This service, which is free of charge, aims to bring together entrepreneurs who want to transfer their business with potential successors. Details of potential successors and companies to be transferred are registered on the website of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO). Users can then select from the list and contact the chosen company or candidate for the transfer. The search profile offers the following possibilities: region, sector, turnover, number of employees, size of the business, type of business acquisition (rent/lease/buying/life annuity), location.

Upon registration, the users must indicate their name, business and contact details. These data are not published and users can remain anonymous if they so wish.

Usually the advertisements are placed directly by the users and are online immediately. There is no systematic screening of advertisements and the Nachfolgebörse does not monitor them. However, obviously inappropriate entries (e.g. advertising for products or services) are removed by the administrators. Advertisements can be changed at any time; it is the users’ responsibility to keep them up to date. The user can also predefine an expiry date, but there is no time limit for advertisements.

Nachfolgebörse does not provide a matching service. In order to establish contact, a registered user can send a message to an advertiser’s mailbox. The latter will be informed by email that someone has tried to contact them. The first contact between members of the bourse can remain anonymous, only user IDs are revealed in the exchange. Additionally, the partners of the business transfer can get advice regarding specific problems that may arise. Complementary services related to business succession are also provided by WKO, such as:

• Succession check and consultation (offered by consultants registered with the WKO; some federal branches of the WKO offer subsidies to cover costs);
• Guidelines for the succession of a business – information on all important aspects (available online free of charge);
• Checklist for successors and the person who transfers (available online free of charge);
• Support in determining the selling price of the business (free online tool to estimate market value).