Question 1

Is Confedera a broker or an intermediary?

Accepted Answer

No. Confedera is a publishing platform: it provides the space, visibility and technical tools advertisers use to create and manage their own listings. We do not represent the seller or the buyer, we do not take part in the negotiation, the contract or the payments, and we do not guarantee any outcome. The full model is explained on the Transparency page.

Question 2

What am I buying with a plan or advertising space?

Accepted Answer

You are buying publication and visibility services on the platform: publication of the listing, placement in the search pages and access to the digital tools. The price does not include brokerage, buyer sourcing or any guarantee of results.

Question 3

What is Confedera?

Accepted Answer

Confedera is the Swiss platform that brings together four journeys in a single account: buying and selling businesses, freely valuing your own company, finding a verified fiduciary, and comparing business credit and acquisition financing. All with verified dossiers, NDA, data room and integrated electronic signature.

Question 4

What are the main features available?

Accepted Answer

Marketplace of businesses for sale, valuation calculator, 8-step purchase offer wizard with counter-offer, electronic signature of NDA and contract, data room with per-folder permissions, directory of fiduciaries with online quotes, credit comparator with bank dossier, and a technical wizard for company formation.

Question 5

Who can use the platform?

Accepted Answer

Selling entrepreneurs, private buyers, family offices, funds, M&A advisors and fiduciaries. Registration is free: buyers, sellers and fiduciaries each have a dedicated dashboard.

Question 6

Which languages is it available in?

Accepted Answer

Italian, German, French and English, with dedicated URLs per language and automatic detection on first visit. You can switch language at any time from the selector in the header without losing the page you're on.

Question 7

How do I publish my business?

Accepted Answer

From the “Sell a business” button you access the guided 8-section wizard: identity and industry, financial figures, structure and staff, assets and contracts, reason for sale, documents, preview and publication. Most fields are guided choices (checkboxes and options) rather than free text, so the dossier stays comparable.

Question 8

How long after submitting does the listing go live?

Accepted Answer

The complete listing is published automatically within about 5 minutes of submission, and you receive a confirmation e-mail with the link to the page. If mandatory data is missing, it stays as a draft and we flag what needs to be completed.

Question 9

Does my company's name stay confidential?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can publish anonymously: sector, canton and key figures are shown, while identity and sensitive documents are unlocked only after the NDA is signed and data room access is authorised.

Question 10

Which documents are needed?

Accepted Answer

Balance sheets from the last 2-3 financial years, income statement, list of main contracts, staff situation and, if available, a business plan. The more complete the dossier, the higher the buyers' response rate.

Question 11

How is the listing verified?

Accepted Answer

We check the company's legal existence (UID and commercial register), the consistency between declared figures and uploaded documents, and the contact person's identity. Only after this check does the listing get the “verified” badge.

Question 12

Can I edit or pause my listing?

Accepted Answer

Yes, at any time from the dashboard: you can update figures, replace documents, pause publication or close the dossier once the deal is concluded.

Question 13

How do I find businesses that suit me?

Accepted Answer

Filters for canton, sector, price, revenue, EBITDA and staff numbers, plus local pages dedicated to the main Swiss cities. Every dossier shows charts on revenue trend, seasonality, revenue mix and cost structure.

Question 14

How do I send a purchase offer?

Accepted Answer

From the listing page you open the 8-step wizard: amount, payment method, conditions precedent, requests, timeline, buyer presentation, attachments and summary. The offer reaches the seller in traceable form, and you get an immediate confirmation of submission.

Question 15

Can the seller make a counter-offer?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every offer can be accepted, rejected or countered: differences from the previous offer are highlighted field by field, so you immediately see what changed.

Question 16

Do I need to sign an NDA before seeing the details?

Accepted Answer

For confidential dossiers, yes: the NDA is signed electronically in a few minutes and automatically unlocks the data room with only the documents authorised by the seller.

Question 17

Can I finance the purchase directly from the listing page?

Accepted Answer

Yes: from the listing page you open the Financing Studio, simulate down payment, term and instalment, and move to the credit comparator to request acquisition financing with a dossier already pre-filled with the deal's data.

Question 18

How does the valuation calculator work?

Accepted Answer

You enter industry, canton, revenue, EBITDA or profit, staff numbers, growth, owned real estate, debts, revenue recurrence and founding year. You get a value range in CHF with an explanation of the factors that raise or lower it.

Question 19

What method is the estimate based on?

Accepted Answer

On industry-specific EBITDA multiples adapted to the Swiss SME market, adjusted for size, growth, revenue recurrence, owner dependency, cantonal position and balance-sheet structure (real estate and debt).

Question 20

Is the valuation free and binding?

Accepted Answer

It's free, takes about 2 minutes and provides a guideline, not a formal appraisal. For a value defensible in negotiation, you can request a professional valuation or contact a fiduciary from the directory.

Question 21

Can I find the valuation again in my account?

Accepted Answer

Yes: the valuation section is also available in the dashboard, so you can redo it whenever the figures change and use it as a basis for the listing price.

Question 22

How do I find a fiduciary on Confedera?

Accepted Answer

In the Fiduciaries section you filter by canton, services, languages and price range, compare firms and open a profile page with territorial coverage, team, certifications, service packages and reviews.

Question 23

Can I get a quote without calling?

Accepted Answer

Yes: from the quote configurator you choose services and volumes and see the estimate in real time with a breakdown of how each choice affects the total. You can save the quote in your account, download it as a PDF and send it to the firm with fields already pre-filled.

Question 24

Can I schedule a call with the firm?

Accepted Answer

Yes: from the contact modal you state your needs and propose or book a slot from the availability picker with automatically detected time zone. You receive confirmation by e-mail and in-app updates on the status of the request.

Question 25

I'm a fiduciary: how do I register?

Accepted Answer

From the “Register your fiduciary” button in the header you create the account and access a dedicated dashboard with a 4-step publishing checklist: profile, services and pricing, certifications and going live with the listing.

Question 26

What does the fiduciary see in its dashboard?

Accepted Answer

All contact requests and quotes received, the full technical dossier of anyone requesting a company formation (also as PDF), read and reply status, service management, and the publication or suspension of its own listing. Every new lead also arrives by e-mail.

Question 27

What can I compare in the Credit section?

Accepted Answer

Operating credit, investment credit, leasing, commercial mortgage and acquisition credit. The matching engine compares offers from real Swiss banks based on amount, term, industry, canton and financial strength.

Question 28

How does the application wizard work?

Accepted Answer

You fill in a multi-step technical form with company data (including UID number), financial figures, purpose and amount of the financing, and available collateral. You get results ranked by compatibility and a dossier downloadable as PDF/ZIP to present to the bank.

Question 29

Does Confedera provide the financing?

Accepted Answer

No: Confedera prepares and structures the application and directs you to the official channel of the chosen institution. The decision remains the exclusive responsibility of the bank.

Question 30

How do I finance the purchase of a business from the marketplace?

Accepted Answer

The typical structure combines 20-40% equity, 40-60% bank credit and a deferred portion carried by the seller (vendor loan or earn-out). From the listing dossier you generate the acquisition credit request with the deal's data already entered.

Question 31

How long does it take to get a response?

Accepted Answer

With a complete dossier, the decision on an acquisition credit typically takes 4-8 weeks. For smaller operating lines, the timeframe is significantly shorter.

Question 32

What does the “Form a company” journey do?

Accepted Answer

It's a technical form in 10 sections that collects everything needed for formation: legal form, company name, registered office, capital and contributions, partners and shares, governing bodies and signatures, corporate purpose, VAT and social insurance, audit and documents. Validation checks Swiss legal requirements in real time.

Question 33

LLC (Sagl) or Ltd (SA) — which is better?

Accepted Answer

The LLC requires CHF 20,000 of fully paid-in capital and has publicly registered partners; the Ltd requires CHF 100,000 with at least CHF 50,000 paid in and guarantees shareholder anonymity. The wizard compares the two options on the points that matter for your case.

Question 34

What do I receive at the end?

Accepted Answer

A downloadable summary dossier (PDF/JSON) with all the collected data, ready to hand over to the notary and commercial register.

Question 35

Can I have a fiduciary handle the formation?

Accepted Answer

Yes: from the summary you send the dossier to a fiduciary from the directory without redoing the request. The firm receives the full summary in its dashboard and by e-mail, also as PDF.

Question 36

Is the electronic signature legally valid in Switzerland?

Accepted Answer

Yes: the process complies with the Swiss federal law on electronic signatures (ZertES). Every signature is tied to a verified identity, a timestamp and a cryptographic fingerprint of the document.

Question 37

Where do I start the signing process?

Accepted Answer

From the dashboard's signature centre or directly from the offer: once both parties are ready, the NDA and contract move to the “to sign” status, and you get an in-app notification and an e-mail on every status change.

Question 38

How does the OTP code work?

Accepted Answer

You receive a one-time code valid for 5 minutes. A maximum of 5 attempts is allowed; after that, the session is locked for 10 minutes for security reasons and you can request a new code with controlled resending.

Question 39

Can I download previous document versions?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every document is versioned: each change creates a new version with a change log, and previous versions remain downloadable with a preview.

Question 40

How do data room permissions work?

Accepted Answer

The data room is created automatically when the NDA is signed. In the “My company” section the seller manages nine folders (balance sheets, accounting, contracts, staff, real estate and more), assigning each buyer the level None, Read or Full: the buyer only sees what's authorised, and every access is logged.

Question 41

What do I find in the seller dashboard?

Accepted Answer

The “My company” section with profile, valuation, listing, interested parties, NDA, documents, messages and analytics, plus real-time KPIs on visits, requests and offers received.

Question 42

Do I get an e-mail when someone contacts me?

Accepted Answer

Yes: messages from the listing form, NDA requests and purchase offers generate an in-app notification and an e-mail to your private inbox. If sending fails due to a temporary issue, a retry queue keeps trying automatically until the notification arrives.

Question 43

Can I choose which notifications to receive?

Accepted Answer

Yes: in the notification preferences you enable or disable individual events, choose the channels (e-mail and in-app), set the frequency and quiet hours, and check the delivery status of each communication.

Question 44

How do I manage many requests at once?

Accepted Answer

The seller inbox has unified search, filters by listing and request type, delivery status indicators for e-mails, and sorting by date or offer amount.

Question 45

Is buying free?

Accepted Answer

Yes: registration, search, favourites, valuation, sending messages and purchase offers are free for buyers.

Question 46

When is publishing free?

Accepted Answer

Listings with a sale price up to CHF 20,000 are published free of charge. Above this threshold, the wizard offers a plan choice before publication.

Question 47

How much does it cost to publish a listing?

Accepted Answer

Besides the Free plan there's Standard CHF 550, Premium CHF 900 and the Complete Package CHF 1,000, with increasing visibility, document services and support. Full details are on the Pricing page.

Question 48

Are there plans for advisors, fiduciaries and professionals?

Accepted Answer

Yes: Business Partner (CHF 3,000/year) and Enterprise (CHF 5,000/year), with multiple listings, a directory profile, dedicated visibility and advanced tools for firms and consultancies.

Question 49

How do I manage renewal, cancellation and invoices?

Accepted Answer

From the “My subscription” page you see the active plan, expiry and renewal, and you can cancel on your own: the plan stays valid until the end of the period. Every payment generates a downloadable PDF receipt or invoice.

Question 50

How do I register?

Accepted Answer

From the “Sign up” button you choose your profile (buyer, seller or fiduciary) and confirm your e-mail address via the link you receive. After confirmation, the session also activates on the device you started from, and you land directly in the dashboard.

Question 51

I'm not receiving the confirmation e-mail, what do I do?

Accepted Answer

Check your spam folder and that the address is correct, then request a new one from the registration page. If the problem persists, open a support ticket.

Question 52

How is my data handled?

Accepted Answer

According to the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and the GDPR when applicable. Details are in the privacy notice and cookie policy. Data room documents are accessible only to authorised parties, and every access is logged.

Question 53

Can I delete my account?

Accepted Answer

Yes: write to info@confedera.ch or open a ticket. We delete personal data except what we must retain for legal and accounting obligations.

Question 54

How do I contact support?

Accepted Answer

From the support button available on every page, open a ticket in your language, or write to info@confedera.ch. We reply within 18 business hours.

Frequently asked questions

Platform

Selling a business

Buying a business

Business valuation

Fiduciaries

Credit and financing

Forming a company

Electronic signature and data room

Dashboard and notifications

Plans and billing

Account, data and support