Zoopla has clarified its position as to whether the new wave of online agents will be allowed to advertise their new properties on the portal.
Eye asked Rightmove, Zoopla and Agents’ Mutual for their views regarding the likes of PurpleBricks.com, which is backed by ex-Capita boss Paul Pindar, EstatesDirect, where the chairman is ex-Poundland tycoon Steve Smith, and easyProperty, where former Countrywide boss Harry Hill is chairman.
Agents’ Mutual said it would not be allowing online agents on to its new site when it launches next January, while Rightmove said it had strict vetting procedures in place to ensure that new joiners were estate agents as defined by legislation on the basis of the services they provide.
Zoopla has now given us their response.
A spokesperson for Zoopla told Eye: “We have strict criteria and vetting processes for those advertising with us and the levels of service that they must provide, and we review these from time to time.
“We don’t comment on specific businesses, but any new agency looking to advertise with us needs to meet our criteria and comply with our member terms and conditions.”
We also asked Zoopla how many agents that were acting purely as listings aggregators it threw off its site at the start of 2014.
The spokesperson said: “We do not comment on specific customers but went through an exercise of removing a number of businesses at the start of the year that did not comply with our latest advertising criteria.”
Comments (8)
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Battle lines drawn, pistols raised…all three have now had their say and the sheer arrogance from the duopoly could not be any more clear.
If you do not stand up to Zoopla and rightmove now then things will only get worse.
No wonder agents are flocking to Agents mutual as the only viable option to get us out of this mess.
There's a two page interview with Zoopla's CEO in this month's PropertyDrum. Interesting read… For example, Alex Chesterman states that the average agent is paying RM around £600 per month, and Zoopla around £300 per month. He then says… "The average agent lists about 60 properties for that £900…." Really? And what about the smaller agent listing just a few properties? WHY ARE THEY NOT PAYING LESS WHEN THEY ARE LISTING LESS?
In answer to Paul and MF the ceo s and senior management at RM and Zoopla seem totally out of touch with their client base. They have become far to complacent in my view and should really look hard at how they treat their clients. In short they have no understanding of their client needs and requirements. This is a shame as they seem to have built their sites on paying close attention to what their "consumers/users want" rather than giving us any customer service.
Agents will join AM in their masses, if for no other reason, that it is something fresh and exciting where they will be treated as MEMBERS rather than cash cow "clients"
Couldn't agree more Wilko….it is a shame as I thought that Zoopla may at least take a different approach than Rightmove but it's just business as usual.
What really sticks is that neither RM or Z would be anything without years of free advertising and promotion from their customers (us agents). All those window stickers, website links, etc… "See our properties on Rightmove" the sticker says, and in to our window it goes. (Funny, I don't remember there ever being a need to do that with the newspapers.) Let them advertise themselves, I say. They don't give me anything for nothing, so why should I! They spend millions advertising on the side of buses and the like, to build up their "presence", but all across the country they can be seen in estate agents' windows, which they get FREE OF CHARGE.
Fact is we made them the successes they are today. And now it seems that no matter how big their profits are, they just want more, and more, and more……