A new direct home selling and buying platform has launched, which appears to cut agents right out of transactions.

Vendom, which describes itself as a digital marketplace for real estate auctions, is designed to allow competitive bids to be lodged direct with the seller, and to set the price in accordance with supply and demand.

However, there is also a ‘buy it now’ price option.

Founder and vendom CEO John Philip Stalder said: “We believe that the price is decided by the market, not by unclear statistics or speculation. With our platform, we want to trigger market-driven price dynamics in real estate.”

With vendom, buyers can search for properties and contact sellers directly for further information and viewings.

If interested, the potential buyer sends a request to the seller to participate in the auction.

After the seller has checked the buyer and authorised them to participate, bids can be submitted for the property or it can be purchased at the buy-it-now price, if this option is offered by the seller.

Bids can be tracked online. All bids submitted are shown, with date and time, but only the seller of the property has access to the identities of the bidders.

Buyers can also filter their requirements to search for investment properties.

Following the auction, the seller discusses the further steps for the preparation and conclusion of the purchase contract with the buyer.

Vendom has set its sights on being an international platform. Currently there are German and English language versions, and it will soon be available in French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese.

In this country, it could be interesting to see if vendom is treated as a passive intermediary by the authorities or as an online agent.

From its site, it would appear to be purely a passive intermediary, with the seller and buyer conducting the entire process between them.

However, if it were to be regarded as an agent, it would be required among other things to offer redress, and adhere to anti-money laundering and data protection requirements.

At the weekend, vendom had no properties listed in the UK.

www.vendom.com