Zoopla says it has so far delivered almost £80,000 in agent fees through its access to the Modern Method of Auction.
MMA allows buyers to bid on a property online with a long completion timescale - rival purchasers may have up to 30 days before the end of the bidding - giving the eventual buyer time to sort mortgage finance.
But there has been criticism of the fact that once the online hammer falls, the buyer must pay a substantial non-refundable reservation fee: this can be several thousands of pounds and can, depending on the property price, attract stamp duty.
However, Zoopla - which has linked with a MMA supplier, Iamsold - says demand for the online auction system has expanded, with the portal listing over £12m in auction stock.
Zoopla is offering an auctions bonus of a 10 per cent discount on portal fees for those agents taking advantage of the link.
“We’re already seeing success for our mutual clients and only anticipate this to grow further, as we implement our future strategy” explains Jamie Cooke, managing director of Iamsold
“A core component of the partnership is focused around our industry-first Best Practice Guide, helping to ensure consumers have a positive and consistent experience of the MMA and have transparency throughout the process.”
Andy Marshall, chief commercial officer of Zoopla, adds: “We’d like more of our customers to reap the benefits of Modern Method of Auction transactions and the opportunity to diversify their portfolio of sales, and we hope our 10 per cent discount on portal fees will encourage more of our agent partners to embed the auction model.”
Rightmove - which also works with Iamsold - has already announced that technical work is underway to allow its agents to participate in MMA.
Rightmove says that in an industry first, its customers who are already part of Iamsold’s partner network will automatically have all of their relevant Rightmove listings “enhanced” with information about MMA.
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Wow, bragging about how much agents have earned?
Can you tell us how many properties were sold at market value?
how many sold above market value?
what percentage were aborted after a reservation fee was paid?
How many transactions have gone through and how many did not sell?
Last one! How many complaints have been recorded so far regarding MMA with TPO and PRS?
At a real auction on the fall of the gavel the property is secured, MMA is a completely different model which though commercially beneficial to certain stakeholders is fraught with complications that may in time cause both portals to reconsider its strategy.
'the buyer must pay a substantial non-refundable reservation fee: this can be several thousands of pounds'. No idea where you get your figure from, try minimum £5000 + VAT.
As I keep saying to the point of boredom, there are increasing problems with this method of sale and a lot more complaints coming in where the agents are paying out rather than taking the risk of legal action. There is definitely a place for conditional auctions in the marketplace, but massive buyers' fees, seducing sellers with the promise of a free lunch and encouraging agents with the promise of "loads of money" is not the way forward. (I received this invite from an "auctioneer" a few months back. The headline was: "Recession Proof your Business. Stop Dwindling estate Agency Fees: Add an extra £225,000 per annum to your business").
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