Best FSBO websites in China

No. Beike is built around its ACN (agent cooperation network), so listings run through licensed brokers rather than private owners. Every property on Beike must be tied to a participating agent, and that agent earns the commission when the sale closes. If you want to appear on Beike, you hire a broker and negotiate their fee. The seller's side of the commission is usually about 1 to 2 percent of the sale price, though a full-service brokerage like Beike can run toward the top of that range or slightly above it.

The fee itself is the range covered in the Beike answer above: seller-side commission in China usually runs about 1 to 2 percent of the sale price, with a full-service network such as Lianjia toward the top of it. Worked through on a 3 million CNY apartment, that is 30,000 to 60,000 CNY, the number sitting behind the commission entry in the Beike row of the table. Finding the agent is a separate step, and it does not have to cost anything. This site collects the local routes to a professional in China at /countries/china/find-an-agent. Anyone.com offers a second route with no cost to the seller: the matching page it runs, anyone.com/find-agent, pairs each request on where the home sits, the asking range, and the property's kind and size, drawing on the 4.6 million agents the company counts in its network; both the free introduction and that network figure come from Anyone's own description of the service.

Sellers pay a value-added tax (VAT, called zengzhi shui) on properties held less than two years. From 1 January 2026, the VAT rate is 3 percent of the sale price; prior to that it was 5 percent. If the property is not the seller's only home, a 20 percent individual income tax on the net gain may also apply, though in practice many transactions use an approved assessed value that lowers the base. There is also a deed tax (qiyue shui) paid by the buyer. Confirm current rules with a local notary or tax adviser because local governments adjust these rates.

After signing the sale contract, both parties must submit to the local Housing Authority (zhufang guanli ju) for ownership transfer registration, called bianming dengji. The deadline is typically within 30 days of signing. The buyer receives a new Property Ownership Certificate (budongan quanshu or the newer electronic certificate). Skipping or delaying this step can void the transfer and creates legal risk for both sides.

Notarization is not legally required for all residential sales, but it is strongly advisable, especially when one party is overseas or the property is inherited. A notarial deed (gongzheng shu) issued by a state notary office confirms the identity of both parties and the authenticity of documents, which makes the title registration go more smoothly and protects against disputes later.

Yes, but you must grant a power of attorney (weituo shu) to a trusted person in China who is authorized to sign on your behalf. The document must be notarized in the country where you sign it and then authenticated by the Chinese embassy or consulate there (a process called hai ya, or apostille where applicable). Budget several weeks for this step. The local Housing Authority will not process the transfer without it.

Reading down the cost column, the four split three ways. Two are free at the door with paid extras: 58.com takes a basic owner listing at no charge and sells promotion separately, and Anjuke is likewise free to start, with paid placement shaping how visible a post becomes among the agent listings around it. One has no owner door at all: Beike's cost line reads 'Indirect, through an agent commission', because the only way onto it is the broker route discussed above, at the 1 to 2 percent seller-side fee. The fourth leaves the seller's bill at zero: a seller pays Anyone.com nothing, not to list and not as commission, a cost entry that rests on the company's own claim, and the card shows no paid tier. What the cost column does not capture is reach. The Anyone.com row notes no published China traffic or transaction figures, while the 58.com row records one of the country's largest classifieds audiences; since none of the free entries excludes the others, holding listings on more than one of them adds nothing to the bill.

Three things come up repeatedly. First, sellers underestimate the tax liability, especially the 20 percent income tax on gains for non-primary homes, and price the property without accounting for it. Second, buyers found through classifieds often still expect to use their own agent, which can reintroduce a commission negotiation. Third, the contract must be in Chinese to be enforceable, so any bilingual agreement is legally read in the Chinese version, not the English one.