Rightmove is once again putting up its costs to agents across the board. It has strongly defended the rises.
Zoopla said it has no ‘immediate’ plans to up prices across the board but, amid speculation that it is ending a number of agents’ existing deals, says it will continue to review individual cases.
One small single-office agent handling sales and lettings has been told that as from November 1, its monthly costs to be on Rightmove will rise from a current total of £790 a month to £885 – a 12% increase.
Core membership for the agent will rise from £670 to £710, to be made up of £575 for sales and £135 for lettings. The £710 subscription is conditional on the agent continuing his current spend on additional products.
Rightmove’s letter to the agent also says that it is putting up its Brand Plus rates, after upgrading Brand Plus to include mobile coverage. It quotes £140 for sales and £35 for lettings, up from the £95 and £25 the agent currently pays.
The letter says that cancelling Brand Plus will mean that the membership subscription will ‘automatically revert to the prevailing rate of £735’.
Whilst Rightmove’s letter does offer a 12-month freeze on current rates if the agent signs up to new ‘Silver membership’, the small print specifies that the agent must hit certain spending targets.
The agent concerned was, ironically, unclear as to what Brand Plus actually is, but said: “Of course, if you don’t take these extras, the cost of the core memberships would fail to attract discounts.”
Rightmove yesterday confirmed that it has started communicating details of new advertising rates to its membership of sales and lettings agents. The initial changes will be introduced from November.
A statement said: “As agent membership details vary, full information about pricing changes will be communicated to each advertiser on an individual basis. However, reviews will again provide agents with a range of membership options depending on their level of advertising exposure on the Rightmove site.”
Jason Bushby, head of Rightmove’s estate agency division, defended the rises.
He said: “We have invested strongly throughout the year in advertising and marketing, website improvements and new mobile platforms, to increase the level of exposure that Rightmove advertisers benefit from and to help support them communicate key messages.
“Rightmove’s suite of advertising products continues to offer a highly effective means of standing out in front of the massive home-moving audience that Rightmove provides.
“Around 80% of Rightmove’s member advertisers use at least one additional advertising product to help their brand and properties stand out on Rightmove, and our pricing model is designed around the demand for these products.
“Rightmove’s enduring popularity is underlined by its position as the seventh most-used website by the British public – a position it has held throughout 2012. Only global web brands Facebook, Google, eBay, YouTube and Amazon are higher in the monthly rankings in terms of traffic by pages viewed.
“To achieve this, Rightmove has made more than 2,500 website improvements over the past 12 months, covering everything from enhanced data quality detection and smoother image loading to new commercial property search functionality.
“Rightmove’s market-leading range of mobile platforms has also been further enhanced this year with the launch of a new Android app and iPad app.
“There has been rapid growth in use of mobile platforms amongst home-movers and Rightmove’s new pricing structure will provide agents with more options to reach this audience. More than three million Rightmove mobile apps have now been downloaded and traffic to Rightmove’s mobile platforms has grown by over 100% year-on-year.”
Bushby added: “As well as investing to ensure we put advertisers in front of the largest and most-engaged audience of home-movers in the UK, we are also focusing on ways we can deliver a service that supports estate agents and lettings agents in their local markets.
“This includes our high-profile Market Intelligence campaign, which has been designed to support agents’ key messages on price, promotion and presentation, as well an enhanced version of our highly popular RightmovePlus service which we will roll out next year.”
Rightmove also said that its ‘Britain Moves At Rightmove’ TV ad campaign is set for another airing this autumn, with a new TV advertising campaign to be launched in 2013.
A spokesman for Zoopla denied it has plans to put up prices.
He said: “We have neither announced any price rises nor have any immediate plans for across the board price increases. We review individual customer pricing on a regular basis and have a track record of always relating our pricing to performance, on a customer by customer basis.
“We will of course continue to review pricing in this way following our merger but remain committed to being the most cost-effective marketing partner for our members.
“The merger delivers the credible alternative that agents and developers have been seeking for years and we know that we have to make our value proposition as compelling as possible in order to attract advertising spend.”
Comments
Thanks for this I've been looking into get out of debt and my friend showed me a great site that could help me out. http://www.debtconsultants.ca/welcome/Home.html
Zoopla put their prices up some more! It's just ridiculous!
I've recently joined a new property portal "propertypropertyproperty.co.uk", they are generating me leads yet the prices are competitive compared to rightmove and zoopla put together.
Look I think zoopla are doing better because rightmove is just ripping people off. They have a good marketing technique though they all start off for free and when they have enough customers they start charging.
Manzoor Malik
http://www.crazybodybuilding.com
I don't know where they (Rightmove) get the 12% supposed increase from. They've just tried to increase my charges for a 6 month contract, by 75% (upfront payment of course). I did what we should all do.... cancelled my renewal. I don't mind paying a fair sum, but that type of increase is outrageous anytime, but criminal in a recession.
I am the publisher of International Property magazine, we have just launched a free property portal called www.mintaddress.com and we will promote the existence of the site in our magazine which is distributed to the first class and business class passengers of 58 airlines. We will end up making money from ancillary services but will not charge agents anything for listing or selling.
We are also listing all the International Property award winning agents properties free of charge. While it may not compete with the established portals, we do have a verifiable wealthy audience and many do not need mortgages - they are cash buyers. I welcome all agents to visit the site and let me have your comments. You can call me on 01245 358877
Non Estate Agents or Internet advertising agents?
Rightmove are charging "non geographical" estate agents ie online agents per 50 properties thats right, a membership fee per 50 properties. They don't tell you when you start but wait to you have settled in before they give you their good news.
If you were spending a couple grand or more on advertising with Rightmove wouldn't you have expected to appear on their Agent Listing?
I have been busy replying to the emails I have received. Being the sort of chap who likes to do a bit of research before he picks up the phone. I was staggered to find that some RM Customer Agents do not appear on the Rightmove Agent search tool, in one case a 5 agent office covering one particular city was absent from all but 1 city search.
Now as I said don’t come off Rightmove but check your Agency against the RM agency listing and see if YOU are properly represented against your competition. Being POETS day I reckon the RM reps will really enjoy a phone call from you requesting an explanation.
If they want to stick their prices up hadn’t they better get the basic right first?
Matt - Are you from Mars, those "ideas" have been posted on here for years, keep up boy!
@Matt Hutton please read my first post.
I think that agents should get together and form their own portal, 1 it will be cheaper, 2 it will be exclusivly for agents, 3 it will cut out the risk off big companies getting into the market, as prospective buyers will look at websites which have properties rather than websites which have only few properties. I think it is not reasonable for rightmove to charge £600 -£700. I dont think it should be more than £150 per month. At the end of the day it is just a website. I suggest agents to cooporate and join forces to have their own portal.
Vince Cable rushed out the legislation to give us something to post about and take the heat off this RIghtmove thread.
What does DPG stand for? Simple answer profit.
If they could, they would charge the same as rightmove, but as inferior they cant. You all made rightmove better, do the same again and expect to get charged even more.
Worse, get them to about the same and you will be paying both.
Dear Rightmove Member,
At Rightmove we're keen to hear the views of our member agents - and that means you!
We'd like to offer you the chance to tell us what you think about some important areas of our business, the service we offer and the way we communicate with you. It's not just about ticking boxes – there are lots of opportunities to have your say, in your own words too!
As a thank you, we’ll enter you into a prize where you stand a chance of winning a grand prize of £500 in M&S vouchers. There are also 10 other chances to win £50 M&S vouchers.
If you would like to continue, please click on the link below.
Rightmove is a business and their profit margin is irrelevant so we need to stop counting their money. Like wise their ethics are also irrelevant because this isn't personal, like I said it's just business.
They don't owe us a living and we're only as good as our last direct debit payment. Our relationship isn't built on love & respect, it's symbiotic and like any other it only works where both sides benefit. It's about value for money so ask yourself, are you getting value for your business for the money you pay Rightmove?
We do have a say in this, there is an alternative and many agents like myself have left without any detriment.
This isn't revolution, it's an emotive and subjective issue that agents will deal with individually. We all know we're never going to take up arms en masse, we only muster solidarity when we complain.
No amount of salad dressing can hide the fact you're still only eating rabbit food. Think about it, Rightmove is the only place to be if it's the only place for YOU to be.
Do the right thing, for you...
Now the PMA has gone, they will be able to take private adverts and reduce costs to agents.
Anyone seen this Danish case where the 'Rightmove' equivilant got stroppy because most of the agents removed their pictures from the website to support their industry website - and got told off by the courts for doign so! http://www.globaledge.co.uk/news/agents-collude-to-destroy-rightmove-of-48558
My reference to DPG (Digital Property Group), was pointing to FindaProperty and Primelocation. Both are good, FindaProperty bring us most of our sucessful lets, and have done for at least the last 5 years.
Digital Property Group, A bit of A&N Media, which is the Daily Mail and Northcliffe local Newspapers
Trafford
Are you a politician?!!!
Can you answer the question!!!
What does DPG actually stand for?
@IO what is DPG? way back when Findaproperty was in Brighton they were as you describe, horrid and hideous to deal with. That changed when they became part of A&N media (Daily Mail and Northcliffe) along side Primelocation; nice people, good portal, liked by a certain set/type of agents and their applicants that combo of a tamed temperament Findaproperty plus Primelocation along with regional newspaper advertising was a good offering to Agents at a reasonable cost, the addition into the fold of Calnea should have seen the makings of a very, very compelling offering for Agents. But the it all went wrong ; the merger with Zoopla, the breaking up of the Shamsi/ Milner skipperage of TDPG and Zoopla becoming the lead product without Nick Leeming in position as a calming influence.
They jury has to be out of what will happen to DPG now that Alex Chesterman has his hands on the crown jewels (access to Agents who had otherwise dismissed his offerings) but I can’t see the future being that great for agents with Zoopla trying to compete head on with Rightmove.
@smallagent considering closing.
I can put you in touch with the apparently the smallest agent in my area , not even they knew the figures till I told them; They win more instructions than any other agent in the area and exchange contracts on more property than even the local big, award winning agent. Month after month their small agency is doing the business, they are not making a fortune but like you have no debts. Success in Agency isn’t always measured in money.
Retire if you like, it sounds as if you have earned the right or you could stick around to stick one up a few corporate smart chaps who Think (pun intended) that they are in control of Agency.
You throwing in the towel simply lets your competition off the hook.
I can't really offer much here as I am not a direct constant user of portals, but can someone tell me what DPG is?
As far as RM is concerned I have had dealings with them mnany years ago when they had less control - and they do control - of the portals market than they do now. They were without doubt the most arrogant and patronising people I have ever tried to negotiate a group discount with.
I was acting for a total grouping of 60 agents but who in effect were independent and so there was no way they could be forced to sign up to a deal, but I reckoned at least 50% or more would do so if the offer was attractive enough.
Know what RM offered - this is over 10 years ago - a 10% discount off their then top rate if I got 90% to sign up for a minimum one year. Arrogant - or market dominating and know it?
The only company i know who writes letters and increases fees like RM do by the sound of their latest letter to agents is SKY who also constantly increase prices.
On the plus side I handle 5 friends and family properties and withourt Right Move and an agent who kindly lists them for me, it would be a struggle to let them as quickly as they go usually from RM or sometimes PropertyFinder.
I have to say based on that limited experieionce over the last three years if I was an agent letting say 30 properties a month I think I'd probably bite the bullet and be on RM.
But my word they are second only to the banks in their greed and profiterring.
Good morning Sean, It is good to hear your Agency is doing well, but I am a little surprised that you think it is still your job to advise agents on how to run their businesses and what they should do with their working day.
The whole plan to dumb down agents to the level of car salesmen and have them feeding one portal in attempt to replicate the Autotrader/ Car dealer scenario went out of the windows of Harpenden when Goddard gave Think to Zoopla. The "own the desktop", " Whitbread" thing needs forgetting as soon as possible otherwise you along with every other Agent will simply be feeding listings into two portals and applicants will simply end up choosing their home from the internet at a price dictated by a flawed valuation tool.
I am not having a pop at you mate but I was so surprised that a smart bloke like you either doesn't understand what is coming or they are posting on here in order to schmooze themselves back into a job either with RM but more likely with DPG.
Been considering mothballing our small estate agency for a couple of years now, but have been waiting for a large land sale to complete first as the commission alone will pay off the last of our mortgage. The deal fianally completed yesterday after 2-years of hard work and we should get paid on Friday. :-) Just need to save a small nest egg for that rainy day. Before we roll things up, it might be an idea to tell RM to get stuffed and blame their price rises. We could go to Zoopla for 6-months while we wind the pipline up and see if we can sell the last of our stock while we are at it.
It's been hard work and we could keep going if we wanted to, but we have made our money, have no more debts to repay and time to retire after 20-years in the industry. I don't feel there is the money in the industry anymore as margins are squeezed, so might as well quit while we are ahead I feel.
If anyone wants to set up a mass RM walk-out date to teach RM a lesson, just say when and we'll join in too. Nothing to lose!!! :-)
I have seen other agents invoices from RM who I know, and RM do have different rates for different agents "sweethearting" springs to mind. My information is correct yours my friend is wrong!
Errrrr - RM could take listings direct from vendors now - what woud the EA act have to do with them doing that?
Believe it would be called a 'private sale' they are in no way as an advertiser effected by the EA act
Someone correct me if I am wrong but dont think I am.
sean that would be common sense much better to moan about portals charging £10,000 a year or increasing costs by a few hundred pounds - bring back the 90's and 00's when we spending a £1000/£1200 a week in the newspapers
amazes me that everyone thinks they should get a free lunch - if they spent less time on here during the working day maybe a few ££s more would be less of a problem to find
Agents need to re value themselves.
Increase fees to compensate.
I started my own business 2 years ago charging 1.5% regularly in a market with competitors at 1% and some below.
Start charging more and get on with it.
Mmmmm there must be some RM scandal out there, I'll ask Sue Ellen.
Yes - the other agents are lying to you, unless they have taken the freeze options rightmove offer which means you pay more but on products not membership and are therefore the other agents are just misleading you
They are a money making machine the bubble will burst soon. Can anyone explain, RM won't, why some agents pay more some pay less, it seems they prey on the weaker or softer targets on price increases, we are independent and know of many who are paying 200/300 pounds per branch less??? How do they calculate it??
I know this is about rightmove but are we the only ones to receive a huge increase to £600 a month from November from Zoopla??? Sounds like I might be being made guinea pig here as doesnt seem to be the case elsewhere.
Surely prices going up is a good thing? Or does that just apply to house prices?
Hey anyone know what happened to the consultation on the EAA act 1979. Will RM now be allowed to take listings direct from vendors?
We left Rightmove several years ago when both they and DPG substancially increased their fees. Our sucessful lets (we don't do sales) mainly came from DPG, so we told Rightmove goodbye. No regrets on that one.
I think they know this too - it would explain why they were 'warning' us that once we had left it would cost us even more to come back - they must know that once we've left we will quickly see that we have no need to come back!
@Patricia I would like to check if you are currently a user. You sound like the sort of Agent I am very keen to talk to.
tlmallory40@gmail.com
Here we go again. 48 hours of moaning and griping about costs - with good cause - BUT, what will you actually DO about it?
One thing, change portals - or better - ALL NFoPP members in an area should also get into the FREE Propertylive and advertise the fact everywhere.
Otherwise just shut up pay the money and carry on with RM!
We left RM a long time ago - we were using most of the portals, big and small. We carried out an audit - RM came second to last for leads, quality of leads and price - so we ditched them. I am absolutely amazed that agents are still listening to the hype spewed out by this company. The fact is, every portal has had increased traffic - due mostly to people simply browsing - these aren't buyers, (oh but they will be I can hear RM respond) -but they are increasing their fees on the basis of traffic. Until the banks start lending again, it will only be window shoppers looking (and of course all the agents who go to it several times a day to see the competition). I would urge all agents to undertake the same audit. The mere fact that RM are threatening agents should be of great concern. It will have the most detrimental effect on the industry in so many ways. They are attempting to get rid of the competition (Zoopla and Primlocation at the moment) - always a big mistake for consumers. We are their competition also, I am sure it is obvious to many now, that our businesses are also in their sights (if Ebay dont start an online agency before them of course). If you all left Connells and Countrywide would have to start paying for their ads with RM. Come on DPG make agents an offer they can't refuse - but only if they dont use RM. That should stir things up.
Rightmove Rep, plastic shoes, TK max suit and the arrogance of a .... Oh there isn't a simile that come close to their level of arrogance.
You agents are all thick, if rm doubled it's fees very month when would you pull out?
RM are currently dreaming extra ways to make more income if they say £60 pm to make your logo flash some agents would pay
If you are a businessman then there would come a point where you would stop squeezing, when the leavers subscriptions is greater than the increased income from the product junkies you would stop. And if you really did want to see off the competition and had a spare £40,000,000 you would either buy the competition or slash prices by £38,000,000 for a period.
I am personally grateful to Rightmove for giving me the opportunity to compete with them. They just made it easier for me. Despite the £millions they have they do not have respect for or from their customers and their arrogance fails to consider how they have treated the user base for 5 years.
Ask Mike Griffiths if he still treats customers as he did in 1993. You can't ask any of the rest those who briefly enjoyed the smug satisfaction of arrogance towards their agent customers; they are no longer anywhere to be found. Alternatives might not be immediate but when they do come up agents do vote with their feet.
Correct, I'm not an agent, I'm a businessman.
Frequently it is necessary that I engage an agent. Can they market better than me...no. Can they sell better than me...no. Can they negotiate better than me...no. Can they keep a chain going better than me...no. Do they have access to Rightmove and I don't...yes. The only reason I use one. If I could access Rightmove I would do so and would make a better job of it than they do.
If I were in Rightmoves shoes I would do exactly as they are, increase my fees. Squeeze your budget so you could only afford one portal, mine. Sure I would lose a few along the way but, the increase in fees should go some way to cover that. Business.
@Propertysquirrell, yes well done, well done for funding another portal which will have you in exactly the same position in a couple of years time. Congratulations.
Thanks for your useful contribution blue, clearly you aren't an etstate agent and therefore have 0 knowledge or experience in the topic being discussed, hence your ridiculous and completely unrelated post.
Rightmove also attempted to blackmail us last week to remove our listings from the new enlarged Zoopla Group. Instead, I cancelled Rightmove. I will NOT be blackmailed and in fact Zoopla is half the cost and delivers an equally good performance. Rightmove have lied (about their market share) and bullied (with their increased pricing despite their worsening performance) for too long. As with any abusive relationship, at some point you have to stand up and fight back. That time is now for me - I will not be bullied by them any more. Good riddance. Since cancelling Rightmove I feel a weight lifted and am seriously rooting for Zoopla to kick them into touch.
Of course they keep increasing their fees, they can.
Are any agents discounting their fees for those in negative equity or for vendors who have been made redundant ?
Thank you for your replies, please bear with me and I will be in touch.
I will admit I wasn't prepared for Rightmove to hike their prices quite so soon and subsequently thought I had more time.
Did you know? (Michael Cane voice) Each and every person in agency is effectively contributing just over £700 towards the profits (Not the income) of Rightmove. Not a lot of people are happy about that!
The profit margins are so high because the Addons cost virtually nothing to develop and are the bit RM will profit from most. If you are on RM stay there but haggle hard for free Addons, it is YOUR data that is their lifeblood, without the Properties, instructed as a result YOUR experience, knowledge, reputation and investment. Rightmove would be a poor offering one soon abandoned by genuine applicants followed soon after by the habitual Portal grazers.
Another bit of opinion some of you won’t like, If you can not be competitive in agency without the “whole” Rightmove package you need to think hard whether this is the game for you. It is going to get harder and there will be a contraction in the number of Agency firms so your business plan and finances need to be planned and prepared to perfection, price hikes that can not be justified by inflation or additional investment are simply predatory and unjustifable.
Instead of letting off steam posting on EAT and giving Rightmove Towers the pleasure and satisfaction of reading your posts, please let me know if you want to do something about it. tlmallory40@gmail.com
If enough move or reduce what they are spending then they will need to react, the issue of one guy staying on is not big enough when the other 95% are away and the RM is in free fall.
We changed our business plan and reduced our spend by 75% with them and they turned on us like dogs and tried to intimidate us into subscribing to everything.
Stand up to them, have a look at your stats, RM are extorting your profit.
"Rightmove is once again putting up its costs to agents across the board. It has strongly defended the rises"
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT IT TO DO - CONDEMN THE RISES?
It's like stating: MPs defend expenses claim. Footballer defends £200,000 weekly wage. Man shoots intruder defending his property (but then is arrested and held for 3 days) Only one of these is justifed!
As I stated 3 years ago LEAVE RM dont bitch do something about it we did! no loss of traffic at all in fact DPG p/location Zoola FAP all do the same and a better job, they were going to cripple me with the charges they wanted off my new 2nd business so I told them to get lost/ if all agents did it the world would be a better place. my business is growing daily.
@ Anonymous Coward - Google will soon mess everybodies SEO attempts up. With their next "penguin update" it won't be long before all results above the fold are paid advertising.
If you're not paying to be on the first page of google, it won't be long before you're seeing ZERO traffic from it.
Use the link below to see RM's share price performance over 5 years. Then, use Charting options button lower down to bring up the FTSE 250 to see how the price has shot up.
Whilst your business has been suffering, YOU have paid for that. A total disgrace.
http://miranda.hemscott.com/ir/rmv/ir.jsp?page=charting#
It's worse than that.
Everyone is jumping on the local homepage bandwagon for each agent's description of their place in the town.
Google search is going to blow your own website onto the third page at this rate because when you type "Estate Agents in AnyTown" everyone who has paid £100 to have their own Rightmove MicroSite will come up on top because it is associated with the 7th busiest website in the UK.
Not their own website, but the Rightmove Microsite.
Then you really will just become a telephone answering service on behalf of Rightmove.
This is going to happen - I have spent the last 18 months banging on about it, so you might all be a bit bored by now, but at least I'm consistent.
Zoopla told me that a new rate card is about to be issued ie: Increase for their 'combined' & 'new' offering
A few servers and developers to support. Please give as generously as you can. Thank you for your understanding.
Ah, yes, good morning, come in. Please remove your trousers and adopt the position at the third desk to the left. Thank you. Next. Good morning to you. Come in. Please remove your trousers ...
@RiverLettings - I was wrong, their recent profit margin is actually 73.6% ....
6m 2012 turnover £57.9m / operating profit £42.6m = 73.6% gross margin = thievery
BTW what has Coca bleeding Cola got to do with it?
Look at:
http://miranda.hemscott.com/ir/rmv/pdf/half_Year_Results_Presentation_2012.pdf
Not sure about the 71% figure, I'm sure I read it was closer to 50%....either way.....it's still more than the average estate agent is making these days!
Article in Rueters in August says Pretax profit rose to 38.9 million pounds ($60.95 million) for January-June
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/01/rightmoveplc-results-idUSL4E8IV3U220120801
Let me say that again..... 38.9 Million Pounds! That figure has got to hurt agents to read...especially when so many are struggling with sales, paying so much to Rightmove and seeing a decrease in the quality and number of leads!
@Shipside's Ampitheatre
If Rightmove really are making a 71% profit, that's more than the entire global operation of Coca Cola gross profit margin was 60.9% in 2011...
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ----> BANK
@Mark Walker.... That is shocking.... I didn't think Rightmove would be that scared of the Zoopla Merger. It would appear that they are!
As said below - we need transparency.
Knowledge is Power - lets get organised.
Local boycotts could kick some sense of fairness into Rightmove.
Don't forget these RM bastards are making over 71% profit margin - what's yours?
We have allowed ourselves to be shat on for too long.
Grow a pair!
Trafford- I am not so sure Agents will drop any of the DPG products just because of the merger, it would be a bit nuts to give up on a site that the applicant sets for your your location and property type have got used to visiting. I can't see the Primelocation team giving up on that without a few words to say, but I am not sure whether that is the intention.
The merger has opened up a gap in the market that will naturally get filled by somone and only time will tell who that is going to be..
I don't use Rightmove. Naturally when we started in January this year, I approached them. Was told my membership would be £340 plus VAT lettings only. The other letting agent in the village pays £210 plus VAT so I told Rightmove to poke it.
To the best of my knowledge, I have lost one let to another agent let it to a Rightmove applicant.
£250 plus VAT loss of fee
£3,060 plus VAT I would have paid Rightmove to date
£2,810 better off, money invested in promoting the business and our own website.
C***s
The only way to break this is if you could get the local agents to quit together. 'Teamwork'.
Problem is most agents just cannot be trusted. So the lack of loyalty, leaves us screwed. If just one agent, did not quit, they would run around town, telling all of the vendors, 'did you know that 'they', don't advertise your properties on RM.!
If you have Foxtons and Corporates as your competitors, then I can't see that you'll ever reach an agreement. What we really need is a JR Ewing style Scandal to bring RM down.
In our latest communication with our Rightmove rep, they are openly attempting to blackmail us with higher fees unless we drop our Zoopla membership.
Currently considering whether to blackmail back - "our fees go down or we send your communication to the OFT"
I'm getting a bit fed up with the argument from RM that justifies the price hikes. 'We have invested this' or 'we have improved that'
It makes no difference to me what RM's advertising budget is or what they do to the site. As an agent all I'm interested in is leads and the quality of those leads. The simple truth is this: There are less of them and the ones that are getting through are of lesser quality.
Also RM is no longer a source for valuation leads. These have plummeted to almost zero for us.
I’ve always been of the opinion that if you don’t get value from something then why spend money on it. For me RM are getting dangerously close to the point where the costs out way the value.
I am sure that this story is going to generate a whole heap of angry posts and so it should.
The very reason that Rightmove can put up their prices is and will likely get away with it is because the merger of Zoopla into DPG and subsequent single brand that has emerged out of it has effectively removed 2 good Rightmove competitor products. FindaProperty and, the quietly much respected, Primelocation. The merger was a major coup for Zoopa but a real shot to the foot for DPG. The losers will be Agency as this story demonstrates.
Estate Agent today is littered with the metaphorical carcasses of failed Rightmove competitors and Propertylive remains on a life support machine that would have long ago been switched off if it were a commercial product. So putting aside all the anger and outrage at this story there is one question…. What are YOU going to do about it?
This move by Rightmove ought to be the last straw but too many of you are too scared of what will happen to your business if withdraw from Rightmove. (I recommend you don’t but suggest you cut back on the adds you don’t really need) The reason (get real angry at the poster on the internet time) you are effectively sub-contracting your workload to Rightmove…. Quite happy for Rightmove to do your matching for you, quite happy to let applicants make enquiries of stuff they “SAW” on the internet, quite happy to do viewings and process offers (that bit makes you think you are still an Agent) and worst of all Quite happy now for the portals to provide your valuations.
No wonder there are online Agencies springing up and competing with you all, the level to which your Agency services have sunk means that they are offering, in many cases, exactly the same services as you but they are charging an appropriate fee for that level of service. You don’t need an office, you don’t need staff if all you are doing is Ebaying your listings.
My take on the inevitable bitching and moaning that this story will generate is that YOU are the ones to blame and it is only complacency that means you will do nothing about it.
I admit I want to pour fuel on this fire, then hopefully YOU will do something about it and put YOUR business interests ahead your addiction and dependency on Rightmove. I can’t make any promises and I admit I won’t topple Rightmove but I do know that I have a thoughts and opinions that are best shared with the Partners, Directors and Principals of traditional Estate Agency firms. There is a solution but I need your help to help you.
Email tlmallory40@gmail.com if you would like to know more or just want to vent your anger at my outspokenness. (I would prefer you insult me in person than spoil another thread on Ros’s Site)
EAT would do a great service if it produced a table showing portal costs for sales & lettings by single office, multiple offices, large chains.
This would be quite complex with all the discounting tricks that the portals play BUT I think this kind of transparency would help the industry see whether the spend is worth it.
I hope no-one is surprised by this move by RM. They will turn the screw again and again until agents who use multiple portals are forced to drop one - and RM's bet is that agents will remain with RM. Surrey NAEA branch has carried out extensive research and has evidence that some agents are paying staggering monthly fees to the major portals whilst others pay close to nothing. Our report will be released soon. In the meantime, NAEA and ARLA members should get right behind their own FREE portal propertylive.co.uk.
Leave! We have 4 months ago and never looked back. FAP/zoopla give us all the leads we need to carry on selling & renting. Best move I made and encourage others to do the same. The internet being the way it is, the same people who look on rightmove also look on zoopla/FAP. Don't be fooled for one second... They all share mostly the same enquiries.
Leave! We have 4 months ago and never looked back. FAP/zoopla give us all the leads we need to carry on selling & renting. Best move I made and encourage others to do the same. The internet being the way it is, the same people who look on rightmove also look on zoopla/FAP. Don't be fooled for one second... They all share mostly the same enquiries.
Rightmove = thieving scum
NAEA = pile of sh*te
Zoopla = confused offering
Agents = shafted
Surely its time for RM to understand we agents are suffering enough from the credit crunch. Lets hope they start to realise this and actually support us, not crucify us!
Surely this is the trigger for the NAEA to get serious about giving something of value to its members, such as a credible consumer portal that is funded my NAEA membership fees.
Oh sorry, just realised I used 'NAEA', 'serious' and 'credible' in the same sentence.
Perhaps they could let us have their views on this latest increase?
.....must buy some more Rightmove shares ( up 45% this year) - thanks guys!
Which actual ESTATE AGENTS are involcved in the OWNERSHIP of Rightmove? It would seem that the actual upfront monthly membership costs to them would be more than offset by the profit share they recieve?
These proposed costs are unsustainable by the smaller one office local agent so they will probably close - to the beneifit of larger corporate owners?
Is this all part of RM's plan?
£135 for lettings....bargain.
"Look we have made great investment in our business. But yeah, you have to pay for it.'
Just don't get it do they!! Please, please kill the golden goose. I will laugh and laugh and laugh!!
Look zoopla will increase prices well. They are only interested in getting as much from you as they can. Let them do it and all you are doing is building another RM monster.
The fact that rightmove are increasing fees is enough evidence to show you that it's only a war between them to see who can make the most profit !
Anoth RM Greed move. Cme on Zoopla raise the game and give them some serious competition but dont go the arrognt way RM have gone!