Seller financing

The seller acting as the buyer's lender for part of the price, paid over time from the business's cash flow. Very common in small-business sales.

Many small-business buyers cannot raise the full price, so the seller finances a slice: the buyer pays a down payment and the rest in instalments, with interest, secured against the business. It widens the buyer pool and often raises the achievable price, at the cost of the seller keeping risk in a business they no longer run.

Sensible protections mirror any lender's: a meaningful down payment, security over the assets, financial reporting rights during the loan, and acceleration if payments stop. The seller's real protection, though, is the same thing that made the business sellable: an operation that runs on systems rather than on the departed owner, so the buyer can actually generate the cash that pays you.