Big three outline their stances on ‘portal juggling’

| Rosalind Renshaw

All three main property portals have said that they crack down hard on ‘portal juggling’ and will continue to do so.

All three also insisted they have strong detection systems in place to prevent agents gaming the system.

The practice of ‘portal juggling’ has been under the spotlight on EYE, and also elsewhere on the internet.

The claims are that agents – with some online agents particularly accused – game the system by re-entering properties as new.

Sometimes, it is alleged, this is done to disguise price reductions. Or it is done to disguise how long a particular property has been on the market. Or it is done to make it look as though an agent has plenty of new instructions.

One poster on EYE recently told of a property apparently new on the market this early autumn, when the pictures showed snow.

A spokesperson for Rightmove told us that Rightmove’s reload detection technology stops agents trying to re-introduce a property, and that “greatly reduces the number of cases”.

The spokesperson said: “Trying to reload properties as new is not something that we tolerate and our data quality team take it very seriously.

“At Rightmove, we continue to ensure that users are seeing the most accurate information and that agents are operating on a level playing field.

“That’s why we created our reload detection technology and are constantly looking at new ways to make it even better.”

Rightmove send outs both new properties and price changes on its property alerts.

The spokesperson said: “This information is also updated on the property listing on the website itself. The ‘date added’ to site is also on all property listings.”

At Zoopla, a spokesperson said: “We have automated anti-gaming processes and detection methods in place to prevent re-listed properties from appearing as ‘new’ and triggering an alert.

“Where agents attempt to circumvent these processes, we take the issue extremely seriously.

“We have a dedicated compliance team to police this and a ‘Report Listing’ button on every property listing, where users can (and do) alert us to any discrepancy.

“This behaviour by a small number of agents is not commonplace and not specific to any one type of agent.

“However we make a point of following up with any agent who has multiple complaints.”

OnTheMarket does not show when properties were first listed or price changes, but a spokesperson made it clear it is aware of the problem.

She said: “A robust set of procedures were installed prior to our launch in January to ensure we could quickly identify any attempt to re-list properties as new.

“Any suggestion of ‘gaming’ highlighted within our internal procedures or externally from the estate agent community will always be thoroughly investigated.

“Our measures in place are constantly revisited to ensure they adhere to our high standards and remain robust.”

x

Email the story to a friend!

More top news stories



29 Comments

  1. JAM01
    October 14, 2015 at 06:57

    It is a tactic many agents who wish to rejuvenate interest are using. I must admit I did open this article to see who the big 3rd portal was. I had my suspicions and did giggle when my hunch was confirmed.

    Report
    1. AJB006
      October 14, 2015 at 07:43

      I might have giggled with you 6 months ago but where my agency is located in Brighton & Hove OTM are indeed the big 2nd portal not just big 3rd.. I’m told much of Sussex is the same.. So, coming to town near you soon.

      Report
      1. HarryN
        October 14, 2015 at 11:04

        Very funny… The 2nd placed portal in terms of agent support you mean!

        Consumers still haven’t heard of OTM…

        Report
    2. PeeBee
      October 14, 2015 at 09:02

      Firstly, JAM01, you didn’t need to open the article – the précis tells you what to expect.  Inflammatory comments like this will simply earn you disrespect.

      The very fact that you state that #portaljuggling  is “…a tactic many agents who wish to rejuvenate interest are using” is indication of how widespread the problem is – and how the portals’ “anti-gaming” systems are failing miserably to combat this practice of purposely misleading the public and defying cast-in-stone Legislation.

      It is ONLY because of pressure from a handful of individuals that this has even made “news”.

      That, and now for the portals to even suggest that Agents should take it upon themselves to report dubious listings is concrete evidence that THEY SIMPLY CANNOT COPE WITH KEEPING THEIR OWN HOUSE IN ORDER.  They have clue not one – or simply don’t want to upset any applecarts.

      Well… tough.  The applecart is well and truly upset – and this ain’t going away until something approaching a level playing field is achieved for honest Agency…

      …something I expect will be universally welcomed.

      Report
      1. PeeBee
        October 14, 2015 at 15:50

        Okay.. somebody help me here please.

        Would the person (or persons) who have graced my comment with a press of the ‘Dislike’ button please explain whether their problem lies with my first sentence, or in relation to the main point which is the remainder of the comment – and in either case, what the problem is?

        We need to see some joined-up thought process here – if in fact there is any.

        The floor is yours…

        Report
      2. JAM01
        October 14, 2015 at 19:59

        Peeve. You need to chill out. I don’t post on here to gain anyone’s respect. I just air my views but it is funny how many of you take yourselves too seriously.

        Report
        1. PeeBee
          October 14, 2015 at 20:56

          JAM01 – You should note that it is THE INDUSTRY I take seriously, not myself.

          Report
  2. wilko
    October 14, 2015 at 08:21

    Has anyone ever been caught by right moves ” detection system” that they boast about. I’ll bet everyone on this forum ‘re lists property for all sorts of reasons and it will be interesting to see what rm has done to punish people who do this.

    As for me , we constantly game property on rm……and they have done absolutely nothing.

    Report
    1. Gump
      October 14, 2015 at 08:37

      We have done it before, several times, as has every agent in my town.

      Seems their reload detection technology isn’t very technical

      Report
    2. smile please
      October 14, 2015 at 08:49

      All that happens is it does not go out as an alert as a new property if it has been displayed within the last 48 hours. Lots of agents round my way take them off start of the week and relist towards the end of the week.

      Report
    3. ringi
      October 14, 2015 at 08:56

      They may only be acting if it looks an an agent is doing it for most of their properties.

      Report
    4. PeeBee
      October 14, 2015 at 09:08

      Maybe I’m the only Agent they are looking at, wilko – but I have had several properties removed when RM decide they have been shown as Under Offer/SSSTC for too long (usually problematical Probate sales) or once when I had sold a ground floor flat for £60k and had the upper Maisonette still listed at £40k higher – and they decided that I had ‘sold’ the latter and removed it until I had to go through hoops to have it reinstated.

      Report
      1. Woodentop
        October 14, 2015 at 10:17

        No you are not. We have had the same done and some with SSTC only a couple of weeks old. They don’t tell you, it is when the vendors sees it (if we haven’t first) and are very irate. I have been complaining for years with RM over their stats. We have multi branch agents in our area who have been relisting and to make them look really good, they put all the properties through one branch to head the agents league table (the other branches show “zero”). Next month they list them all through another branch and so on. Keeps them on top! Have RM done anything about it …. err NO.

        Report
        1. wilko
          October 14, 2015 at 10:41

          It’s interesting that no one has experienced the RM re load detection technology.

          Smile….I always leave properties at least 3/4 days before a re-launch.

          Pee Bee…..All branches leave all sstc’s on RM until RM take them off, and they do let you leave them on for a long time.

          If a tresearch company checked the validity of ALL property on RM at a particular time in the uk, I’ll bet that well over 50% that is listed for sale is actually “not available” as either sold or re-cycled…..And I’ll bet that about 70-80% of all property that is listed as sstc has completed.

          If you did the same exercise with online agents then the %s would be higher again, in my opinion.

          Report
  3. Franchisee
    October 14, 2015 at 09:32

    Um this Article I believe may have been written by OTM as I seem to recognise some of the syntax of the article in  a recent conversation with someone who called me from OTM trying to get my business so is this an article to yet again get OTM in the News…

    Report
    1. PeeBee
      October 14, 2015 at 14:27

      Um I believe you are incorrect.  I think you will find it is in response to rising pressure on the portals to deal with unprofessional and illegal marketing tactics which would appear to be used by a number of Agents.

      What is extremely disappointing is that, reading comments here, there is a view from within the industry along the lines of “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”.

      I have today looked at highlighting instances via the above-mentioned “Report Listing” facility on RM (but hidden under the “Spotted an error?” bit which I would argue NO-ONE ever looks at…) – which requires the reporting individual to give name and email address – and a requirement for you to have to opt out of RM passing your details to the ‘offending’ Agent!

      Frankly, the reporting process is a farce which the majority will not bother with – which I would suggest is the aim.

      The ONLY thing that is being pushed forward here is the practice itself – and the requirement to get it stopped.

      Report
  4. Clarkuk
    October 14, 2015 at 10:06

    One of our local agents does this every 3 months and claims that their average selling time is 13 weeks, they are never on their for longer than that!!

    We are meant to do the best for our vendors and sometimes reloading a property is needed, but changing the primary photograph can do almost as much for the property as reloading it.

    It does seem as though this is a little advert for OTM though, ‘we don’t tell searchers how long your property has been listed’ although they could just check RM and find out.

    Report
  5. Franchisee
    October 14, 2015 at 10:25

    Also sometimes Vendors ask us to un-list from Rightmove and Zoopla what are we supposed to do then

    Report
    1. PeeBee
      October 14, 2015 at 14:28

      FOLLOW THE CORRECT LEGAL PROCEDURE!

      Report
  6. letmeout
    October 14, 2015 at 10:43

    Detection System; Utter nonsense! We have a local agent using RM & Z who regularly lists 10 plus property both sales and rentals that have been sold or let (sometimes over 12 months ago) and seems to be getting away with it.

    I figure they feel this makes them look proactive to potential clients, irrespective of how irritating it may be to their previous vendors and tenants some of whom must be quite distressed to see their property appear online when they are 4 months into a tenancy.

    I doubt that they would be able to detect a grounded Boeing 747 on a beach with a metal detector in hand!

    Report
    1. wilko
      October 14, 2015 at 13:15

      “We have a local agent using RM & Z who regularly lists 10 plus property both sales and rentals that have been sold or let (sometimes over 12 months ago) and seems to be getting away with it.”

      And this is by no means a one off. This practice is rife in every town across the UK…and we all know it. …….and that is why I’m consistently surprised by Rightmoves’ claims that they have it under control and are “dealing with it”. In my view they clearly aren’t (with the exception of Pee Bee, who they must have it in for!)

      Report
  7. Anonymous Coward
    October 14, 2015 at 13:51

    The ONLY way that RM knows about it is because one agent rings them up and tells them.

    I’m on the south coast now (previously in Surrey) and honestly haven’t noticed this before I came here. I’m sure it was going on, but it wasn’t big enough for me to notice.

    My whole town is at it.

    There is one particular agent that we don’t like who duplicated all of his properties and rotated them weekly – Rightmove are now paying him extra special attention – but only because we called them.

    Report
  8. Franchisee
    October 14, 2015 at 14:01

    I still think this is an OTM news strategy to keep them in the news

    Report
    1. wilko
      October 14, 2015 at 14:27

      You seem to the one continuously mentioning them? It seems that most contributors have fully understood the article and are commenting accordingly.

      Are you a bit disappointed that no one is replying to your comments?

      Well, by mentioning this nonsense again, I’ve at least given you a reply, aye.

      Report
    2. Robert May
      October 14, 2015 at 18:37

      It isn’t, the discussion and investigation of a 400+ portfolio of  juggled properties (every 3 months) with some very curious activity on juggle/ sale agreed properties is  nothing to do with AM or OTM

      There is a small group of people observing  and screen-shotting evidence of #portaljuggling  Only 2 are AM Gold members the rest are independent agent and  industry service suppliers.

       

       

      Report
  9. Digital Expert
    October 14, 2015 at 16:19

    The big 3 – Rightmove, Zoopla & Prime Location – are really the big 2.

    Weird that this slipped past the investigative journalism on PIE.

    Report
    1. PeeBee
      October 14, 2015 at 17:04

      Okay… it is rife on what you consider YOUR third-choice portal also.

      Happy now?

      And mores to the point – does that make the actual practice of #portaljuggling any more acceptable to you?

      Report
      1. Digital Expert
        October 14, 2015 at 17:43

        It was tongue in cheek Peebee…thank you for making me smile, though.

        It’s an irrelevance to the practice, which of course I don’t support.

        Report
        1. PeeBee
          October 14, 2015 at 21:02

          Tongue in cheek?

          ** Breaking News ** ‘Digital Expert’ reveals an exclusive preview of a characteristic that we have never seen before…

          Report
X

You must be logged in to report this comment!

Log In Register

Back to Homepage

Comments are closed.

Thank you for signing up to our newsletter, we have sent you an email asking you to confirm your subscription. Additionally if you would like to create a free EYE account which allows you to comment on news stories and manage your email subscriptions please enter a password below.