value (USD), e.g. 250000. Listings with no disclosed price are kept unless you also set a maximum. Leave empty for no lower bound. ## `maxAskingPriceUsd` (type: `integer`): Only return listings with an asking price at or below this value (USD). Listings with no disclosed price are excluded when this is set. Leave empty for no upper bound. ## `minRevenueUsd` (type: `integer`): Only return listings reporting annual revenue at or above this value (USD), e.g. 100000. Listings with no disclosed revenue are kept unless this is set. Leave empty for no revenue filter. ## `maxListings` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of normalized, deduplicated listings to return across all sources. Caps cost and runtime. 1-1000. ## Actor input object example ```json { "sources": [ "bizquest", "businessesforsale", "dealstream" ], "sectors": [ "software", "ecommerce" ], "locations": [], "maxAskingPriceUsd": 5000000, "maxListings": 100 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `listings` (type: `string`): Normalized, deduplicated business-for-sale listings for this run. # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "sources": [ "bizquest", "businessesforsale", "dealstream" ], "sectors": [ "software", "ecommerce" ], "locations": [], "maxAskingPriceUsd": 5000000, "maxListings": 100 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("shelvick/business-for-sale-aggregator").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "sources": [ "bizquest", "businessesforsale", "dealstream", ], "sectors": [ "software", "ecommerce", ], "locations": [], "maxAskingPriceUsd": 5000000, "maxListings": 100, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("shelvick/business-for-sale-aggregator").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "sources": [ "bizquest", "businessesforsale", "dealstream" ], "sectors": [ "software", "ecommerce" ], "locations": [], "maxAskingPriceUsd": 5000000, "maxListings": 100 }' | apify call shelvick/business-for-sale-aggregator --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=shelvick/business-for-sale-aggregator", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Business For Sale Aggregator — Normalized Deal Feed", "description": "Find businesses to buy: aggregate business-for-sale and small-M&A listings from many broker marketplaces into one normalized, deduplicated acquisition deal feed. Filter by sector, location, asking price, and revenue; get price, revenue, cash flow, broker, and source link per listing.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "Ie4gUiVXd6GWGuUtd" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/shelvick~business-for-sale-aggregator/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-shelvick-business-for-sale-aggregator", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/shelvick~business-for-sale-aggregator/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-shelvick-business-for-sale-aggregator", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/shelvick~business-for-sale-aggregator/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-shelvick-business-for-sale-aggregator", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "sources": { "title": "Sources", "type": "array", "description": "Which broker marketplaces to aggregate. Valid values: bizquest, businessesforsale, dealstream. Leave empty to use all supported sources. Validated at runtime; unknown values are rejected with a clear error. Returns facts plus a source link per listing (no rehosted descriptions or photos).", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "sectors": { "title": "Sectors / industries", "type": "array", "description": "Optional industry/sector keywords to filter listings (e.g. software, ecommerce, manufacturing, restaurant). Matched case-insensitively against each listing's sector/category. Leave empty for all sectors.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "locations": { "title": "Locations", "type": "array", "description": "Optional location keywords to filter listings (country, state, region, or city, e.g. 'United States', 'California', 'London'). Matched case-insensitively against each listing's location. Leave empty for all locations.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "minAskingPriceUsd": { "title": "Min asking price (USD)", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Only return listings with an asking price at or above this value (USD), e.g. 250000. Listings with no disclosed price are kept unless you also set a maximum. Leave empty for no lower bound." }, "maxAskingPriceUsd": { "title": "Max asking price (USD)", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Only return listings with an asking price at or below this value (USD). Listings with no disclosed price are excluded when this is set. Leave empty for no upper bound." }, "minRevenueUsd": { "title": "Min annual revenue (USD)", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Only return listings reporting annual revenue at or above this value (USD), e.g. 100000. Listings with no disclosed revenue are kept unless this is set. Leave empty for no revenue filter." }, "maxListings": { "title": "Max listings", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 1000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of normalized, deduplicated listings to return across all sources. Caps cost and runtime. 1-1000.", "default": 100 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```