Updated October 2026
How much of my team's time this takes
For records you already have, expect hours rather than weeks. By the buyers' own counts it is mostly an export: about 1 hour of the owner's time at Pewter, 2-3 hours at Goldmined.ai, and at micro1 1-3 hours to build a data manifest plus up to 10 engineering hours to transfer. Add the owner's time on calls and contract review, and more if your archive needs heavy sorting before anything leaves.1,2,3
Who does what
The jobs, and who usually ends up doing them
The owner: two or three calls, deciding what to exclude, reading the offer, signing. The office manager: knowing where things are, which folders are sensitive, which customers need care. The IT person or outside IT provider: exports from email, accounting and job software. micro1's two numbers, 1-3 hours for the manifest and up to 10 engineering hours to transfer, cover the last two roles.1
A law firm's checklist adds a step owners skip: involve legal, privacy, HR and comms at the start, not after the deal is agreed. In a small business that may be one outside attorney and a conversation with whoever handles your people.4
Two models
Connected tools save time; exports keep control
Mercor's ads say it connects to the tools you already use and anonymizes what is inside, which saves your IT person most of the export work. Your Data Value says you send the files yourself. Frankfurt Kurnit advises giving no direct system access to a buyer, which means choosing the export route and spending the hours.5,6,7
A different kind of deal
When the deal asks for new work from your staff
Some deals are not about old files. micro1's "Workflows" track has employees write prompts and give feedback, ongoing work by your team rather than a one-time handover. That takes real hours from real people and is closer to a services contract. Know which track you are being offered.8
What adds hours
What makes it take longer
Paper that needs scanning before anyone can use it. Records split across several companies, which micro1's estimator asks about. Sensitive data that needs more sorting: micro1's estimator flags regulated or sensitive information, and SimpleClosure excludes sensitive employee and health records outright. Old systems nobody can open.9,10
Weigh the hours against the money. Frankfurt Kurnit's checklist tells sellers to weigh the price against the cost of reviewing what goes out. At $100K or more per package, which is what Nyne says its deals run, a few days of staff time is cheap. At a few thousand dollars, it may not be.4,11
FAQ
Questions, answered with sources
We do not answer legal questions. Ask the licensing company: their team reviews this with you before anything is signed.
Before you sign
Legal questions go to the licensing company
We do not answer legal questions. Ask the licensing company before you sign: their team reviews these with you.
Questions for this kind of business
- How are employee data, union contracts and NLRA questions handled?
Questions for any buyer
- Is the license exclusive, and for how long?
- Can you sublicense the data, and to whom?
- Which AI labs will receive it, and will you tell us?
- How long do you keep it, and how is it deleted?
- What is your liability cap, and who indemnifies whom?
- Will the contract ban re-identification of people in the data?
- Who removes personal data, by what method, and do we approve it first?