Sell your business
Selling a business means handing over domains, email, listings and accounts without locking out the buyer, staying tied to their business, or leaving your personal accounts behind.
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Your plan so far
11things this change touches
- critical0
- high10
- moderate1
- low0
Updates as you answer. Every item will explain why it’s there.
What could break
In a typical business sale plan, these are the most serious things to get right.
Personal guarantees
Critical · Banking & payments
If the buyer stops paying, the landlord or lender may come to you.
Personal accounts that use the business email
Critical · Sign-in & recovery
You could lose access to your own accounts, and the buyer could see your personal messages and receipts.
Payment processor: the buyer opens their own account
Critical · Banking & payments
Payments to the buyer could be held, or you could stay liable for disputes on sales you didn't make.
Move sign-in codes off your personal phone and email
Critical · Sign-in & recovery
The buyer is locked out of their own accounts, or you keep receiving their security codes indefinitely.
Domain names: transfer to the buyer's registrar account
Critical · Website & DNS
If the domain stays in your account, the buyer depends on you for their website and email, and a missed renewal takes both offline.
Business email workspace (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365)
Critical · Email delivery
If only you are an admin, the buyer can't manage users or recover mailboxes, and billing stays on your card.
Use a lawyer and accountant, and protect the payment
High · Legal & records
Something left out of the agreement, or access handed over before payment, can cause disputes and losses after closing.
List every account, asset and contract
High · Business operations
A forgotten account stays in your name, keeps billing your card, or locks the buyer out when they need it.
Supplier contracts, leases and assignment
High · Business operations
A key lease or supplier contract could end, or stay your responsibility, after the sale.
Don't hand over full access before the sale closes
High · Sign-in & recovery
If the deal falls through, the other side may already have copies of customer data or control of key accounts.
Before and after the change
Before you change it
- Use a lawyer and accountant, and protect the payment
- List every account, asset and contract
- Personal guarantees
- Supplier contracts, leases and assignment
- Personal accounts that use the business email
- Don't hand over full access before the sale closes
- Keep copies of the records you're responsible for
- Customer data and privacy
- Payment processor: the buyer opens their own account
- Employees: notice, transfer and final pay
After the change
- Move sign-in codes off your personal phone and email
- Hand over passwords through a password manager
- Domain names: transfer to the buyer's registrar account
- Business email workspace (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365)
- Google Business Profile: transfer primary ownership
- Social media pages and accounts
- Bank accounts: keep yours, and redirect customer payments
- Business software subscriptions
- Business phone numbers
- Tax accounts and registrations
- Tell customers and suppliers about the new owner
- Agree the transition period
Your own plan adds or removes items based on your answers, and explains why each one is there.
The safe order
Doing things in the right sequence is what keeps you from getting locked out halfway through.
Before the change
Step 1: Plan the sale with professional help
Get the agreement right and list every account, contract and obligation it has to cover.
- Use a lawyer and accountant, and protect the payment (high risk)
- List every account, asset and contract (high risk)
- Personal guarantees (critical risk)
- Supplier contracts, leases and assignment (high risk)
Step 2: Protect access, records and personal accounts
Limit access during due diligence and untangle anything personal before handover.
- Personal accounts that use the business email (critical risk)
- Don't hand over full access before the sale closes (high risk)
- Keep copies of the records you're responsible for (high risk)
- Customer data and privacy (high risk)
Step 3: Settle employees and payments
Agree how staff and the payment setup move across, before closing day.
- Payment processor: the buyer opens their own account (critical risk)
- Employees: notice, transfer and final pay (high risk)
During the change
Step 4: Hand over passwords and sign-in codes
Through a password manager, with codes moved to the buyer's phone and email.
- Move sign-in codes off your personal phone and email (critical risk)
- Hand over passwords through a password manager (high risk)
Step 5: Transfer the domain, email and website
These control everything else, so move them carefully and test straight away.
- Domain names: transfer to the buyer's registrar account (critical risk)
- Business email workspace (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365) (critical risk)
Step 6: Transfer listings, social and ad accounts
Use each platform's owner or admin roles, so reviews, followers and history stay.
- Google Business Profile: transfer primary ownership (high risk)
- Social media pages and accounts (high risk)
Step 7: Move banking, software and phone numbers
Billing, ownership and numbers move to the buyer's own accounts.
- Bank accounts: keep yours, and redirect customer payments (high risk)
- Business software subscriptions (high risk)
- Business phone numbers (high risk)
Immediately after
Step 8: Announce the new owner and update tax accounts
Tell customers and suppliers together with the buyer, and settle your own tax position.
- Tax accounts and registrations (high risk)
- Tell customers and suppliers about the new owner (moderate risk)
- Agree the transition period (moderate risk)
Verify
Step 9: Confirm the buyer controls everything
Every account on the list, signed in by the buyer with their own two-factor.
- Confirm the buyer controls every account (high risk)
Clean up
Step 10: Remove yourself from every account
After the buyer confirms access and any transition period ends. Bills, codes and notices that still reach you reveal accounts that were missed.
- Remove yourself from every account (high risk)
Why this change needs a plan
A business runs on accounts, and many of them are quietly tied to the owner: your phone gets the codes, your email is the recovery address, your card pays the renewals. A sale has to untangle all of that.
Some things transfer cleanly, like a Google Business Profile or a workspace admin role. Others usually can't move at all, like payment processor and merchant accounts in an asset sale, so the buyer needs their own. And some, like personal guarantees, stay with you unless someone releases you in writing.
The safe approach is to list everything first, protect access and records during due diligence, hand over through the right channels after closing, prove the buyer controls each account, and only then remove yourself.
Why it matters
A careless handover can lock the buyer out of their new business or leave you responsible for accounts, charges and guarantees you no longer control. Both are hard to fix after the money has changed hands.
What makes it risky
Risk is highest when business accounts send codes to your personal phone or email, when you've personally guaranteed leases or loans, and in asset sales, where payment processor and bank accounts usually can't move to the buyer.
Common mistakes
- Giving the buyer full admin access before the money has cleared.
- Sending passwords by email or in a spreadsheet instead of through a password manager.
- Forgetting that the bank, payment processor or registrar still texts codes to the seller's personal phone.
- Handing over the business mailbox while personal accounts still use it for sign-in.
- Assuming personal guarantees end with the sale, without a written release.
Frequently asked questions
Can I transfer my payment processor account to the buyer?
Usually not in an asset sale: processor and merchant accounts are tied to the legal owner's identity and bank account, so the buyer opens their own. In a share sale the company keeps its account, but the processor will usually need the new owners' details. Check with the processor.
How do I hand over passwords safely?
Put every business login in a shared vault or collection in a password manager and share or move it to the buyer. Once they have access, they should change each password and set up their own two-factor authentication.
How do I transfer a Google Business Profile to a new owner?
Add the buyer as an owner, then transfer primary ownership to them, which keeps the profile and its reviews. Google says new owners must wait 7 days before they can do some things, like removing other owners, so start early.
When should I remove myself from the business accounts?
After the sale closes, the buyer has confirmed access to each account, and any agreed transition period has ended. Remove your user, phone number, email and any payment cards you added.
Does the buyer take over the business phone number and domain?
Only if the sale agreement includes them. If it does, move the domain into the buyer's own registrar account and port the numbers to their phone account, after moving any of your own accounts that use them.
Regional notes
General information, not legal advice. Check the official source where you live.
- Canada
- The CRA says that when a sole proprietor sells the business, the seller closes their CRA program accounts and the new owner needs their own business number. For corporations, ownership changes are first updated with the incorporating authority.
- United Kingdom
- GOV.UK says a sole trader selling a business should tell HMRC and file a final Self Assessment return, and a VAT-registered seller may be able to transfer the VAT registration number to the buyer.
- United States
- The SBA recommends having an attorney review the sales agreement and including all assets and liabilities in it, since leaving any out can cause problems after the sale closes.