OnTheMarket will not drop its ‘one other portal rule’, a national newspaper has reported.
And legal letters chasing up arrears and/or breaches of that rule were sent to only “a very small minority” of OTM member agents.
Both points emerge in a story in the Financial Times, which has picked up on claims that ‘hundreds’ of agents have received legal letters either chasing up payment and/or seeking to enforce the ‘one other portal’ rule.
The FT story quotes OTM boss Ian Springett as saying that support for the new portal “continues to grow” and that it has “no plans to relax the ‘one other portal’ rule”.
I generally like the coverage on this website but on this subject you really let yourselves down – especially when you will know that the vast majority of your readership won’t have an FT subscription. You make it sound like it is a positive news story. I do have an FT subscription so I have copied the story here for the benefit of your readers.
Estate agents prepare to move out of property portal OnTheMarket
Zoopla rival embroiled in a row about fees and its traction with consumers
Judith Evans
Hundreds of estate agents have turned against the challenger property portal OnTheMarket a year after it launched, as they prepare to ditch the start-up following a row about fees.
OnTheMarket was set up last year to disrupt the home sales process by offering a cheaper alternative to agents looking to list their properties. It aimed to wrest control from the two market leaders, Rightmove and Zoopla, by allowing estate agents to list homes on only one other major competitor.
But its relationship with many of its agents appears to have rapidly soured.
OnTheMarket promised that early converts to its site would be rewarded with discounted subscription rates. But it has since offered even lower prices to new recruits, angering those who signed up at the time of launch, according to property consultants and analysts covering the sector. They said agents had also been dissatisfied with the portal’s service and its traction with consumers.
Iain White, a property consultant, said he was in contact with more than 200 estate agencies seeking to leave OnTheMarket. Analysts and investors in the industry were also aware of the agents’ intentions.
The agents have pledged sums totalling six figures for potential legal action against OnTheMarket.
Ian Springett, chief executive of OnTheMarket, said the company “set our subscription fees for a range of periods at levels which are designed to enable us to compete effectively in the prevailing market”.
The agents’ attempts to sever ties with OnTheMarket have sparked a row with the portal, which wrote to its members threatening to take legal action over the non-payment of fees or the violation of its “one other portal” rule.
OnTheMarket, which was set up by a consortium of agents in January 2015, said it had sent these to “a very small minority” of agent customers.
Estate agents who received the letters are exploring the possibility of retaliating with their own legal action against OnTheMarket on contractual issues. Most of the agents that signed up to OnTheMarket have five-year contracts.
Anthony Codling, analyst at Jefferies, the investment bank, said: “This is the first time we have seen OnTheMarket members campaigning against OnTheMarket. Is this the beginning of the end for the one-portal rule?”
OnTheMarket and rival portals including Zoopla and Rightmove do not disclose their fee structures.
Mr White said hundreds of agents had contacted him after the trade publication Estate Agent Today covered attempts by three of his estate agent clients to leave the portal.
“They were unhappy with its results and with its customer service so they chose to take action and give notice to OnTheMarket … they later received legal threats,” he said.
OnTheMarket says more than 6,000 estate agents and letting agents use its portal, while its website received 7m visits in March.
The group received a boost when UBS, the Swiss bank, downgraded rival property portal Zoopla from a “buy” rating to “neutral” this month because of competition from OnTheMarket.
Nevertheless the share prices of both Zoopla and Rightmove — two of the UK’s most popular websites — have risen by about a quarter in the past year. Both sites continued to increase the number of estate agents that listed on their sites last year.
OnTheMarket attracted major players such as Knight Frank and Savills when it launched last year.
But it has had to tackle the challenge of building up its brand among consumers, while persuading agents it was worthwhile to switch. Its numbers still lag behind the more than 16,600 agent members reported by Zoopla in February and Rightmove’s 19,700.
Mr Springett said support for the portal “continues to grow” and that it has “no plans to relax the ‘one other portal’ rule”.
On the legal letters, he said: “Like most organisations, we see it as standard practice to seek outstanding payments from customers if they are in arrears. On behalf of the broad membership of [parent company] Agents’ Mutual, we also work to ensure that our agents meet their obligations.”
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How does publication of the full article alter anything? Everything mentioned above has already appeared within PIE. What is your agenda here?
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Don’t expect ‘Lamby45’ to come clean, PP – I suspect the reality would make his/her credibility… difficult to argue positively.
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PIE is a publication for the industry, and as such I am interested, as a supporter from the start of OTM to read these stories. If you are not interested in the story headline – move on to the next one !
As I have said many times on this subject, I am still unsure as to why a few agents are unhappy with OTM. We all knew it would take time, and this is the reason we committed to 5 years. Secondly, since dropping Zoopla, this has not affected my business at all. Most leads generated by Rightmove and Zoopla are of a low quality requesting more information relating to properties with the information requested already detailed in my advertisements.
I analyse EVERY lead generated by these portals for my business and I have notice that most days OTM is generating as many QUALITY leads as Rightmove, just not as many ‘enquiries’. I can only assume that there are many individuals just ‘browse’ Rightmove as they have done for many years and have probably been registered with them for many years and thus generate a great deal of poorer leads.
The issue of fees was discussed at the OTM meetings, and after discussions with many of my local competitors after, we felt that recruiting more agents with lower fees was the way forward. What many do not seem to grasp is that these agents are not part of Agents Mutual and do not have voting rights and thus the offering is somewhat different to those of us that joined as GOLD members. I INVESTED for my future !
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I have no plans to advertise with OTM
But should I ?
I am with Z & RM do I need OTM ?
Unless OTM change their stance I shall probably never know. Then again if OTM generate more traffic than Z I might take that chance and swop.
Seems to me OTM are making a rod for their own back.
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Property Paddy – you say
“I am with Z & RM do I need OTM ?”
The reality is that only YOU can answer that one.
There are several questions that will make the answer come to you.
1. Do you ‘need’ both portals you currently list on.
2. Do you feel you get ‘value for money’ from them?
3. Do you feel that you have control of your listings?
4. Do you look forward to yearly price increases for no added value?
5. Do you feel as if the portals have the upper hand in the relationship?
6. Do you mind the fact that corporate shareholders are reaping the benefits of your subscription payments?
7. Do you mind that the ‘core membership rate’ you pay is whatever the Rep talked you into on the day of the appointment (plus the subsequent yearly uplifts…)?
8. Do the words ‘Rightmove’ and ‘Zoopla’ usually come out of your mouth between gritted teeth?
Okay – the last one is a bit of a joke – but I know plenty that do exactly that!
If you say ‘no’ to questions 1-4, and ‘yes’ to 5-8 – then you clearly need to do SOMETHING.
Whether that is to drop one/both and list on OTM – or simply to drop one or both – is your choice.
One thing for sure – if one way or another you and the countless numbers of Agents who score high on the above took a small nibble out of the elephant(s), then things could surely only improve.
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