How we grade
Every listing gets a score out of 100 and a letter. The whole rulebook is on this page — if you disagree with a grade, you should be able to work out exactly why we gave it.
The four parts
| Part | Weight | How it scores, out of 100 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 40 | The asking multiple of SDE against comparable listings in the same industry. Below the middle half: 95. Inside it, or up to 1.5× the median: 80. Above 1.5× the median: 35. Under half the median: 50, because that’s usually a data problem, not a bargain. No comparables: 55. No SDE or no price: 20. |
| Disclosure | 30 | The share of six key facts the listing publishes: asking price, revenue, SDE, employees, year established, reason for sale. |
| Financing | 20 | Whether a Canada Small Business Financing Program loan could plausibly help: price within the program’s $1.15M cap, 75; above it, 45; no price, 40; revenue over the program’s $10M limit, 20. Plus 25 if the seller offers financing, capped at 100. |
| Handover | 10 | Owner retiring: 90. Another reason for sale given: 70. No reason stated: 40. |
Weighted total, minus 10 for each red flag not already counted · A 85+ · B 70+ · C 55+ · D below 55
Comparables
A price range for an industry is the middle half of asking multiples (asking price ÷ SDE) across every listing in that industry that publishes SDE, nationally. We only show one once at least 8 listings qualify, and we drop multiples that are clearly data errors. These are asking prices, not sale prices — sold prices are rarely public in Canada.
Red flags
Every flag is listed on the report with a line on why it matters. The first two — missing SDE and missing revenue — are already scored by the disclosure and price parts, so they don’t cost another 10 points. The rest do.
- No SDE or cash flow disclosed.
- Revenue not disclosed.
- Priced well above comparables — a multiple more than 1.5× the industry median.
- “Motivated seller” language — “motivated”, “must sell” or “priced to sell” in the listing title.
- Under $100K with no financials — no SDE and no revenue.
- On the market over 180 days, counted from when we first saw it.
- The published numbers don’t add up — for example SDE larger than revenue.
Financing
The CSBFP is the government-backed small-business loan most first-time buyers ask about. Borrowers need revenue of $10M or less; loans go up to $1.15M; it finances buying a business’s assets, not its shares; and at most $150K can go toward goodwill and other intangibles. We can’t see how a price splits between equipment and goodwill, so the best we can ever say is “may fit”. Confirm with a lender.
Where the numbers come from
Publicly available business-for-sale listings, collected daily. We store facts — price, revenue, SDE, EBITDA, staff, year, industry, location, reason for sale, seller financing — and never republish a broker’s description or photos. Each report names the broker and links to their own page, because that link is how you reach the seller.
When the same business appears in more than one place, it gets one page. Where the listings disagree on a number, the report says so.
How fresh it is
Listings are re-checked daily. A page shows a date only when its listings actually changed — something added, removed or repriced. When a listing comes down, its page stays up for a year marked as no longer listed, so a link you saved doesn’t just break.
What a grade is not
It isn’t a valuation, and it isn’t advice. It reads what a broker chose to publish, which means a thin listing for an excellent business scores badly, and a well-written listing for a mediocre one scores well. A D is a reason to ask more questions, not a reason to walk away — and an A is not permission to skip diligence.
We never tell you to buy anything. Nothing on this site is paid placement, and no broker can move a listing up a page.
Corrections
If a listing is wrong, sold, or shouldn’t be here, tell us and we’ll fix or remove it within 48 hours.