They offered us $75K for our data. Is that a good offer?

As of October 2026, $75,000 is below every size-specific figure providers publish for an operating company of 50 or more employees, and inside the ranges for closing startups and for Replay’s 20-to-50-employee tier. Whether it is good depends on its terms and on what a second provider would pay. The $75,000 here is an example, not a reported deal.

Is $75K an insult for a company our size?

Not by itself. It depends on your headcount, how much history you have kept and whether the company is still operating. Against the figures providers publish for each situation, as of October 2026:

Your company	Figures published for that situation	Where $75,000 sits
A startup that is closing	Typically $10,000 to $100,000 per company through SimpleClosure (Forbes)	Inside the range
Operating, 20 to 50 employees	Replay $10K–$100K (Replay); Avelence’s model $160K–$500K at 20 employees with ten years of records, $80K–$300K with one year (Avelence); Handshake AI from $100K at 20+ employees (Handshake AI); micro1 from $100K at 30+ (micro1)	Inside Replay’s tier; below the rest
Operating, 50 to 250 employees	Replay $100K–$1M; Avelence’s model $285K–$700K at 50 employees and $375K–$1M at 100; the calculators of Handshake AI and Telegraph Lab (affiliated) about $385K–$895K at 100 (Handshake AI, Telegraph Lab)	Below all of them
Operating, more than 250 employees	Replay $1M+	Far below

Two published figures that are not tied to a headcount band also include $75,000: Scale AI’s illustrative “$10K–$1M+” per partnership (Scale AI), and an example result of $50,284 to $92,776 on micro1’s estimator, whose inputs were not shown (micro1).

These are providers’ statements about their programs, not completed deals, so a figure below them is a reason to ask questions rather than proof of a bad offer. Ask which systems, which years and which record types the $75,000 assumes, and which of them would change it. The full list of published ranges is in how much is my company’s data worth?, and the inputs behind them in how AI companies price company data.

Is the $75K a firm offer or an estimate?

If it arrived before anyone saw a sample of your records, it is an estimate, whatever the email calls it. A firm figure comes with written terms: the systems and date range covered, the permitted uses, any exclusivity and the event that triggers payment. An estimate can fall once the records are reviewed, so a $75,000 estimate and a $75,000 firm offer are different things to compare. How offers work explains how an estimate becomes a firm offer.

What terms change what $75K is worth?

Exclusivity, length, scope, any revenue share, the payment trigger, who does the work and any deductions each change what the same $75,000 buys:

• If the license is exclusive, the $75,000 also pays for your promise not to license those records to anyone else for the term. Am I selling my data or licensing it? covers exclusivity and what happens when it ends.
• If it is perpetual, the buyer can use the records with no end date. Check what happens to delivered copies.
• If the scope is every system and every year, the same price covers far more than it would for one system and five years. Ask for the systems, date range and record types in writing; leaving out particular customers or folders is covered in can I leave out certain customers, people or folders?
• If part of it is a revenue share, the $75,000 may be only the upfront part, or a projection of sales that may not happen. Replay, for example, typically pays upfront cash plus a perpetual revenue share (Replay). See upfront payment or revenue share.
• If payment depends on acceptance, the $75,000 is due only after the buyer accepts the delivery. How long until I get paid? compares payment triggers.
• If your staff do the export and cleanup, their time comes off the value. How much work is it? covers who does what.
• If anything is deducted, compare net amounts. Mercor, Polyshares and Troveo each say they charge the business no fees (Mercor, Polyshares, Troveo); the FileYield marketplace lists an 8% rate for sellers (FileYield).

Should I take the first offer?

Take it once you know what it closes off. An exclusive license is the only sale those records get for its term; a bounded, non-exclusive one leaves room to license them again.

• If the first offer is non-exclusive and limited in scope and term, accepting it does not stop a second license. Polyshares describes this kind of license as leaving the company “free to license the same record again as it grows, to Polyshares or elsewhere”.
• If it is exclusive, the first offer is also the last for those records for the term, so compare before signing, not after.
• If it carries a deadline, set it against how long a second proposal takes. Polyshares, for example, says it makes an offer within one to two weeks (Polyshares).
• If your company is closing, time counts for more: records can be lost once systems are shut down, and Appen says “wind-downs follow a faster path”.

Should I shop it around?

Yes, unless something you signed prevents it. A second provider pricing the same records is the only direct test of the first number.

1. Check what you signed. Look for an exclusivity or no-shop clause in anything signed during talks, and check whether a confidentiality agreement lets you show the offer’s terms to another provider.
2. Describe the same records to everyone. Give each provider the same systems, years and exclusions, so the proposals cover the same thing. A data inventory does this in one page.
3. Ask providers whose thresholds you meet. As of October 2026, Handshake AI asks for 20+ full-time employees and three years in operation, micro1 for 30+ employees operating in English, and Scale AI prefers 40+; Polyshares and Troveo publish no minimum size. The buyers directory lists each provider’s terms.
4. Compare on like terms. One provider may offer a fixed sum and another a share of sales; set them side by side term by term, not on the headline.

If I’m the sucker in this deal, how would I know?

You would see it in the terms before you see it in the price. Run these checks on any offer, $75,000 or $750,000:

• Was the number made before anyone saw your records? Then it is an estimate, and it can still fall.
• Can you name the company that pays you? The agreement should. With an introducer such as Avelence, the matched data partner pays, not Avelence (Avelence). Sell My Business Data names neither its buyers nor its operator (Sell My Business Data).
• Does the scope name systems, years and record types? “All business records” with no dates gives away more than you can check.
• Is the license exclusive? If so, the price also pays for every later license you give up for its term, and a perpetual term has no end.
• Is a revenue share a stated percentage of a defined amount? If not, you cannot check what it pays.
• Does payment depend on acceptance with no written standard? Then the buyer decides whether you are paid.
• Is someone else paid for the introduction? Several providers pay people who introduce companies: Handshake AI $10,000 when a deal closes, Nyne up to $20,000, micro1 and Scale AI up to $50,000, and Telegraph Lab $10,000, or 20% of the business’s licensing payments for its approved partners (Handshake AI, Nyne, micro1, Scale AI, Telegraph Lab, its partner page). If an advisor, broker or lender brought you the offer, ask how they are paid. Is it a scam? covers who these intermediaries are.
• Are you asked to promise more than you can check? Warranties that you hold every right and consent, with an indemnity behind them, are for your lawyer to read. FileYield’s terms, for example, require sellers to warrant they hold “all necessary rights, licenses, and consents”. See is it legal to sell company emails and records?
• Can you check the company itself? Each buyer profile gives the provider’s founding date or domain age, named leadership and public track record.

None of these checks needs a competing offer. Whether the price itself is low only shows when another provider prices the same records. The guide lists the other terms to compare before signing.