The SayNoToRightmove campaign says that when Covid-19 and the ensuing UK lockdown hit the property market, the best that Rightmove could initially come up with to support its independent agent customers was the deferral of a small portion of the fees they were paying for a 3-month period.
Only after a wave of angry protest from those customers and the formation of an organised campaign, did Rightmove then go part way to providing support.
A four-month 75% fee discount for agents was implemented from April which is due to come to an end on the 31st July.
As things stand, agents will need to give one full calendar months notice to avoid a return to full tariff.
Despite requests from SayNoToRightmove, the industry has yet to hear from Rightmove regarding what it proposes to do on fees and service after 31st July and for the medium-term future.
The campaign says it believes that a business which respected its customers would have come forward with proposals by now, so as to enable agents to assess them and determine how to react.
They say there is still greater need for transparency on this issue at a time when agents are working harder than ever to recover from the lockdown and to deal with the recent reopening of the property market.
Why might Rightmove be holding back? asks the campaign .
It suggests that a key date is in play.
30th June is the date that Rightmove agent numbers are recorded.
Rightmove want this number to be as high as possible and announcing any sort of proposal/pricing before then might reduce that number due to disgruntled agents terminating their contracts in response.
They obviously wish to avoid the potentially adverse effect this would have on their share price.
If its proposals for supporting its customers beyond 31 July fall short of what is needed, this could trigger large-scale terminations by agents which would quickly become visible to the markets.
SayNoToRigthmove believes that leaving it until after the end of June to confirm that it will not extend the current discount after 31st July would suit Rightmove’s purpose – i.e. to deflect from the true extent of the loss of listing agents and the underlying discontent of its members.
Such a delay to clarification further impedes Rightmove’s previously loyal customers as it gives them little time to react and, in some cases, could cost them at least an extra full month of fees.
The campaign says that as a FTSE-100 company, Rightmove must already know what it is going to do and that the right thing to do would be to advise its customers now so they can plan for their own businesses.
EYE contacted Rightmove to invite their comments on this story but they did not respond by the time of publication.
UPDATE: Just this morning OnTheMarket plc, has announced an extension to the payment support initiative for its agent customers to help ease the continuing impact of the COVID-19 situation.
On 19 March 2020, OnTheMarket announced a 3 month discount to listing fees to assist agent customers who were facing the uncertainty of the evolving COVID-19 situation.
The initial discount period was due to expire on 25 July 2020.
To further help to reduce the cash flow pressure which agents are continuing to face, OnTheMarket is now extending listing fee discounts for a further 2 months to 25 September 2020.
The discount will remain at 33% for the first month and will be 20% for the second month.
These discounts will be given to all OnTheMarket agent customers who are paying on full-tariff listing agreements.
Whilst well meaning these campaigns were doomed from the start.
Rightmove will not comment as its responsibilities lie with its shareholders, oh, and it doesn’t give a monkeys about its customers either.
Nor does it see itself as being responsible for its customers current woes, or being responsible for their impending cash flow problems.
They are not a credit line for the industry.
Agents should do what is right for their business.
If the founder of SNTR hasn’t come off already, will any of the other group members?
Amended – when I am wrong I say I am wrong…..
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I have written to our rep today and urged all our members to do the same asking the question
If I don’t hear before 30/6 I (and many others who support us) will be handing their notice in
Some already have and say they dont notice the difference ….except in their bank account !
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This must be one of the most protracted ways of saying no in history. Took me 5 minutes.
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MY OPEN LETTER
Dear Sarah and Harry
I hope your both well. I’m sure your glad to be back Sarah
I spoke with Harry during the “break” and we had as discussion on the position on the discount offer and period which comes to an end on 31/7
As you know I’m in contact with many other agents and we are all still struggling despite a positive re-start.
Harry indicated, as have some of your counterparts to other agency colleagues of mine, that a revised offer of some sort is forthcoming
From my, and many others point of view, we need to know where we stand now !!!!
Unless you can assure me/us that we will not be penalised by delaying, I and the same others, will be handing in our notice this week, in plenty time for the months’ notice required to meet the end of the discount period on 31/7
So, can I ask that we stop playing “chicken” and get in front of this issue that has been brewing for the 3 months since that disaster “deferral” option that you quickly withdrew. That galvanised the action and re-action against RM.
This situation, which has been ongoing for many years, all be it, widely unsaid until now, was, unfortunately brought to the head by the Pandemic . This has brought 1000’s of agents together (generally unheard of!) who feel the same and want the same change
It’s a sad position to be in as we do value what you bring to us. Although we give you our data, your portal and marketing help us reach the masses
We appreciate the feeds but just don’t appreciate the charges and the manner in which we are treated
From a cost point of view, as your well aware, if we leave RM now we get another 4 months FREE with Zoopla. So we would be saving your fee (£1600 to us) and Zooplas £700 for the period.
Do the number…..That’s a HUGE saving
We are also being courted by many (22 at last count) new portals, many of which are free to list, so with so really “state of the art” features. There is no risk trying these
So, to conclude, PLEASE let’s stop “dancing around the maypole” and tell us what (if anything) is going to be offered in time before the discount is over.
Look forward to a speedy response
Kind regards
Murray
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I never really understand the point of these open letters. Not very classy.
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edited…
I am guessing they will offer 60% off in August and 40% off in September…
Just a guess.
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Blimey you must work at RM haha, you nailed it.
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I do… I actually do… Unpaid shelf stacker.
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Sick of vendettas like this.
Imagine the agents heading this had a group of customers, let’s call them landlords, who all got together and approached their company, let’s call it an agency, demanding X, Y and Z, them to reduce their fees, alter their terms, etc, and all whilst slagging them off every five seconds in the national and industry press.
I wonder how those agents would act and what their stance would be towards those landlords?
Wouldn’t be so acceptable then would it?
Do let me know, so I can write to your portfolio of customers on my patch and tout for their business.
Will be a lot of hypocrites come 30th June I suspect.
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I would say this in reply. RM have largely brought this on themselves after years and years of really bad service.
For example, in a three year period where we paid them £50,000 they only visited us once and rang twice with attempts to tell us how to run our business, even insulting us when we declined to spend more.
Thats just one example.
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Why would you want them to visit? I’d want my properties on their platform, but I’m not interested in meeting them or having monthly catch-ups and “just seeing how things are going”. I’ve properties to be selling and customers to be talking to.
How much income did you derive from that £50,000 you paid Rightmove?
All well and good for the company heads and managers that seem to think agency revolving around meetings and drinking coffee. I prefer to get in there and get my hands dirty.
No-one at Rightmove knows how to run your business, but you should/do.
Not being on Rightmove, for most, would impact income. We all pay it through choice. If you don’t want to pay it, don’t, leave. Rightmove don’t care, nor should they.
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Common courtesy dictates that in business one should maintain a good working relationship with one’s clients.
Not overcharge for an inflexible outdated website and then insult its clients along the way.
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The main difference between our business model and Rightmove’s is that no-one in our industry makes a net profit of 75%. Rightmove have this as a minimum target with increased revenue year on year.
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You’re new here, aren’t you?
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Oh, and I wonder what the customers of these companies, perhaps who have outstanding maintenance issues on their rental unit, or have a property for sale that is stagnant on the market, or they are pushing for a price reduction at the moment, think of the head of these companies spending every waking minute on some sort of crusade as opposed to focusing on selling, renting and managing their properties, and ensuring their staff are doing so, as employed to do by their clients.
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The vendor that hasn’t sold yet, or who may need a price reduction is unlikely to have paid the agent a penny yet, so I dont think its a particularly valid point. I don’t see Rightmove offering to only charge once the property is sold. Just a thought…..
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From what I can see the only agents to leave Rightmove are the ones that really should not have been on it in the first place.
Half a dozen instructions, course they dont miss Rightmove, their problems are rooted much deeper than what portal to advertise on.
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I dont agree. I believe there are plenty of agents that could survive without Rightmove, some of which get their fair share of instructions/sales.
Lots of agents will still have to make a bold decision about where they spend their money over the next few months, it just depends on who has the balls to make the call about Rightmove.
It may not be the right decision for everyone, but some are either too worried or too lazy to even consider it as an option.
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They are too lazy, Rightmove-reliant and institutionalised to believe they cannot operate their business without them. They might as well hand the keys to their office(s) over to Rightmove as it is them that ultimately control these businesses. When your office is worth more to Rightmove than you could ever achieve for it on the open market, you know there’s a massive problem with estate agency.
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We were one of these ‘smaller agents’ listing a dozen or so a month, but have a huge land development pipeline. Some completed last year and this month, so plenty of cash in reserve.
I made the decision to come off RM once the poor discount offer was initially made and their crass announcement on Covid-19
Since we have returned on the 1st June 2020 we are now on course to list 20 this month and selling properties with listings on ZPG and OTM, plus using our database better. I have been on RM during the 10 years of running my own agency, 22 years experience in total and always dealt with RM.
We could easily afford RM, but out of principle a company that behaves in such a shoddy way I do not want to be involved with. Our customers we were listed with listened to our reasons for us no longer listing with RM and eight out of nine were satisfied. The one unsatisfied customer remains with us believes it is because we aren’t on RM is the reason why he hasn’t sold, despite having viewings weekly. We continue to convert appraisals into listings at the highest rate I’ve ever known without RM. Most vendors do not insist their property is listed on RM if you can demonstrate the requisite skills.
RM account manager Jack e-mailed last week. I responded and set out where our price points would be. In line with OTM and ZPG is where I’m heading. He wrote back a very nice e-mail yesterday, which ended in they do not have any membership levels at the price suggested. First time I’ve had any respect for RM over the last few weeks, but not going back until they are more competitive simple.
Agents do not need be so reliant on RM. We have re-invested the savings in Dataloft, BYM kit and an apprentice with the money saved from RM. Means we’re serving more customers, which is better for the business and those punters in the field.
The challenger portals are going to be the market disruptors and the landscape is changing. Ultimately businesses will make choices that suit them, but please believe me there is life after RM.
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Great post and, as they say, more power to your elbow! Imagine the (sadly) many agents who read your post and still insist on supporting the single biggest parasite that has ever infected the industry?
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For clarity i am not for one moment saying we need Rightmove, its the threat of other agents using us NOT being on Rightmove that keeps us on it (the industry).
The agents that have and will walk away are the one man bands that that have given themselves a job and are not true business owners. Any less than 15 available properties, in my opinion is you are playing at being an estate agent. Its EASY to walk away as you have bu**er all stock to loose.
Show me three agents that have walked away in the last three months that have over a dozen available properties for sale (not let). That’s fine take your time (you will need it).
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What about firms who have less than fifteen available properties because they sell rather than collect them?
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Smile Please…Have to say if you worry about other agents canvassing your stock then you really shouldn’t be in business. Only interested in my team, my brand and delivering services, not interested in what other agents do. We’re too busy building a reputation. If you’re good enough the customer will be loyal. That loyalty is earnt.
Five others on our little street, including one directly opposite. No concerns at all about them trying that. What will those vendors really thinkg?
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Its not about canvassing, we have 1 agent in a patch we cover not on RM, just today i was up against them (new instruction), soon as i said they were not on RM i had them signed up with a 7.5k fee plus VAT.
I don’t want other agents doing that to me.
Don’t get me wrong if agents only have half a dozen instruction, work in a sleepy village they do not need to worry and may as well come off (i would). BUT most of us employ staff, have a standard of living we have become accustomed to and need to do more.
**** Almost 5 hours, nobody has produced a single agent that has left RM in last 3 months with a ‘sensible’ stock level. ****
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‘I said they were not on RM’, wow, what a pitch!
Thing is, there’s a greater than 50% chance, based on averages, of them going somewhere else at some point. Even if it stays, you have, on average, around a 50% chance of it completing and earning a pay day. Rightmove does not improve your chances in any of this. Seems to me, you are, like countless other 1000s, paying a massive fee just for the privilege of saying ‘We’re on Rightmove, don’t you know’.
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Smile Please… Now I know you’re not an RM rep as I’ve seen you around on here for a while. Respect for that..
We are not in a sleepy village. We are in a London Suburb. Mr Sargent one of the apocalyptic horsemen is one of our competitors. If RM don’t come to the table that will be 36 offices gone.
I employ seven staff. Didn’t furlough anyone through the pandemic by the way. Not desperate for every listing, but do want to compete..
Congratulations for your instruction worth seven and a half K. Applause all because the other one was not on RM. I reckon could have saved your clients six and a half K just by listing with PB or another online Mr who would have provided a route to RM.
RM my fellow agent should not be so relied upon, that’s all I want to say.
Respect your view, but please they are not everyone’s cosy partner.
If you want to put a date in the diary so we can look at where we are in a year from now with this I would like to do that.
Thanks for your comments and I do wish you all the best.
I’m out though and totally comfortable with how we are performing. I’m even on the acquisition trail and without seeing the biggest cost to my business excl. staff coming out of our account each month.
Peace!
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The heads of the campaign are welcome to leave effective immediately. I am sure their clients will be delighted to be informed their main advertising channel has been cut off.
If an agent in my town, especially one portraying itself as a large market leader in our area, came off of Rightmove, myself and the rest of the other local agents, would have a field day.
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A portal-reliant non-entity of a firm then? A USP of being on RM is really pathetic.
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I came off six months ago. The agents all wrote to my stock, I lost one, which is still doing the rounds now. I’m still selling more than my competitors in my patch as the only one not on RM. If you’re reliant on RM to sell houses you’ve got a problem.
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Is there a more pathetic scenario than any estate agent touting stock purely because the business has decided to be progressive and seek better ways of spending the colossal amount they pay to a high cost / low-service level, archaic tech website? These are the firms that are going to get left behind, not the other way round.
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Hahaha take that back…
60% off in August and 40% off in September.
Hand played.
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Ha, perfect timing! What now for the complainers?
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Interesting they only made this announcement after OnTheMarket issued their press release. Coincidence? Probably not.
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Do you think RM really care about OTM? I think you’re giving OTM too much credit there – they won’t last until the end of the year based on their recent financial statement, I doubt RM are quaking in their boots
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I didn’t say Rightmove are worried about OTM, however it’s entirely possible they reacted knowing that OTM had just communicated to their customers about extending their discount period.
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