eMoov has launched a new ‘no sale, no fee’ payment option called ‘Pay Only When Sold’.
It costs £1,495 as opposed to its upfront fixed fee of £795.
It has done so at a time when the battle between online agents is hotting up, and after market leader Purplebricks was told by the Advertising Standards Authority that it must flag up that its fee is payable whether or not a property sells.
The new eMoov option is the reintroduction of a model offered two years ago as a trial, but CEO and founder Russell Quirk says that this one will be permanent.
He said: “eMoov were the first online/hybrid agent to offer a ‘no sale, no fee’ choice back in 2015.
“That was a pilot which has provided the data, alongside further intelligence from third parties that we’ve gathered, that’s convinced us to launch ‘Pay Only When Sold’.
“We will further refine and analyse this approach over the next few weeks to ensure that it meets customer needs in our fast-moving demanding sector.
“This option will sit alongside our standard fixed fee proposition and is designed to provide customer freedom, transparency and value when deciding which estate agent to instruct.”
He added: “We are truly putting our money where our mouth is.
“eMoov is the only UK estate agent that is genuinely the best of the traditional sector and the best of the so-called online space combined.
“Fixed fee value, pricing integrity, an end to end offering and transparency are blended with a technology that has been built around the customer journey but that does not replace the property professional within the process.
“It’s key to our proposition above others that the important aspects of the job are done in full around buyer vetting, offer negotiation and sales progression.
“Many of our competitors simply do not carry out these vital functions, but they are, in our view, the most important aspects of an agent’s role and cannot be neglected if one is to be seen as effective and viable.”
Included in both the fixed fee and ‘pay only when sold’ packages are photos, floorplans, portal listings, negotiation and sales progression.
In both cases, however, it is the vendor who will be doing the viewings – currently at least.
Quirk said: “We’ve tested some approaches to this and we’re considering these further.”
eMoov competitor HouseSimple also offers a choice between fixed fees upfront and a no sale, no fee option at £495 and £995 respectively – both cheaper than eMoov. Hatched also offers a no sale, no fee option.
Comments (34)
I’ve been offering No Sale No Fee for over 20 years to my clients. Maybe my office in the town centre will also catch on one day…
Interesting to note that the ‘Pay Only When Sold’ option comes with 8 weeks sole agency & just 26 weeks of marketing.
Emoov Purple Bricks Yopa
How many different charging structures have they all had since launch?
From what I see they are constantly increasing fees.
Especially once you add on all the “Extras” or do not use their “preferred” conveyancer.
well, it gets a little tricky once the seed / angel / crowdfunding drys up and you actually need to turn a profit to exist…
They probably have a more rigid fee structure than you do. My guess is if I looked at all your contracts I’d see more than a few different fees being charged. You’ll be getting what you can from who you can dependant on how hard they negotiate. Hardly fair, open or transparent is it?
Agreed. If PB decide to do the same that’ll be a game changer.
But why would you risk losing two thirds to three quarters of your turnover and increase your workload three fold….when you don’t need to…..apparently?
Actually, you wont.
Most vendors still want the agent doing the job agents are really good at, getting top dollar, quick sale & great service.
Then there are those who want to control their sale and don’t want to have to deal with the agent but control the sale themselves (or at least think they are).
Your cheap option would not offer all you normally do and you would expect the owner to do the viewings and sales progression (and why not the sales negotiation too?)
When you put it the vendor simply, do you want to pay my usual fees and that gets me doing everything to sell your home or do you want to control your own sale and save money, you will be surprised how many vendors want you doing what you do best. I’ve offerered a cheap alternative on my last 10 MA’s and 6 came on at my usual fee the others haven’t come on market yet and none so far, wanted the cheap alternative.
Then again I’ve only just started this service so it’s early days, I’ll report back in the new year, but on the face of it, I think it’s a case of offering a choice to the owner, let them be the judge and decide how they want to proceed.
In any event if you don’t offer the choice they might go to PB or worse!!
time for high street agents to offer a low cost upfront payment option, it’s a shake down but will put the online players under a lot of pressure.
The only reason they exist at all is because we don’t offer it already.
Most vendors still don’t want this slimmed down version, but if you offer it, then those that do will reconsider their options.
Sorry I keep banging on about it, but the sooner we ALL start offering this service the sooner we can wipe the stain of poor service agents calling themselves “on line”
No sale no fee eh? Personally I can’t see why Emoove simply don’t call it a no fee option as surely, that’s all it will be!
Sarcasm, the funniest sort of wit!
So, onliners are going from undercutting on price to charging an average high street fee. People will pay for service, that includes face-to-face not just a good sales progression team on the telephone.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out, it does not seem like a game-changer to me.
can you really call there sales progression team good???
>So, onliners are going from undercutting on price to charging an average high street fee.
I thought the average commission was about 1.3%.
That would mean you save on anything over about £120K which is well below the average property price. All other things being equal of course.
The big question…..will PB follow suit. That’ll really shake things up.
Will be interesting to hear their response to this new ‘disruption’ in their sector. Ignoring onliners who offer NSNF is no longer an option for PB.
Disruptors are disrupting other disruptors – you couldn’t make it up !
Too risky to your business model to cut your turnover possibly by two thirds to three quarters.
“The big question…..will PB follow suit.”
No doubt you’ll be asking your partner precisely that question tonight over a candlelit dinner… assuming of course your partner isn’t working their LPEs usual 18+ hour day…
You owe me a keyboard!
What??
ANOTHER ONE??
How’s it hanging, wardy?
Good to see you back on the pages.
;o)
Quick bit of editing there!
What’s next Russell? Offices on the high street for clients to visit and maximise yours brands exposure?!
Ah, I see! The fee goes up when there’s a risk involved!
All that banging on about estate agency fees being too high and you do this, Mr Quirk… unreal.
Yes, that is precisely correct. Risk and reward is a fundamental principle of business and one day these cut price outfits will all be doing what emoov and the rest are having to do now. At that point they will all be the same and will have completely erased the USP that once drove foolish investors to throw money at them. I can’t wait.
Express Estate Agency have only ever done “no sale no fee” to my knowledge and they’ve been around since 2008 or 2009
Also Springbok Properties.
Been offering this for a year now
http://www.247propertyagent.com
Another online agent who is claiming misleading and incorrect savings.
https://www.hatched.co.uk/
Didnt look very hard then, Hatched has offered a No Sale No Fee product for over 18 months.
No No Noooooo Mr Quirk!
Stop slithering, squirming, waffling.
Lets see your £795 as No Sale No Fee! That’s the real test, otherwise you are grossly overcharging
£795 No Sale No Fee Mr Quirk….. get on with it!
Interesting figure chosen by eMoov for their “no sale no fee” offereing….
Especially if you take “risk of earning a fee” as a proxy for “sales completion rate”.
After all, one would want (as a minimum) to maintain current income levels should every future customer choose the “no sale no fee” option….
eMoov – £795 (no risk) vs. £1495 (risk) = 53% sales completion rate (proxy)
Housesimple – £495 (no risk) vs. £995 (risk) = 49.7% sales completion rate (proxy)
Hatched – £695 (no risk) vs. £1695 (risk) = 41% sales completion rate (proxy)
247propertyagent – £695 (no risk) vs. £2100 (risk) = 33% sales completion rate (proxy)
Garret2
In relation to your no risk vs. risk figures it makes it even more “interesting” to consider eMoov’s fees with the recent #permasale figures deducted.
For instance, they have just dropped (purely coincidentally, of course…) their most recent offering which was £200 off their advertised fee. That would therefore equate as follows using your supplied formula:
£595 (no risk) vs. 1495 (risk) = 39.8% sales completion rate.
They have also offered “discounts” of
£100 (with and without additional ‘freebies’ to the value of £120)
£150 (with and without the £120 ‘freebie’)
£180 (with the £120 ‘freebie’), and
£225 – which was hailed as a “One time offer” when it was launched… the first time anyway. They re-offered it a couple of weeks later without such a bold, precise and compelling (and just a teensy-weensy bit untruthful…) strapline.
So based on these ‘deals’, the sales completion rates are up and down like Slack Alice’s bloomers.
Funny old world, innit?
Mmmm I wonder what emoov’s listing to completion ratio is?
Also, what is their fall -through ratio?
‘Pay only when sold’
Call me a cynic based on the many recent ASA rulings against call centre agents but is this fee payable on sale agreed or completion?
Will traditional estate agents soon have to promote no completion, no fee?