Most price pages are arranged as though the choice were about how much you care. Bronze, silver, gold; the middle one highlighted; the top one for the serious buyer. That is not how this works, and reading it that way will cost you either money or an answer.
Here the level is decided by one thing you either have or do not have, and it is nearly always outside your control on the day you decide. This note sets out what each level needs before it can begin, what it produces, and — the part that matters most — where the whole ladder stops.
Read this the way you would read any comparison written by the seller
I am comparing my own four prices. That is not an independent review and I am not going to dress it up as one — I earn more when you choose a higher line, and you have no reason to take my word for which line that should be.
Two things make it worth reading anyway. The first is that it names the ceilings, including the ones that make a higher tier pointless, and a page written purely to sell would leave those out. The second is that every level has a published sample, so you can look at what each one produces before paying for it rather than trusting a description.
What this note does not do is compare us to anyone else. There is a short section further down on what the alternatives cost, and beyond that you should check other providers yourself — I have no way to be neutral about that and would not ask you to believe I was.
The rule in one sentence
Each level is unlocked by the piece of information you can hand over, not by the fee you are willing to pay.
The reason is mechanical rather than commercial. Public registers in Spain and Portugal are searched by name. Until you know the registered name or the address of the business, there is nothing to type into them — so no amount of money produces a company search, because the search box is empty. Equally, nobody can test whether the takings are real without the bank statements, at any price. So:
| What you are holding | What becomes possible | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Only a link to an advertisement, and you don't yet know what kind of deal this even is | The risk pattern typical for that type of purchase, and the questions to ask | Free |
| Up to three links, and the business is not named in them | Each advertisement measured against the market it came from | €99 |
| A business name, or an address | The public record read by a person around that named business — registers are searched by name, so this is the piece that unlocks everything | €550 |
| The seller's accounts, bank statements and till data | Those numbers tested against one another | €950 |
Read that column on the left and you will usually know which line you are on before you have looked at a single price.
Free — €0, instant
What it needs from you: a link to a Spanish or Portuguese business-for-sale listing.
What you get: a pack assembled on the page itself in a few seconds — the risk pattern that is typical for that kind of deal, taken from a library I keep from published court records; two questions to put to the seller; the documents buyers in that situation usually have to ask for; and a map of any figures you type in from the advertisement. A copy goes to your inbox.
The honest part: this is about the type of deal, not about your listing. Nothing is checked at this step; no register is opened. If you are new to buying a business in Spain or Portugal, it is genuinely useful, because it tells you what this class of purchase usually goes wrong on. If you were hoping for an opinion on the specific bar you found, that is the paid work and I would rather say so here than have you feel misled at the bottom of the page.
€99 — the scan of an advertisement, run by our own algorithm
What it needs from you: up to three listing links. No address, no tax number, no documents.
What you get: one report per listing, in minutes, never ranked against each other. The core is seven measures printed for every listing that can be opened — how long it has really been for sale against a middle figure of 146 days, whether the "refreshed today" date is the real one, where its price sits in its sector, price per square metre, the price expressed in years of its own rent, who is really selling, and what the listing does not say alongside the share of listings that do say it. Then a record of which checks ran, and a list of the ones that did not, each with its reason.
The honest part: it runs on our own algorithm at this price, and it says so. It measures the advertisement, not the business. It cannot clear a listing — only tell you whether it is worth reading properly. The full explanation is here.
€550 — a person reads the public record
What it needs from you: the listing plus, ideally, the business name or the address. If the target cannot be identified even with that, I tell you before the clock starts, not after.
What you get: a two-page memo in 48 working hours with one conclusion at the top, the single risk large enough to decide the deal with the evidence behind it, a checklist of exactly what to demand before any deposit, a compulsory look at the competition around the premises, the blind spots named, and a source list with the date each one was read. I sign it.
There are four possible conclusions, and they have short names in the memo. In plain words they mean: Walk — do not buy this. Only-If — buy only if these specific conditions are met first. Resolve-first — something must be settled before this can even be judged. And no public-record blocker found, which needs care: it means the sources I read showed nothing that kills the deal. It does not mean the business is fine. It is a statement about which sources were read on which date, and it arrives with the list of what those sources could not see.
The honest part: this tier reads no financial documents at all. It tells you which ones to demand so that the next tier can. It is also the level most buyers actually need, which is worth saying plainly on a page that would earn more by pointing you upward. The full explanation is here.
€950 — the seller's own numbers, tested
What it needs from you: the seller's documents, which you obtain and forward — two to three years of filed accounts or tax declarations, twelve to twenty-four months of bank statements, the till export if it is a cash business, the lease, the licences, and a staff list with the personal details removed.
What you get: in three to five working days, the whole Screen layer refreshed, plus the earnings rebuilt from the documents with every adjustment sourced to a page, the check that each month of bank statements adds up and that till card sales actually arrive in the account, three stress scenarios priced in euros, a negotiation plan with a walk-away line, and the verdict re-issued on the fuller evidence.
The honest part: without the documents this tier does not start. The order is delivered as a €550 Screen plus a bilingual list of exactly what to demand, and it upgrades for the €400 difference when the papers arrive. The full explanation is here.
Where the ladder stops — the part worth reading twice
Four things stay out of reach at every level, and I would rather you learned that here than after paying €950 to find out:
- Who really owns a company, behind the names written on paper. There are official lists of true owners in both countries, and they are not open to someone working from a desk.
- Lawsuits that have been filed but not yet decided. A court case usually becomes visible only once it produces a published judgment. One that started last year and is still being argued generally leaves no public trace at all.
- Private credit records — what a business owes its banks and its suppliers — unless the debt has already reached a public register.
- Anything the seller chooses not to hand over. No tier can compel a document out of anybody.
Paying more does not open any of these. What a higher tier buys is a deeper reading of what can be seen. Every memo names them explicitly, so that they are never quietly mistaken for "checked" — and if you need them, the route is a lawyer with registry access in that country, not a bigger fee here.
There is a second stopping point worth naming. No level of this produces the word "safe". The best available outcome is "no public-record blocker found", which means exactly what it says: the sources that were read showed nothing that kills the deal. It is not a clean bill of health, it is a statement about a specific set of sources on a specific date, and it comes with the list of what those sources could not see.
The mistakes buyers actually make when choosing
Four of them, in the order I see them.
Buying the top tier before the documents exist. This is the most common, and it is caught rather than taken: the order runs as a Screen with the document request pack, and the difference is credited. But you will have waited for something you could have started sooner.
Buying the €550 Screen on a listing that names nobody. Roughly six listings in seven are anonymous, and if the business behind it cannot be identified there is nothing to type into a register. That is why, from €550 up, I look at the deal and tell you whether I can do anything useful with it before you pay. If I cannot, I say so and nothing is owed. That check is about whether the work is possible, not about whether the business suits you — that judgement is yours and I do not make it.
Buying the €99 scan expecting a company check. It is a scan of the advertisement. The company checks are named in the report as not run, with their reasons, which is deliberate — a scan that quietly left them out would read as if everything had been examined.
Treating the ladder as a substitute for a lawyer. It is a filter placed before legal spend, so that you know which deal deserves it. Signing, transferring, tax structuring and the visit to the premises stay with local professionals, and the memo is written to be handed to them.
What the alternatives cost
Since a comparison of four of my own prices tells you nothing about whether to use me at all, here are the things a buyer actually chooses between, with what they cost.
- A company data report, €5–50. These print what a database holds about a company you name. Two limits, and the first is decisive: most transfer listings never name the company, so until the seller gives you the name and tax number there is nothing to run a report on. The second is that a data report stops where your decision starts — it will not weigh what it found against your particular deal, name what the records cannot show, or give you a point at which to walk away.
- A local lawyer, roughly €150–300 an hour. Indispensable, and rightly engaged after you have decided a deal deserves the spend. Two or three hours costs what a Screen costs. The difference is sequence, not quality: a screen is the step that decides which deal is worth a lawyer's hours.
- An accountant reading the seller's documents. Often comparable in price to the €950 level, and they carry professional standards and insurance that I do not. If you have one already engaged on the deal, that is a real alternative and I would not argue with it.
- Doing it yourself, €0. Genuinely possible if you read Spanish or Portuguese, know which registers apply to this activity and this town, and will keep a dated record of what you searched and what came back empty. That last habit is most of the value, and it is free.
How the money moves between levels
- The €99 is credited toward a €550 Screen if you upgrade within 30 days of delivery.
- A Screen becomes a Reality Check for the €400 difference, also within 30 days of delivery.
- Documents that arrive after your report is delivered do not get folded into it. They start the upgrade. That is not a sales rule — it is what makes it possible for the memo to state exactly what it was based on, and for you to know which evidence produced which sentence.
- At €99 the listing pages are opened before you pay, and payment opens only for the ones that opened. A link that turns out not to be a business for sale is refunded in full.
- From €550 you pay nothing until I have confirmed your deal is a fit. If it is not, I say so and nothing is owed.
- All prices are final — no VAT is added.
One asymmetry I should state rather than let you discover. The written guarantee — four named elements present in the memo, or fixed within two working days, or your choice of refund or credit — is set out for the Screen and for the Quick Scan. At the Reality Check level the protection is a different mechanism: the entry gate, which downgrades the order and credits the difference when the documents do not arrive. Credits never expire and can be used at any level; refunds go back to the card within 10 business days.
What is the same at every level
- I never contact the seller or the broker. Documents travel from the seller, to you, to me.
- No commission and no side. The fee is the same whether you buy or walk away, and nothing comes from the other party.
- Everything that could not be retrieved is printed as not retrieved, rather than guessed or quietly dropped.
- None of it is legal, tax or financial advice, an audit, or a valuation — and none of it is a recommendation to buy or not to buy.
- Liability is capped at the fee you paid, and there is no professional indemnity insurance behind the work. That is written in the terms and it belongs in a comparison too.
When you need none of this
- You read Spanish or Portuguese comfortably, know which registers apply to this activity and this town, and will keep a dated record of what you searched. Then do it yourself and keep the money. The method is not a secret; the discipline is the work.
- You already have an adviser doing buyer-side work on the deal. A regulated accountant or lawyer carries professional standards and insurance that I do not. If they are already reading the documents, a second reading is duplication.
- You have decided to buy and want the contract drawn. That is a lawyer's job, and it is the wrong moment for an analysis.
- The seller has refused to name the business or produce any document. Nothing on this ladder fixes that, and it is itself the answer.
The short version. A link and nothing else — start free. Several listings, none of them named — €99. One listing you are serious about, with a name or address — €550, and that is the level most buyers need. The seller's accounts already in your hands — €950.
Check my deal →This note describes our own published tiers, terms and prices as they stand on 3 August 2026; the market figures quoted for the €99 tier come from our own count of 344 Spanish transfer listings on 2 August 2026. Prices, turnaround times and credit windows are commercial terms, not measurements. General information and commercial opinion, not legal, tax or financial advice.