Purplebricks has put its prices up.
It is now charging £849 (up from £798) and in London £1,199 (up from £1,158).
A spokesperson yesterday evening confirmed the hikes, saying that the new savings that the average customer can achieve compared with a traditional agent are now £6,267 in the London area and £3,035 outside London.
The spokesperson said: “As you can see, Purplebricks continues to provide the best value for a full service estate agency in the UK.”
Comments (52)
Let’s have a quick look at the sums – based on THEIR quoted figures. Believe what you want…
* An increase of £51 (£42.50 nett of VAT)
* A claimed 3100 instructions per month
* Additional revenue of £158k per month / £1.9 million per annum
That assumes that the £51 (6.4%) increase does not result in any loss of business whatsoever. The boys in purple will no doubt tell their investors that is precisely the case – nothing whatsoever to do with the constant toothache-like torture of Toot and Ploot invading the advert break of every programme 24:7 drilling subliminal orders into the heads of the population (of which thankfully only a tiny percentage take the plunge and pays their money:takes their chance on the Purple Pwoperdee Lotterwee.
An EXTRA £1.9 million income a year. How cool would that be, people?
What could we all do with that in the ‘P’ column of our P&L’s? With a TENTH of it, for that matter?
How much of it, however, does anyone think will be ‘profit’? Good, old fashioned BOTTOM LINE profit, I mean – not “Profit Before Expenditure” as certain companies like to refer to it as these days.
£1.9 mill? That won’t even pay the VAT bill on those ******* adverts – never mind changing crimson to black…
Funny as. Except it’s really, really serious stuff.
That’s what is happening ….. How much of it, however, does anyone think will be ‘profit’? Good, old fashioned BOTTOM LINE profit, I mean – not “Profit Before Expenditure” as certain companies like to refer to it as these days.
They have sold an increase to their followers, when it will have practical impact that will advantage the investing backers … it will however as PB pointed out Profit Before Expenditure normally equates to the directors getting a fat cat salary increase, just you wait and see.
I believe footage has been found of crowd funding / shareholder owned companies spending the investment:
https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/crowdfunded-movie-makers-take-money-and-spend-it-on-champagne-and-holidays-112946960.html
Good one Mark
How about this link.
How China will pop the Australian real estate bubble!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O31Tbu5dU80
How about trying India next PB?
Most certainly a volume market?
P-Daddy you made a food point about fees, certainly as far as the bottom of the market is concerned they may not look so inviting for the cash strapped vendor/onward buyer as the fee’s get closer to local agents, who have those extra strings to their bow … a local office, community contacts & advertising and the security of knowing it hasn’t cost them anything for failure. I do hope PB keep putting their fees up to cover their continued losses. Fees is the only reason why they and their comrades are getting the business and are not offering anything new a local agent does not already do …. just less service for less money. Pay peanuts you get a monkey.
And disrupters will be disrupting them with even lower fees – “we’re miles cheaper than that ripoff firm Murplesticks” and so on and so on…
i.e. what happens when your USP goes (we’re much cheaper than the rest / ooops now we’re not). What have they got left to offer..? Anybody..?
……Shares in OZ?
Have PB used the UK as an experiment to test their model and now realize that it cost them up to £2,700 per listing in 2015?
May be this is why they are charging close to this figure in OZ?
With the added bonus that few would recognise the (B Bros) in OZ, if all went horribly wrong in the UK?
Argh….maybe that is why they use those two actors on TV ?
AgentV……I’m not sure if you are posting with a sense of irony or are just desperate for friends!?
Either way not wishing to dampen your enthusiasm at all, but it comes across as a bit odd.
No insult intended, just a bit of friendly advice……..
Well said RealAgent.
Agent V. Please stop these multiple posts asking the same thing of different individuals. It’s really irritating and breaks up the flow of the discussions.
If you make a point well enough in the first place, people will come and talk with you!
Hahaha…. As I am reading down I am now wishing I had not commented!
They’re are right AgentV – I reckon if anyone wants to join in, they will…! Kind of the reason there is a reply and comment button.
I didnt want to offend anyone, just wanted to start a fight back instead of just talking about it all the time. Organisations, such as PB, who are designed from the ground up to do nothing other than make the maximum amount of money for their owners at the expense of other people’s small businesses and livelihoods annoy me.
So I have decided to fight back for the industry I love, with some tools and software that I believe will help, enormously. Obviously that will be more successful if more people come on board and we can work as a group. Otherwise it will take a lot longer to start properly, by which time the online agents will have taken more share of your market.
I am aware that most people come back and look at their own posts later in the day to see who has commented on them, which is why I waited till later to ask the question. However I apologise for interrupting the flow of conversation with a call to to do something positive in reply to the lies being spread about our agencies , and the misleading of the public away from your business. And yes I am desperate to start a concerted fight back.
However don’t worry I won’t get ‘annoying’ anymore.
Don’t take it the wrong way AgentV, it was more I think everyone got the message on your first couple of “want to join in” replies.
Stay passionate about this and lets perhaps get a subject started in “The Arena” if there is not already one…..
Oddest thing is since this story, I haven’t heard a single advert when typically I cant avoid the annoying dribble.
Hi Ric I am not taking it the wrong way. It is just so frustrating when you have the ideas and insights that you believe would help everyone enormously… but you just can’t get it properly started. I probably am odd…..it’s what makes me not just think but visualise so much outside of the box. I have what I believe is the design for a revolutionary piece of software that would help independent agents attract more enquiries and win more instructions. Far better than Vox, Visual Tours, Valuation Tools…etc,
Unfortunately we all know ideas of software can be copied …. you need to be first to market. So ideally if I could get a group of like minded individual agents together who can then go out and recommend to other agents on their posts (only if they believe in it of course) we can get there first in a mass launch.
I could of course approach one of the big internet agents, and have a ready made market and earlier rewards. But it is not where my heart is…. and at this time I don’t want to give anyone else even more weapons to beat us with.
Obviously I can’t just tout the ideas around, as others will then pick them up and run with more resiources to hand to succeed.
problem with the Arena is few people seem to use it, but I will make a start as soon as I am back on my feet.
AgentV
Get yourself a nice anonymous Tw@tter account and come ‘talk’ to me!
Hi PeeBee,I could do that, as soon as I get out of hospital, but if in the meantime you want to email me your contact email…..Robert May, and Chris Wood are in touch with me, and I think you are involved with them from the previous campaign.
If you’re already in contact with the guys then you don’t need my contact details – I usually follow along as kind of a Three4Two deal…
No doubt we will get along famously!
;o)
Portal juggling crops up – suddenly PB need to increase fees to make ends meet? coincidence or merely chance?
I’m sure they’ll have to do this a few more times in the next couple of years.
Next we will be hearing about their plans for creating ‘drop in centres’ on the high street for house hunters. We currently use the term ‘office’ but PB know how to make new dynamic names for these sorts of things….
Hi Clarkuk, want to join in with my comment above?
Clarkuk – I like the way you think!!
;o)
Hmmm…
Spotted an interesting comment on the PBAustralia Facebook page today, in response to a query as to why their Oz offering is so much more expensive than that of the UK model:
Let’s wish them luck with that, then.
“Getting the best Local Property Experts comes at more cost here…”
Read into that what you will – but I doubt an extra £50 a pop will balance the books…
Hi PeeBee. Want to join in with my comment above?
Good spot PeeBee !
If I were amongst the best of their LPE’s in the UK, I would immediately renegotiate my charges!
Nothing to do with trying to balance the books in OZ then?
“If I were amongst the best of their LPE’s in the UK, I would immediately renegotiate my charges!”
I’m sure they ALL think they are the cream of the crop; on top of their game; leader of the pack and Uncle Tom Cobblers – every one of them.
Let them think. Thinking is good. While they’re thinking – they are doing no real damage.
It’s when many who “think” they are mutt’s nuts (…when in Oz, the dindo’s danglies…) try to put what little they actually have into practice that it goes woefully Pete…
More agents need to take a leaf out of the PB books…and put their fees up and get a return on their investment both in terms of a business and of course if you value yourself and the experience you offer! There you are, I have just agreed with PB!!
I find it interesting that they are all offering the deferred fee payment now, which defeats the object of the cheap as chips offering. Deferred income for peanuts is commercial suicide. As was seen by the letter published on PIE the other day with a client running off without paying even these businesses tiny fees and the fact that it is becoming increasingly widely reported that if you aren’t happy with the online agents, all you have to do is threaten to put a negative comment on TrustPilot or equivalent and your fee gets overlooked. I watched the House Simple advert last night and it appears they have re worded it, so they are obviously struggling with instructions. If a client makes a decision on fee only, they will not value you or your service. Some you have to expect to lose, but the long game always sorts the men out from the boys! Lets see who we are talking about in 1 year.
It’s a like from me, P-Daddy.
Where does the cash flow come from for deferred income? They still have investors cash to burn through yet.
But the fee increase might indicate that some folks are getting antsy about when they might see a return or even £1 net profit.
All these cost saving on-line business models work on a numbers game. As long as the numbers keep appearing in the way of new customers, they will milk it for all their worth with no worries if the property doesn’t sell or poor service and very little overheads (means poor service)…. they already have the money so the client can complain as much as they like. PB has an issue, it is broke. The brokers are more interested in their commissions and would spell the downfall of PB overnight if the investors ever got wind. I am so surprised that no media outlet hasn’t done a story on these companies like watchdog but then most of those types of programmes are a year behind. Putting the fees up is needing to dig oneself out of the non-profit hole they created? Maybe some regulator should be making the upfront fee more relevant to what they are getting ……. there used to be caveats “your home is at risk etc…” should now read “your wealth is at risk as your home may not get its true market value as you have paid us and we don’t have any incentive for what you get”.
Hi Woodentop…. want to join in my comment above?
This is a reply to both Mark Walker and Woodentop. You are both correct, profit is the sanity, turnover vanity. Do remember that this is still a start up company claiming to disrupt the market! They’ve achieved that! Can they make it stick…time will tell! They are only 2 years old and anyone who has written a business plan will know how long it takes for start ups to break into profit. Woodford and his highly followed exchange traded investment fund is up to his nuts in this one backing a hunch, and we know the city always gets it right. The big burn on running costs is the radio and tv advertising. It is getting noticed by the yoofs who are all telling their aged parents to sell via an online agent, the wise old parents are still prepared to give the business to High Street agents, especially in so many parts of the country as there is a full on commission war, which is reducing the gap between real costs. I notice the PB tv ads are now saying the average fee they base their claims on is now 1.5% from September. I am aware some parts of the country are still above these levels, but I bet it isn’t what it was a few years ago. I am hearing that some of the corporates when they are touting business are offering to cover the online agents upfront costs if they sell which will spice things up. PB does have a huge risk when the market slows down, as they are expecting clients to buy into the legal package as well, or buy your way out. Who underwrites all these costs…Close Brothers..if PB don’t get paid they still have to pay the bank and I am sure the company would not take any fees back from their local property experts…a dirty little secret perhaps!
Does anyone else think that this price rise is actually designed to boost the share price? It makes them expensive, even uncompetitive, in much of the North East and areas where prices remain relatively low. It makes them damned expensive if they fail to sell the property too.
Hi Eric, want to join in my comment above?
It looks like the share price got excited for 3.6 seconds overnight last night and then fell back again.
Maybe somebody in the know wanted to cash in some shares…
Hi Mark, want to join in my comment above?
Anyone notice that their new TV add now ends with an agent you can ‘love’ ….(feel free to post any ‘love’ reviews below).
May be somewhat better than ‘trust’ as in previous TV ads which in my humble opinion was downright rude to all those full service, branch based, contract chasers, they may have ‘trusted’ to help some of those PB ‘in chain’ sales along?
Is the nature of the beast, that if you feed it, it gets lazy as it does not need to go hunting?
Could PB be in breach of the estate agency act as by charging upfront fees they may not have the same financial incentive to ‘achieve the best possible price’ and or/sale for their clients as those ‘No sale, No charge’ agents?
Indeed, if they went bust, 1000’s could even lose much more than the average lettings deposit in my area?
However, that lettings deposit, is of course secured?
Don’t forget that PB’s basic offering is no to sell your property – it is to list it.
So even if they ceased trading tomorrow the chances are the 1000’s who have already paid them a listing fee would not have a valid claim against them, even though they wouldn’t have sold their house.
Hi Thomas…. want to join in my comment above?
It’s the end of the beginning of the end…
There is an Online Agent radio advert which I hear saying….. “We offer everything the High Street Agent offers for a fraction of the fee”
Another blatant ASA punishable statement as never do they state, ” everything other than…. no office to walk in to, no consistent face to face dialogue if required spanning 5, 6 or even in most cases 7 days a week. No newspaper advertising on a regular basis in your local press showing YOUR home….. No key holding services, no face to face ability to check out money laundering!!
There are so many, that we all need to start tackling the misleading adverts at local levels….. as the minute your company can show they are not being fair to your business, they have an issue.
Everyone lets get tackling them on a local level, if they don’t responds then it is a simple ASAP complaint – 15 minutes of your day put to brilliant use.
Hi Ric,
Want to join in my comment above?
Done….. I am up for this fight….. cannot stand agents no matter what type advertising false information.
Be it the corporates, the independents acquired by the corporates who are still hiding behind the old colours or the tinternet lot who just spout rubbish.
Full service? Isn’t that an ASA punishable statement, right there?
Absolutely agree…..full service should include accompanied viewings and full negotiating/ contract chasing at the very least. I feel bad nice again misleading would be an understatement.
in mortgage broking for many years, it has been a legal obligation to declare the status of the broker in categories such as ‘independent’, ‘whole of market’, ‘limited panel’ etc. (Although the names may have changed now). I think it is the time to define ‘levels of service’ as ‘Fully Comprehensive Service’, ‘Limited Service’, or ‘Listing Service’ with a caveat ‘Charge Up Front’ or ‘No Sale No Fee’ legally having to be disclosed. So under this to my mind PB would be ‘Charge Up Front Limited Service’ to my mind and most HS agents would be ‘No Sale No Fee Fully Comprehensive Service’. This then would have to be stated always on all marketing material and adverts as prominently as ‘your home may be at risk etc.’
At least this would reduce deception and make it clear to consumers from the outset. A campaign anyone? Robert, Chris, PeeBee, Ben?
Don’t you think we’ve campaigned enough recently?
Yes , but I am afraid this is becoming a war against misleading consumers away from your business in an unfair way.
Agreed AgentV.
I am waiting for my first opportunity to start the ball rolling on my mission to get to the ASA every I hear them say “we offer the same as a High Street Agent”
I say first opportunity as we obviously need to bring it up with the company in question first I believe then once they ignore us (which they will) I can say the issue has been raised and being ignored.
PeeBee – some amazing campaigning by a super group of people I have been lucky enough to have been included in (although I have done NOTHING personally to help that group and have just read a determined bunch get results)
I think this fight, however is one I want to be a big part of.
Count me in.
Me too! Full service my ****, even using the word service in the same sentence makes my blood boil.
There is no way a cheap fee offering would be used to grow a business client database and brand name and then at some point they look to increase fees.
danny……. this story must anger the pants off you? Pffttttt what are they like.
If you mean by “full service”, non accompanied viewings, a call centre that doesn’t answer the phone, a local property “expert” who doesn’t answer the phone, the referral of a firm of solicitors who don’t know their **** from their elbow, and a general lack of interest in actually selling your clients home…then yes you crack on…and us in the real world of estate agency will continue to pick up the pieces.
Amazing still that people never get challenged on “best deal”….cheapest as chips perhaps, but best deal, not in a month of Sundays.
I was scrolling through a very large local to me Facebook group yesterday – 10,000+ members, one of the local “Mumsy” type groups… (I say that in the sense, they have the word “Mum and Girl” in the group name…)
Someone asked if anyone had ever used PB before and would they recommend…… oh dear PB! 1 user to be fair said it was ok, but the house was an easy one and the buyer was good! but the other comments not so good…. no returned calls, delays in making listings live, failure to get feedback and interesting it sounded like someone had lost a sale due to what the lady felt was simply inexperienced negotiating. She gave it to a HS Agent, who did the job quick smart.
All very genuine stuff on some of the local Facebook Groups and worth reading to see if your company is talked about at the virtual school gates.
A google search on PB throws up some mumsnet threads – interesting reading.
I recon at this rate they’ll be in profit really soon.
Also did I mention the moon is made of cream cheese and I’ve got a water bed for my pet caterpillars.