Kairos vs Empire Flippers
Empire Flippers is a curated brokerage that reports rejecting roughly 91 percent of submissions, charges no listing fee, and takes a flat 10,000 dollar commission on smaller sales with tiered percentages above. Kairos is a verified marketplace for Shopify stores: no listing fee either, but the curation is order-level data verification before listing rather than a submission screen.
Who Empire Flippers is
Empire Flippers has run a curated marketplace for online businesses since the early 2010s: content sites, SaaS, ecommerce, and Amazon FBA. Their vetting is a two-stage process with direct account access, and they handle escrow and migration in-house. The 91 percent rejection rate is their own published number, and it is the product.
| Kairos | Empire Flippers | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Verified-only marketplace for Shopify stores | Curated brokerage across online business types |
| Listing fee | Free to list | None - commission only on sale |
| Success fee | Only when the deal closes (rates on the pricing page) | Flat 10,000 dollars up to about 66,700; then 15 percent to 700K, 8 percent above, 2.5 percent past 5M |
| Who verifies the numbers | Order-level reconciliation plus human review, before listing | Two-stage vetting with direct account access and P&L review |
| Escrow and transfer | Escrow with milestones; funds release at completed handover | Handled in-house, including migration; 1-3 weeks to seller payment |
| Exclusivity | No exclusivity requirement | 2-month minimum exclusivity once accepted |
Empire Flippers facts from their own published pages, last reviewed 2026-07-17. Kairos rates live on the pricing page.
Two different answers to the same problem
Both models exist because self-reported numbers ruined open marketplaces for serious buyers. Empire Flippers answers with human curation: reject most submissions, vet the rest deeply. Kairos answers with data: connect the store read-only, reconcile the claims against actual orders, and publish the verification memo with the listing. Curation by rejection versus curation by proof.
Deal size matters here
Empire Flippers' flat 10,000 dollar commission on smaller sales means a 40,000 dollar store pays a quarter of its price in fees. Their model favors six-figure deals, and their vetting effort shows it. Kairos is built for Shopify stores across sizes, and the fee only exists when a deal closes.
Buying somewhere else anyway?
The Kairos due diligence service checks a store on any marketplace, including Empire Flippers: a human reads the raw order and ad data and writes you a report within 5 working days.
Common questions
Is Empire Flippers worth the commission?
For vetted six-figure listings with hands-on brokerage, many sellers decide yes. Do the math on your own deal size first: the flat commission on smaller sales is a large percentage, and the tiered structure is published on their commission calculator.
Does Kairos vet listings like Empire Flippers does?
The intent is the same, the mechanism differs. Kairos connects to the store's order system read-only and reconciles claimed revenue against real orders with a human reviewing every flag. What Kairos publishes is the verification memo, not just an accepted listing.
More comparisons
Last reviewed 2026-07-17.