Answers
How can I tell if a business-for-sale listing's revenue is fake?
Short answer: Fake revenue usually shows up as numbers that disagree: profit above revenue, margins above 90%, MRR higher than cash collected, or monthly figures that do not add up to the annual total. In our October 2026 sample, 12 of 36 listings stated margins above 90%. Ask for read-only source access before trusting any figure.
Which numbers in a listing contradict each other when revenue is fake?
Five internal contradictions catch most inflated figures in a business-for-sale listing: profit higher than revenue, a margin above 90%, MRR above the revenue actually collected, monthly revenue that does not multiply to the annual figure, and ARR far above the last 12 months of revenue. You can spot each one from the listing alone, and each is a rule in our free checker.
- Profit higher than revenue: impossible unless the figures mix periods or definitions.
- Margin above 90%: possible for a tiny software product, but usually means costs or owner time are missing.
- MRR above collected revenue: the run-rate claims more than customers paid.
- Monthly and annual revenue disagree: the best month is presented as typical.
- ARR far above trailing revenue: a projection presented as a result.
How often do these contradictions appear in real listings?
In FirstPass Memo's October 2026 sample of 36 online-business listings priced $10k–150k, 12 stated margins above 90% and 1 stated profit higher than revenue. The other contradictions need fields the listing summaries we sampled rarely carry, so we report them as minimums: MRR above collected revenue none seen in 36 summaries, monthly against annual revenue none seen in 36 summaries.
A margin above 90% is not proof of anything; many small software products have few costs. It is a reason to ask what is left out, starting with the owner's own time. The full table for all 33 rules is on the red flags answer and the benchmarks page.
What does a listing with inconsistent revenue look like?
The composite listing below states $2,250 of monthly profit on $2,100 of monthly revenue, and $2,100 a month does not match the $19,800 stated for the last 12 months. The checker raises a high-severity flag for the first and a question for the second.
Composite example, not a real listing
Asking price: $54,000
Average monthly revenue: $2,100
Average monthly profit: $2,250
TTM revenue: $19,800
Business age: 3 years
Owner hours: 2 hours per week
What the red-flag checker returns: a payback of 24 months (2× annual profit) on average monthly profit, and these flags:
High Profit is higher than revenue
$2,250 profit against $2,100 revenue. One of the numbers is mislabeled or wrong.
Ask: Can you correct the P&L? Profit cannot exceed revenue.
Medium No traffic data for a traffic-driven site
Revenue for this kind of site follows traffic, and the listing gives no traffic figures to check it against.
Ask: Can you share 12 to 24 months of analytics and Search Console data?
Medium No connected data source mentioned
The figures appear to be typed in by the seller. Nothing in the text says revenue or traffic is connected from Stripe, PayPal, analytics or a marketplace check.
Ask: Can you give read-only access to the payment processor and analytics, or exports that match the P&L?
Low Monthly revenue × 12 does not match annual revenue
$2,100 × 12 = $25,200 against $19,800 annual. The two figures may cover different periods.
Ask: Which months does each revenue figure cover?
Low Concentration not disclosed
The listing does not say how much revenue comes from the largest customer, affiliate program or traffic partner.
Ask: What share of revenue comes from the top 1 and top 3 customers or partners?
Are screenshots enough to prove revenue?
No. Screenshots, PDFs and spreadsheets supplied by a seller can be edited in minutes, so they show what the seller wants you to see rather than what happened. Ask for read-only access to the source instead: Stripe's View Only role, a PayPal or marketplace payout history viewed on a live screen share, or a Google Analytics Viewer login. Some marketplaces connect data directly; Flippa's "Data Verified" badge, for example, means read-only data is connected from sources such as Google Analytics, Stripe or Shopify.
What does it mean when a seller asks to deal off-platform?
A seller who asks you to pay outside the marketplace or skip escrow removes the one protection that holds your money until the assets transfer, so treat the request as a reason to stop. Use the marketplace's own escrow or a licensed escrow service, and keep messages on the platform so there is a record.
What should I ask the seller when the numbers disagree?
When a listing's numbers disagree, ask the seller one specific question per contradiction and ask to see the source, for example: "Profit is listed above revenue. Which period and which costs does each figure cover, and can you show the payouts?" Our checker writes a question like this for each flag. Paste the listing into the red-flag checker to get them, then read how to verify Stripe revenue for the next step.
Sources
- FirstPass Memo, online-business listing benchmarks, October 2026, our own data, CC BY 4.0
- FirstPass Memo, red-flag checker rules, our own rules, published as /rules.json
- Flippa Help Center, Understanding verified listings on Flippa, read 7 October 2026
Related
- Free red-flag checker
- Red flag: profit higher than revenue
- Red flag: margin above 90%
- Red flag: monthly revenue does not match annual
- How to verify Stripe revenue
- Is Flippa legit for buyers?
- Glossary of listing terms
- More questions buyers ask
Get the 72-hour vetting plan
Join the FirstPass Memo waitlist and the next page gives you the 72-hour vetting plan (web page and PDF) straight away, along with the other free files: seller question checklists for eleven business types, the 72-hour vetting plan and a deal-tracker spreadsheet. Nothing is emailed; you download them on the page.
We will write when paid memos open, and occasionally before. Unsubscribe any time by replying "stop" to hello@firstpassmemo.com. Looking at a live listing priced $10k–150k? Apply for a free beta memo instead; its confirmation page has the same downloads.
Composite examples are invented and labelled. Figures from other sites are quoted with a link and the date we read them; FirstPass figures are asking prices and seller-stated profit, not sale prices. Informational screening only, not investment, legal or tax advice.