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Quiet Light vs Vetrix
Quiet Light brokers a sale of a profitable online business and is paid only if the transaction closes. Its seller guide describes an exclusive engagement and a success-based fee. Vetrix pays you to license a de-identified copy of operational records, and you keep the company.
Up to $150K · $0 cost · 3 days
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| What they do | Quiet Light Brokerage helps entrepreneurs exit profitable online businesses, with an advisor from start to finish. |
| Who it is for | Quiet Light lists businesses valued from $250,000 to $25,000,000, which it describes as usually at least $75,000 in profit a year. It names content, SaaS, ecommerce, FBA, and other online businesses. A business that gets a significant share of revenue from walk-in customers is directed to a local broker. |
| Fee | Quiet Light's January 2020 seller guide states a success-based Modern Lehman fee: 10% of the first $1 million, 9% of the second, 8% of the third, 7% of the fourth, 6% of the fifth, 5% of the sixth, 4% of the seventh, and 3% of everything above $8 million. The minimum is $25,000 or that scale, whichever is greater. The guide says some transactions outside normal parameters might use a different fee. |
| Cost to the company | Quiet Light says it is paid only if the transaction closes. The January 2020 guide lists a minimum fee of $25,000 or the scale, whichever is greater, and it says the valuation fee, market readiness fee, retainer, documentation fee, and monthly service fee are waived. |
The names identify the services. We are not affiliated with them.
What Quiet Light does and how it works
Quiet Light Brokerage helps entrepreneurs exit profitable online businesses, with an advisor from start to finish.
Vetrix's path is six steps. Vetrix runs steps 1 to 3 and stays with you through the rest.
- Tell us what you have.
- We confirm fit.
- We check your systems.
- You sign an NDA.
- You receive an offer.
- You sign, and get paid.
Read how company data licensing works for the step detail. Nothing is uploaded in the first step.
Quiet Light finishes the job in its own description. A license is finished when you sign with the data partner and the copy is prepared. You can still be operating, winding down, or already closed, if you meet the staff and records rules.
Bring the question you actually have. If the question is the job Quiet Light describes, stay with that service and read the fee. If the question is whether the records can be licensed while you still own them, that service does not answer it by itself. You want cash for a de-identified copy of the records and you want to keep the company.
Fees, cost, and where the money goes
Read Quiet Light's fee as they state it, then read what a license costs the company. The two numbers are not the same kind of money.
| Question | Quiet Light | Vetrix |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | Quiet Light's January 2020 seller guide states a success-based Modern Lehman fee: 10% of the first $1 million, 9% of the second, 8% of the third, 7% of the fourth, 6% of the fifth, 5% of the sixth, 4% of the seventh, and 3% of everything above $8 million. The minimum is $25,000 or that scale, whichever is greater. The guide says some transactions outside normal parameters might use a different fee. | $0 to the company |
| Cost if nothing closes | Quiet Light says it is paid only if the transaction closes. The January 2020 guide lists a minimum fee of $25,000 or the scale, whichever is greater, and it says the valuation fee, market readiness fee, retainer, documentation fee, and monthly service fee are waived. | $0 |
| Who is paid | Quiet Light is paid its fee. A purchase price, if a buyer pays one, is paid to you. | You, up to $150,000 (US pricing, 250+ staff at peak). |
| What you give up | Quiet Light's seller guide says the engagement letter is exclusive, so you work with that broker and not with others. The guide describes a 90-day exclusive period. | You give the data partner the right to use your records, with personal details removed, for AI research. The license is worldwide, permanent, and only for them. |
Use the fee Quiet Light states on its own site, in the fee table. Read it as the cost of that service. It is not a payout for a license, and it is not what you pay Vetrix. A listing ad, a broker's commission, a shutdown invoice, and a license payout are different kinds of money. Match the bill to the job before you treat one number as the winner.
What Vetrix pays is not a success fee. The data partner pays Vetrix's fee, not you. If no agreement is signed, nobody pays anything. The amount depends on staff at peak and on the US pricing band. It is not a percent of a sale price, because there is no sale of the company.
Timing
Quiet Light's clock is how long its own process can take. Vetrix's clock is a yes or no within 3 days, which is a fit decision, not a closing date.
The guide says Quiet Light listings are usually under a letter of intent or sold within a 90-day exclusive period. If that period passes and the business has not sold, the engagement letter should still allow the relationship to continue.
A fit decision in 3 days does not mean the records are licensed that week. After a yes, there is a read-only check, an NDA with the data partner, an offer, and a signature. Those later steps take as long as the check and your lawyer need. They are not a promise that a buyer will appear.
Do not put the two clocks on one calendar and call the shorter one faster. A sale can be the right outcome and still take months. A license can be the wrong product even when the first answer is quick. Decide which clock you need: a buyer, or a decision on the records.
What you keep
Under a license you keep ownership of your data and full use of it in your business. You sign an NDA and the licensing agreement directly with the data partner, not with Vetrix.
Read what the company keeps under a data license before you treat the two offers as the same promise.
Read what is shared and never shared. Personal details are removed before a copy leaves.
Where Quiet Light is a better fit
- You want a broker for a profitable online business in the range Quiet Light names, and you can accept an exclusive engagement.
- You pay the success fee only if the sale closes, on the scale in Quiet Light's seller guide.
Use Quiet Light when the job those points describe is the job you have. Do not force a license into a contract that does a different job.
Where licensing records fits
- You want cash for a de-identified copy of the records and you want to keep the company.
- An exclusive brokerage engagement is the wrong contract for a license of records.
The license fits when those conditions are true and the company meets the staff and records rules. It is not a substitute buyer, and it does not file a dissolution. You can estimate the payout before you start the check.
If you are weighing a broker, a shutdown, or a license, compare exit options for a company. If no buyer is in sight, read exit options when a company cannot be sold. If the listing did not sell, read What to do when a listing did not sell.
Using both
Quiet Light's guide says the engagement is exclusive and the fee is success-based. A license of the records is a separate contract from that engagement.
You agree not to license the same records to anyone else. A later buyer of the company has to be told. You can pursue a sale and a license when the license does not hand the same records to someone else, and when the sale documents can live with that promise.
If the buyer will want those records exclusively, say so before you sign the license. If you only want the records licensed and you do not want a buyer, do not pay a listing fee while you wait for a sale you are not seeking.
Related
- Compare
Exit options compared: sell, broker, shut down, or license records.
- Selling a company
How to sell a failed startup, and the options when a company cannot be sold as a whole.
- SimpleClosure vs Vetrix
SimpleClosure runs a company shutdown and AssetHub. Licensing records is a separate choice.
- Starcycle vs Vetrix
Starcycle files a US company shutdown. Licensing records is a separate choice.
- License terms
The four license terms: what you give, keep, agree, and sign.
- What's shared
Which records can be licensed, which details never leave, and what you approve.
- Estimate
US payout bands by staff at peak, and the estimator that uses them.
Questions about Quiet Light vs Vetrix
What fee does Quiet Light's seller guide list?
Quiet Light's January 2020 seller guide states a success-based fee: 10% of the first $1 million, then 9%, 8%, 7%, 6%, 5%, and 4% on the next millions, and 3% of everything above $8 million. The minimum is $25,000 or that scale, whichever is greater. The guide says some transactions outside normal parameters might use a different fee. Quiet Light is paid only if the transaction closes. That document is the fee schedule, not a 2026 web form.
Does Quiet Light charge a retainer before the business sells?
The January 2020 guide says Quiet Light is success-based, so it is paid when the transaction closes. It says the valuation fee, market readiness fee, work and retainer fee, documentation fee, and monthly service fee are waived. Legal fees for your own lawyer are separate. The guide still asks for an exclusive engagement. Waiving a retainer is not the same as a license, which costs the company $0 and does not sell the business.
How long is Quiet Light's exclusive period?
The seller guide says the engagement letter is exclusive and describes a 90-day exclusive period, because listings are usually under a letter of intent or sold in that time. If the business has not sold, the guide says the letter should still allow the relationship to continue unless you move on. During the exclusive you are not working with other brokers. A license of records is a separate promise and has to be able to live with that engagement.
Which businesses does Quiet Light say it takes?
Quiet Light's referral page lists businesses valued from $250,000 to $25,000,000, which it describes as usually at least $75,000 in profit a year. It names content, SaaS, ecommerce, FBA, and other online businesses. A business that gets a significant share of revenue from walk-in customers is directed to a local broker. If your company is outside that range, the brokerage is the wrong tool. A license asks about staff and records, not about that valuation band.
Sources
- Quiet Light. Quiet Light Referral Program.
- Quiet Light. 10 Steps to Sell Your Amazon Business.