Rightmove Partners has sent an email leaflet to people registered on the portal on behalf of haart estate agents, offering them a free valuation.
The leaflet, complete with spelling mistake, reads: “You may be pleasantly suprised [sic] to learn how much your home is worth.
“If you’re thinking of selling your home this autumn, contact us for professional and honest advice.”
Recipients can choose an automated valuation online and can also book a valuation appointment “with one of our expert valuers”.
The sending of the email has been strongly criticised by one agent, who asked not to be named.
He said: “I really think, personally, that there is a big moral issue here. I don’t see this sort of behaviour as being fair.
“Rightmove are taking fees from agents to list properties. The public are then registering for those properties and then Rightmove sell applicant information to other agents.
“The only logical outcome of this practice is that the smaller, perhaps less wealthy, agents would be put out of business … ironically by Rightmove selling their own leads to the highest bidder.”
Last month, Rightmove Partners sent out an email on behalf of an online budget agent, Place Estate Agents, to someone who had registered with Trevor Kent & Co in Buckinghamshire.
The email said: “You do not need to pay high fees to sell your home. We offer the best online advertising, customer service and local knowledge and you can save £1,000s when you instruct us.”
On that occasion, Rightmove said the wording had gone through its approval process in error.
Yesterday it issued this statement to Eye: “The new Rightmove e-leaflets were launched in response to demand from a wide range of customers for an online version of the physical leaflets many agents have traditionally used.
“This new product offers customers a greater level of targeted exposure for their brand, and the opportunity to share their chosen messages with motivated home-movers, based on where the users are located and what they have searched for on Rightmove.
“They are available to our estate and letting agency customers and are sent by Rightmove on behalf of our customers, to Rightmove users who agree to receive news and offers from us.
“Since launching there have been a range of customers signing up to the product, from single-branch agents to larger multi-branch chains, and many of them are now planning regular email campaigns.”
Comments (68)
easy Chris – your head has yet again disappeared behind the parapet… but we all know you are peeking and by playing ostrich you are worsening your already precarious stance. Yesterday, in response to my asking exactly what would you would consider to be acceptable as being described as "a short walk", the best you could offer (the ONLY offering you made, in fact, despite being pushed for a more professional response – it is, after all, your company you are representing here…) was "depends how long your legs are". Tell me, Mr easy Chris… just HOW LONG would your legs have to be if the property you were going to rent, described as "…a short walk from Newcastle medical building and other university buildings. Property is also a short walk to town centre and Haymarket metro." is actually FOUR MILES from said Metro station… and only a couple of hundred yards less to the other points stated? Answers, on a postcard, please…
Cat got yer tongue, easy Chris?
Well… the cat has DEFINITELY got easy Chris' tongue! Sorry, guys – but I've potentially saved his company from one of the first prosecutions under CPRs – the description I have been waiting patiently for the last three days for easy Chris to justify today reads "The property is a short walk from local amenities." I'll give you that one, easy Chris – it actually is exactly that – not that your company would know, as you quite clearly do not comply with the requirements of the portals you "partner" with and physically visit a property in order to check the information in the listing details (be careful they don't find out – other companies have been kicked off RM & Z for such breaches of their Membership Rules…). Tell me – doesn't that make you a PASSIVE INTERMEDIARY? As a professional, committed Estate Agent, and as a qualified Trainer, I am delighted to be the one to deliver a lesson you really need to learn – WE 'DINOSAURS' HAVE OVER 98% OF THE MARKET FOR A REASON. You want MY share? BRING IT ON. You now know I'm ready and waiting for you. You play fair & win – then I'll shake your hand. Play foul – I'll wager you know the rest by now… and I'm no different from any of my colleagues in industry in that respect. ;o)
easy Chris… you say "…Landlords will be in no doubt on the easy difference." Tell me – in YOUR opinion, what would constitute "…a short walk…"? Or, what about in YOUR opinion, how long would be considered acceptable for an Agent to display a property on a portal with NO photos whatsoever? If, say, the time was FOURTEEN DAYS OR MORE, how well do YOU think that Agent is performing on its' client's behalf? It's on days like this that you should remember what a parapet is for and not raise your head above it. But – seeing as you haven't learnt that very valuable lesson yet – let's see if you do a usual and duck back into what you consider to be safety, or actually answer some direct questions THIS time…
About time you showed up mon ami:-)
Oh I would say you're pretty unique with THAT view, Paul H… ;o)
lol you hide behind your user name , I don't.
I have no idea who you are but you are of course welcome to vent your opinion. Naturally we encourage landlords to upload photos as clearly this the best way to market a property,if they CHOOSE not to well thats upto them,we can of course come round and do the photos if they so wish. You are still living in the traditional space where you are charging through the nose I presume for things your clients may not want or need [just speculating]. In our model they can pick and choose and only pay for whey decide they need.
Feedback from our current landlords has been very positive so far ,not everything is perfect but we work hard on putting wrong things right.
If ANY agent reading this was on the fence about OTM then this should be the post that makes you stand up and stretch your legs in the garden of agents mutual. As Chris has already said he plans to buy all the leads generated by YOUR listings from Rightmove (because he doesn't have many himself) and email them to say that YOU are selling them things they don't need. ANY agent, including pee bee , rivero etc MUST see that this is wrong and start to set up a timeline to escape from the constant undermining of YOUR business by Rightmove and join the ONLY alternative otm.
"ANY agent, including pee bee , rivero etc MUST see that this is wrong…" Erm… to quote you from less than 3 weeks ago – "…been doing it for ages….I've had great success for my new homes developments by using RM direct advertising. Possible that I could have sold a few new homes to applicants that registered for one of your properties and I then sent literature to. Probably got the assisted sales as well!!….I didn't agree with it but found it great to have access to ANY set of applicants in ANY are that registered with RM." wilko – there are MANY THINGS that should make me stretch my exceedingly sturdy legs in the OTM garden – but this certainly ain't one of them – and clearly ISN'T YOURS EITHER. But, if you're one of those Agents who are going to keep RM – you can obviously have your cake and eat it anyway…
What is it that you didn't understand about "I didn't agree with it" In your latest cut and paste. Absolutely amazed that you think it is ok for Rightmove to sell the "own to sell" motivated applicants that we generate to firms that will then e mail them direct to say that your companies' service ammounts to a pile of rubbish. A bit different to sending out a development on behalf of a building company. And like I said I didn't agree with that. I know you love to play the point scoring game with peoples comments but come on……tell me . Rightmove selling the motivated own to sell applicants to onlinies who then target them directly to detail how poor they are and what a waste of money they are……where will that lead Pee Bee? You are an intelligent person yet you are a ok with the latest Rightmove statement about selling motivated sellers for cash? Come on. Or are you planning a large investment in Rightmove to send out a flyer of your own?
"What is it that you didn't understand about "I didn't agree with it" In your latest cut and paste." That would be the bit where, despite "not agreeing with it", you still flamin' well DID IT, wilko! Sorry – but testifying that they felt a proper cad afterwards never got an armed robber acquitted as far as I am aware. Feel free to show me that I am wrong, of course – but in the meantime I'll just be whistling 'hypocrite' in your general direction…
Pee Bee…I have never used Rightmove direct mailing to say my competitors are a waste of money. Like I said, mailing a new development to purchasers is very very different, and like I'll say again….I don't agree with it, and didn't at the time. By all means resort to name calling (often the level you reach when you have nothing sensible to add) but why not answer my qs instead? That's what forums are for, after all….discussing….not word play and name calling.
"…but come on……tell me . Rightmove selling the motivated own to sell applicants to onlinies who then target them directly to detail how poor they are and what a waste of money they are……where will that lead Pee Bee?" Erm… fatal flaw in this particular argument you are putting forward is that this article ISN'T about RM selling to "onlinies", is it? wilko – you really shouldn't attempt to put me down by saying " You are an intelligent person yet…", when you're clearly not harnessing your OWN intelligence to put together a joined-up argument for your pet cause. "I know you love to play the point scoring game with peoples comments…" No – I don't. I'd MUCH rather be 'on your side', actually. I'm not after scoring points against you or anyone – I have nothing whatsoever to gain by doing so. But, don't try to pin your own goals on me – the comments you refer to ain't mine…
"By all means resort to name calling (often the level you reach when you have nothing sensible to add) but why not answer my qs instead?" Oh dear, wilko – when you're struggling for your own personal points target there's always your "general put-downs" barrel for you to scrape, isn't there? okay… you want an answer from me – NO. I'll leave you to work out to which ridiculous question the answer relates to. Of the others – one made so little sense to me I gave up trying to understand it – the other doesn't warrant even a monosyllabic response.
Pee Bee "This article ISN'T about RM selling to onlinies is it?" I took this paragraph directly from the article and it's this part I refer to "Last month, Rightmove Partners sent out an email on behalf of an online budget agent, Place Estate Agents, to someone who had registered with Trevor Kent & Co in Buckinghamshire." ….I'm not sure how you find me calling you intelligent a put down-sorry I really don't understand that one. I actually feel that you and Rivero are important to the on going portal debate….that's why reading your views are important, even if we don't agree. You can refer to OTM as my "pet cause" but I truly believe (and I appreciate you don't) that, at the moment, it is the only way to safeguard the professional side of the property industry. More and more pro agents are seeing this and, like I've said loads of times, the original idea of controlling our budgets is long in the past. I don't have the same advertising rescources as say, Haart, Easyprop, or many of the online agencies with their private equity backers so can't afford or justify the very large fees to buy other agents motivated own to sell applicants (and before you think it….the developer clients pay for the campaigns that I mentioned before). That said, applicants that you and I have generated from our listings are now being bought by anyone who has enough cash to pay Rightmove. Our friend Chris is busy getting a quote, as he said yesterday. These companies will then contact the 98% applicants that the traditional agents have brought to registration on Rightmove and commence their dire tribe consisting of what a waste of space, money and time the likes of you and I are. I just wanted your viewpoint on where you see that practice ending up eventually?. Whether you approve of a service company undermining it's very own customers?. Even a stock Pee Bee "bring it on" (you haven't used that one for a while?) would be an answer. But a capital letters "no" to continuing the discussion is most unlike you, especially after all the grief you give our mate Chris when he doesn't reply to your viewpoints and comments.
wilko – you are right and I was wrong to dismiss you in that manner – I apologise. I will just state that it is all too easy for US ALL to read others' posts too literally… or even to make a presumption of what a poster is meaning by what they have posted on the words alone and how we interpret them inside our own heads. I will respond more professionally later – completions coming out of every orifice today – because as I hope you appreciate I DO enjoy our banter however warm the air becomes – why else would I continue? ;o)
"…not everything is perfect but we work hard on putting wrong things right." SO… I repeat… in YOUR opinion, what would constitute "…a short walk…"?
depends how long your legs are …..
Clue: No it doesn't. Try again.
Genuinely easy Chris….. give us a good solid answer as a chap who wants to show some of us that a cheap outfit can offer the quality clients deserve…….. So…… I'm travelling from Carlisle to view a property with you tomorrow as the advert tells me it is 3 miles from Gatwick Airport……… PS: I've left already and arrived the area, staying over in a hotel tonight, I've decided on a £200 per night hotel…its nice! but then this is a big thing my new life and just 3 miles from my new place of work…….! anyway I've just got back from my "test run from the house to the Airport" before the viewing….. just to see the best route! Will it be this way or that way, by foot, bike or car………..but HOLD ON…….4.6 to 5.8 miles which ever combination I used! I just cannot get to it in 3 miles! Who's responsible for this? I would never have left my house had I known!
The "short walk" comment is a tough one PeeBee, lets be fair, "modern" "attractive" "lovely" "spacious" "stunning"……..where do you stop! I had a "stones throw one" recently! but the photo's you are spot on……. I personally would insist if I were to ever contemplate a FSBO type set up that ALL properties MUST without fail have a photo on…….Nothing worse than (and Auto Trader demonstrates this) a list of "things for sale" and one of them has no photo, you tend to skip right past it……..although Autotrader do not care as they have the money for that listing upfront which may be the point PeeBee is making?
When looking at agents websites all I ever read is 'Award winning' there must be so many awards out there. One classic was 'Nominated for an award'.
I agree Ric No photo – No likey – Not only Autotrader though – Take E-harmony for example, No photo – ignore….Even if she does have a GSOH.
Haha….. absolutely! Very funny….love that…….although to be fair my profile on E-Harmony has no photo…….and it says VGSOHTMIAEA ……….? can you guess?
I've found a 2.4 mile discrepancy whether you travel by foot, car or bus to a claim they make! – Its a CPR disaster waiting to happen……and I now change my mind; They would be better having no photos instead of some of the ones they show…..! Its a great advert for how not to advertise and market your company as a quality outfit.
"The "short walk" comment is a tough one PeeBee" I would normally agree with you on that point, Ric – BUT – I have very good reason to ask this… all will be revealed at the appropriate moment! ;o)
ah…….. I'm going to see if I can figure out your cruel mind!
So by traditional space you mean the one where an estate agent visits a property, ensures its suitable to be marketed and indeed legally compliant to be so, then represents that property with a similar legal responsibility to the landlord. Hmm yes now you mention it perhaps it does seem a bit old fashioned!!
easy Chris you claim on RM "We’re cheaper, faster, and easier than anything you’ll find on the high street" – Why cheaper than me? why faster than me? and by easier you mean?
Ric…..you are wasting your time asking EC valid questions like this…..He doesn't answer. I've asked before about how his company can make property transactions quicker, cheaper and easier. He hasn't got an answer. Too busy praising himself for his mighty launch that lead to a massive 18 properties from 3 major uk cities put together. A bit different from the 1000s he claimed to have signed up and then didn't answer the question as to why those 1000s hadn't been uploaded to the site.
I deleted my initial response Wilko…….as you are right……. If I were stelios I would get a grip and say use my name and brand BUT use it with pride……..it's smacks the very kind of reputation they generated when they had the Airport program on……Low fees, no quality and if it is not quite what you expected tough luck.
Oh Jeez, Ric – DON'T give them the idea that they could make a series out of it! ;o)
eeassyyyy Chris……… you had some Ready Brek this morning!
not had my oats in a while sadly @Ric 🙂
haha fair doo's. I received an email promoting easyEPCs yesterday……I oddly thought of you before anything else! very bizarre 🙂
When are we as agents going to realise that collectively we can put an end to the arrogance and profiteering of this company. We as a company are backing the crusade to eliminate the stranglehold this portal has over our business. Wise up everybody stop bellyaching and do something about it !
This is a very clever strategic move by Rightmove. They are slowly but surely positioning themselves a must have one stop shop for agents and putting themselves in a position where agents become even more reliant on their service/s. Only yesterday an analyst at BNP Paribas suggested that a software company is ripe for purchase by either Rightmove or Zoopla. Just have a think about where Rightmove are going and the grip they will have on agents. If you think it's bad now just wait until every agent must pay Righmove for listings, premium listings, software, direct mailing & email mailing etc the list goes on. It can happen and will if we let it.
I agree with you totally, just look what's already happening in the new homes and asset management market. We were offered a joint with 3 agents instruction this week on a property at £200,000 where the developers agent were only prepared to pay 1% inclusive of VAT minus £150 + VAT admin charge and with a further reduction should of a £100 should the buyer not use their conveyancing and £100 should the buyer not use their mortgage provider……… A RM and Zoopla strategy for the future? With their access to potential house sellers, how big a leap is it to say that in the future you could be paying them for listings!
Indeed RealAgent, it's getting a bit like a dictatorship. Perhaps in 10 years the buying and renting process will be called the rightmove industry as opposed to the estate agency industry.
I must remember to write to our local paper to complain next time I see a similar type of advert from a competitor in the property section.
@peter well said,it's competition guys get over it…….
Chris it's got nothing to do with competition, competition is good. If I am opening a new branch, I stick it where the most agents are on the high street, the more the better. I don't want to pitch against one guy, the vendor or landlord needs to see me stand head and shoulders above more than one agent. You know that, so rather than continuing with a pitch that revolves around slagging off your competitors (a real sign of weakness) and spending so much time here, sniping at these competitors, concentrate on spreading the word about your business to the people that will use you, because we are not your audience. Tell them what differentiates you from your competitors and why they should use you and then deliver on that. If you can do that, then good luck to you. But don't forget easy Chris, you are not immune to the effects of evolution, as there will soon be more of your kind, but most importantly, there are already thousands of agents that have had a head start on you and been around for millions of years, continually evolving to stay ahead of the competition. They will continue to adapt and are not quite ready to be wiped of the face of the earth!
thanks for the advice Paul,don't worry our plans are in place and Landlords will be in no doubt on the easy difference. A new entrant comparing itself to entrenched competitors is actually a proven marketing strategy,even big brands do it remember the pepsi challenge. Good operators have less to fear from new entrants as I have posted before ,online is not the death of the high street agent its another option for the customer one we are convinced will over time become the norm.
Have you actually grasped the actual concept of what is happening here? What on earth has my competitors advertising in the local paper got to do with it? There is no issue with Haart here, they are taking advantage of the situation that RM have created?
Peter you have well and truly missed the point. Please tell me you have re thought your comment and actually understand the situation with this?
This is great news for OTM and highlights the very reason why agents need to take back control of their listings. It's just a shame so many agents fail to see what's in front of their face. Allowing bucket shop agents to direct mail the audience traditional agents have generated for Rightmove (via our listings) is tantamount to Sainsbury's allowing Lidle to advertise in their stores. When will our industry wake up?
Love the analogy…simple but true. With many online agents littering the shareholder sites with poor photography and description, professional agents must look at signing up to OTM. Those professional agents that remain with Z and RM will be like a Master Carpenter selling his furniture in Ikea.
so Haart is a bucket shop then……..online is a growing part of this industry,we are not going away anytime soon,abit like HMV saying itunes is just a fad.
Chris you poor bloke, are you really comparing your self to iTunes? come on mate – Jonnie
the industry @jonnie 🙂 a move from physical to digital delivery not a perfect example but works for me
Fair enough Chris, I don't think anyone would put it past you if you had made such a comparison but you are right your model is digital delivery rather than physical although unlike iTunes the actual product hasn't changed, properties are hand made from bricks and so on whereas the music industry changed the actual product to downloads – not a great comparison? – you have a known brand, several million quid of investors money but you need other businesses mainly RM & Z to function, cant imagine you'd have much luck if you couldn't access the portals. Picking up on the ribbing you are getting for your 250 odd beautifully presented listings, your conversion of enquiries (the thousands you told us you had) to listings isn't all that is it? What's happened to the rest? you only seem to have converted 2.5% of them, hardly enough to rent a dinosaurs 'a hole' for the evening- Jonnie
Indeed! Imagine Haart deploying thousands of people up and down the country to stand outside all of it's competitors doors and tap up each client that walks in and out. I guess all those that think what RM are doing is ok, would just let them get on with it?!!!!
Frankly the fact that Hart carnt spel 'surprise' is to be expected. Their marketing always comes across as spivvy and cheap, and they have always struck me as the type of agent that personifies all that the public hate about our industry.
We created this animal, so perhaps we should look at this article, recognise it's the tip of a very big iceberg and use it as a very good reason, why as estate agents, we need to support Onthemarket!
Wouldn't fancy being the haart employee this morning….the one who wrote / proof read the leaflet …..shocking that they couldn't spell surprised.!
I agree with coleface. The online agents are bound to benefit most from this. They have 2 per cent of the market so probably generate 2 percent of the applicants. The other 98 per cent are generated by us real agents. The online agents then buy those applicants and direct e mail target them to say what a waste of money we are and how they can do exactly the same for a fraction of the cost. And to think that the likes of rivero and many others still seem to think this is a fair and right practice. This is why on the market is the only option to protect our future.
"what a waste of money we are and how they can do exactly the same for a fraction of the cost" we agree on something at last @Wilko 🙂 expect an easyProperty mailer very soon then……..
we will of course promote in other places that we have rightmove AND zoopla available to our customers unlike some competitors offering only 1 of these and a portal nobody has ever heard of, Landlords WILL care about this as you will be charging them the same high fees for LESS exposure – goodluck selling that line…….onthemeerkat restricting portal choice and banning online is commercial nonsense,they might wake up eventually.
Hello chris at easyproperty.com see you only have 4 properties in Manchester only 5 properties in Birmingham and 9 in Manachester. Surely you need to concentrate on getting those 1000's of landlords properties you said you had uploaded!! After your promises and fancy launch easyproperty.com has less than 20 properties across 3 massive uk cities. Absolutely woeful, in my view you are full of hot air….a sayer rather than a doer. Sweepstake anyone as to how long chris can stay in his post having gained such a very very very tiny share of the market, after promising so much?
sorry….the 4 was in Newcastle……but then it is a small city …isn't it?
lets imagine we are a startup in our first week without any advertising we already have around 250 on rightmove, pretty good going in our view,how many would a new retail office have in that time….watch it grow, wilko watch it grow…….
how many new lets do you have per week ??????
Chris, with the amount you have spent so far, and the claims you made prior to your launch about how many had signed up. If you are pleased with only 18 properties across 3 of the uks' biggest cities, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle then your shareholders and bosses should be worried, even if you are not. I suggest that try not to "big yourselves up" with these numbers as, like I said, they are woeful. A retail office that launched at the same time as you in one of the small towns where we trade has 22 properties online…..4 more than you have in 3 major uk cities put together. Like I said, if you are (as you say) pleased with those numbers then it's your investors and shareholders that should be worried…….not the professional agents that you are trying to compete with. I won't waste time watching your company grow, but feel free to let us know when those 3 major uk cities have surged to double figures.
This is a horrible product. Its RM using the customers that its paying members generate as its own client bank and then selling the data opportunities back to the same paying members. It's an absolute p* take!!
I actually think it helps smaller and on line agents most as they can tap in to the client banks those with more market share have generated. An agent with just a few properties for sale in a location will not have too many applicants themselves off the back of them, but now they are allowed to approach all the applicants of the leading agents in that area – and its those agents who will have been paying RM the most fees over the longest time to get that market share. Classic case of biting the arm that feeds you.
It must also be a dream for the corporates who already don't pay a of fraction what us Independents do and no doubt get a massive discount on this product across their networks too.
Most depressing of all is the RM comment that this is a response to a demand from agents??! Seriously you want us to buy that??!! It's just yet another income stream to suck profit from your subscribing agents who are lucky if they can turn a 20% profit to turnover while you make 300%.
To be fair to RM if I was in there position I would be having the same goals to improve revenue no doubt, but I honestly think I would be more respectful of the customers I had and because that is so transparently not the case, the negative feeling they are building up against themselves is self-inflicted and impossible to be sympathetic towards.
If only I could find an office location to open a branch where there was only one other serious agent to compete with and if anyone else opens, I simply buy them up… Anyone know of such a place?
I've signed my 4 branch company with On The Market and am trying to be brave enough to drop RM in the New Year – if some of us don't this constant search for increasing profits will continue to be successful because there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop it if they retain such total dominance.
RM are just maximising income which is what we all try and do? Romans did one in our area – good luck to them for being on the ball. The advert was poor which made me feel better…….
SA, that is true and to be fair they in business to make money, as we all are. However, they are under even more pressure to continually return more and more profits to their shareholders, so these ways of increasing profits will not stop. At some point they will do something that might finally upset you, but we should not be waiting for that day, we should be doing something about it now. I have no issue with companies making money, what I do have an issue with is that without our support to this company, those customers would not be registered and those customers could not then be sold back to us. As Eric said above, the ironic thing is this will be a great advert for this RM and the service they provide. As most agents live in fear of what their competitors are doing, RM will now see a flood of requests for this and the vicious circle that you are all trapped in will continue. The same fear that is stopping some agents committing to OTM because they want to see what their competition is doing first before acting!!! The beat goes on………………….
Love this comment:
'The sending of the email has been strongly criticised by one agent, who asked not to be named'.
In my opinion, it really shows how Rightmove are perceived, it's like a criminal investigation, the agent has chose to remain anonymous so he is not bullied off the site.
Down with the rightmove!
In an ironic twist, this article is probably the best advert for Rightmove Partners possible. I have already had one of the network email me at 7.15am with a link asking "Why can't we do this?" 😉
Eric, you probably will be able to do this very soon, got to be the price increase season, you will probably get 1 leaflet email per month as a featured agent as all other revenue avenues have been exhausted. Now they are taking you from behind for your subs.
Yep….another "increase" by the back door….I've often said that rightmove would be better with an honest, transparent increase each year, based on their success. They have, for a few years now, turned a listing portal into a site where they will undermine YOUR agency if another pays them for it. Shocking way to treat paying customers and impossible to defend bearing in mind they are supposed to be serving their customers…..not selling their leads to others, many of whom will resort to bad mouthing them and saying what a waste of money they are. And to think…they defend this action. The quicker the alternative grows, the quicker we can escape from this nonsense and leave the onlinies to fight it out via rightmove.