OnTheMarket launched yesterday “not with a bang but a whimper”, claimed City analyst Jefferies.
But OnTheMarket claimed a very different story, while Zoopla itself said there had been problems with OTM’s launch. Meanwhile, its shares gained strongly.
Last night, an OTM spokesperson told Eye: “It’s been a brilliant opening day for Britain’s new major property portal.
“The response from our member agents has been overwhelmingly positive and we are seeing record expressions of interest from agents who are now considering coming on board.
“With our full launch marketing campaign set to begin at the weekend – combined with the extraordinary co-branding, promotional and social media support we are seeing from our members – we have an excellent platform to continue growing OnTheMarket.com. We are all looking forward to exciting times ahead.
“Now is the time for any independent agent not already with us to get on board and be part of creating a market-leading but low-cost alternative to Rightmove and Zoopla.”
But Jefferies, the analyst which advised Zoopla on its launch last summer but which earlier this month downgraded the portal from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’, denigrated the OTM launch.
It said it “is more of a damp squib than a nuclear warhead”.
It said that the self-policing of “one other portal” made the condition of membership look more like a guideline than a rule.
Anthony Codling, of Jefferies, said in a note to investors: “In our view, the aim of OTM is to challenge the fees charged by Rightmove and Zoopla to agents rather than to increase consumer choice.
“Zoopla offers the home buyer useful data such as how long a property has been listed and asking price history. OTM will not be showing this data.
“We believe that data (along with listings) is a key driver of traffic, which in turn is a key driver of revenues. Some agents may well be supportive of OTM, but unless it catches the imagination of the home buyer, we believe that its impact will be limited.”
Jefferies also said that London was key.
Yesterday afternoon it said: “London is the main battleground but Zoopla is neither down nor out thus far.
“Ahead of the launch of OTM, Zoopla appeared to be losing London and around 80% of OTM members were dropping Zoopla.
“We have searched the listings of all three portals across all 32 London boroughs for two and more bed residential properties for sale and rent: Zoopla currently displays 73,989 listings, OTM 9,243 and Rightmove 51,860.”
Jefferies reiterated its ‘hold’ advice on Zoopla shares, which yesterday gained almost 10% to 169p.
Jefferies set its price target at 180p but warned: “The threat of OTM is the main risk with respect to our estimates, which are likely to change depending on how successful (or not) OTM becomes over the next few months.”
Yesterday evening, Zoopla poured major doubt on OTM’s launch, saying that for example high-profile Beauchamp Estate were still showing all three logos.
However, last night a Beauchamp Estates spokesperson told Eye that it had been an oversight, with Zoopla listings due to be removed first thing this morning.
Comments (85)
Jeez I’m like one of the sweetest people I know but boy, some of you guys could suck the joy from Disneyland. Ok so the launch didn’t come with coffee and a Danish but given the back-story it’s huge they even made it and dude its way too early to start calling it doomed, that’s just dumb [and probable cause for chloroform and duct tape] so maybe we hug it out and share a smoke because OTM are just getting started.
Depends what you're smokin Tufluv? Are you sure that 'Danish' wasn't spacecake 🙂
For those that have experience …. too much credit is given to web portals. It is nothing more than a shop window of your stock, in amongst your competitors stock. It is nothing more than a one stop shop for a buyer or tenant ….. but try telling DirectLine they need it. A company that did their home work, kept control and making a mint. The other key for an agent it is a great listing tool, yet none of the web only portals have ever managed to make any headway into the high street business. Some agents are on only Z or RM so jumping on to OTM is not an issue. Its seems some are blinkered that not being on Z will be detrimental to the vendor…… rubbish, many were never on before! Vendors I speak to do not like the RM & Z add on's and I know that is a fact all over the country. Who instructs and pays you for the service you offer, not the service you don't offer? Good communication with your clients wins every time, no matter what web site you are on, which is your choice not the buyers, they go where they are sent.
Too much credit is given is given to web portals … So join our web portal .. Sheesh !!
Well, having just checked our properties on onthemarket.com for information for summary views & detail views of our properties, I'm chuffed by the figures, either nosey competitors or potential purchasers, either way impressive traffic to the site, considering it only started on Monday.
I was surprised by mine as well……quite a few calls in today from the site. That I was not expecting!!
How are you tracking the calls from a site that lists your own number?
Didn't see this comment until today, its in the back office system of OTM, like right move it shows you how many calls and it doesn't display our numbers it is an OTM linked local number.
Okay. It is day 2 of On The Market. I have chosen 1 English town at random and searched on the 3 sites and here are the results: Houses for sale: Zoopla 6 On The Market 39 Rightmove 116.
Bare in mind also that the property searches aren't exactly perfect yet. Searching for Sutton Coldfield for example brings up an area, according to the map view, which is about 1/3rd the size it should be so until everything is working as it should then it's hard to really compare. Obviously some areas will be different to others.
just exactly who has Jonathan Eley @JonathanEley at the ft promised ??? on write ups 18 hrs ago …..
Jonathan Eley @JonathanEley · 18h 18 hours ago
That #OnTheMarket story as promised: http://on.ft.com/1LbDzPO
vested interests of stake holders hmmmmmm makes you wonder ……
Zoopla's share price currently up again today by 9% but it's on the back of listing figures. However, Zoopla have still not taken down many companies listings and more importantly both Zoopla and Rightmove include properties that are either SSTC or UNER OFFER and currently OnTheMarket does not, meaning a massive disparity between the true listing figures on the three sites.
I think that's another reason why purchasers will like the new site. RM and Z have done nothing (in spite of many complaints) to remove ancient stock, albeit marked SSTC. Buyers want to see what is available and if you look at an average z or rm page it will have 20% available and 80% old sold (much of which is already completed and being used by agents to advertise for more stock)….It drives buyers mad.
I totally agree Wilko, point i'm making is that it looks like the figures are being massaged, subsequently investors are ploughing in, not sure they will be so happy at some point down the line though.
I feel that we are forgetting the fundamental reasoning being the business is that we are increasing zpg's and rm's shares every time we except a price 'alignment' which therefore effected my staffing levels and local advertising spend. I know what I want to be supporting a company that doesn't sell our data on, that doesn't 'bow' down to share holders and their fat pockets and where by we have a long term vision. I feel that those with a 'short term' vision need to get themselves to 'specsavers', or be prepared to a 'drop your pants' every year.
More like Mr Jefferies – That would make Zoopla 'Bungle'? All rather silly. OTM Has arrived and is going nowhere apart from strength to strength over the coming months/years. Our business has just saved 16k pa dumping Zoopla (Two branches). Now multiply that stat by 5000 branches with 80% choosing to dump Zoopla. By my estimation that 32 million pounds taken away from Zoopla over the next year and this clown thinks the share price will increase or maybe just stabilise? Pathetic drivel.
My maths may not work but so apologise if i am wrong. How have you save 16k per annum? is this spend now not on OTM?
And its only a saving if Zoopla delivered you 0 valuations which is hard to quantify but with a huge audience you can bet some wont go with you.Its the equivalent of saying "I stopped all my advertising and saved £50 grand , but my turnover has gone from £150 grand to 30 pence." I have been in this business a long time and spend money to make money.
This may seem a really odd thing to say considering we've ditched Zoopla in favour of OTM – but I really want Zoopla to come out fighting and bring down Rightmove. I feel very disloyal ditching Zoopla which was not the preferred choice of myself, but rather our vendors.
Sounds VERY odd but understand what you say. Always found Z easy to speak to, happy to help and are lower on cost where as RM is cold and even their reps are robots (probably because they know we will sign) and they are more expensive by far. Would be nice to see Z fight back and for RM to slip away. OR better still OTM deliver what they have promised and we can loose them both!
ammik…couldn't agree more with you. I'd go back to Zoopla in a shot if they offered a great proposition. Instead the seem content to call OTM members "silly" thus distancing themselves from those that have left and insulting those members that stayed with them.
might be worth asking Wilko what they will offer you, i managed to get circa £200 pm to inc lettings (even though i dont offer it!). They seemed like they wanted my business (as you would accpect) tried the same thing with RM and there attitude was, "You know what the price is, we do not negotiate, Oh and if you leave and rejoin we will but your fees up!"
Exactly why I'm struggling with the fact I kept on RM. Sheer arrogance. AM better pull the rabbit out of the bag on this one!
Andy yet you left them an strengthened Rightmove in the meantime. My prediction is that at some point it will become clear that OTM is struggling hard (despite huge spend) to get audience, and Rightmove eats into Zoopla's traffic. The people responsible for this will be the agents who signed up to OTM and ditched Zoopla. It could be seen as the greatest own goal ever scored by agents (who are a bit leaky in defence, it has to be said)…
I believe one of the key features I would urge OTM agents to do is listing the properties 48 hours before they appear anywhere else. I felt at the start and I still do, that this is a unique USP that will make it a must visit site for serious house hunters. The clients I have spoken to and that have been told we will be doing this love it because they realise that those early viewings are ahead of the pack and will pay top prices to secure the purchase.
Also as a benefit you get a nice highlighted property listing at OTM too so it stands out more!
48 hours for no-one to see their property. What an instruction winner!
Are you able to explain that in a bit more detail please? That is quite a not an Estae Agent understanding of how property sales works.
Its not estate agents that decide on the agent a seller/landlord chooses. I EXPECT any agent I use to have the property up within hours on RightMove and viewings booked with 1 or 2 days!.
Please explain why. The last property I sold (as an Executor with legal obligations to achieve best price) I insisted the property was not put on Rightmove and insisted the valuation was applicant based. Any agent who is reliant on the vagaries of internet marketing should not be instructed, ever! If an agent is unaware of the live applicants in their given market it is fundamentally impossible to do anything other than guess at value. Those who think otherwise aren't the sort of vendors an agent would want.
Assuming that question was for me Robert let me explain. To achieve maximum price for the seller you have to control the response however. Right now selling property, in many parts of the country isn't too difficult, but there is no gain in blitzing it for 24 hours and agreeing a sale in 48. In fact by doing so you are likely to be achieving a fraction of what you could have done. When we take on a property our first port of call are the local buyers who want to buy, but have properties to sell, they will always pay the best prices so we start that ball rolling to give them a chance to sell, we then want the serious motivated buyers, i.e. those that have sold perhaps and are keen to secure a purchase,(advance listing with OTM will help achieve this) they are the next likely to pay a good price to secure. Following that we will release the property in stages to encompass all areas of marketing. I guess why this is important is that the goal is completion not offer. It will take about 4 months to get a sale through and thats assuming you don't fall for the "throw the towel on the sun bed buyers" who know they can buy time by securing an offer and one of the reasons why so many private and internet only agents deals fall through of course. So its crucial you choose the right buyer. You see agents claiming success all the time by having "sold" a property in 24 hours, wonderful, they've probably cost their client £5K. The property portals are necessary because they shepherd a number of buyers into one place and to be fair if you give me 10 possible buyers and I will sell to one one of them but the deal will suit them slightly more than the seller, give me 40 possible buyers, which comes from a comprehensive marketing and I will have a load more to choose from and can negotiate my seller the best price. This in a nutshell is one of the reasons why I believe online only agents badly misrepresent a sellers interests. I hope that makes sense as I got interrupted a few times writing this out!
My question was a relpy to Ringi who doesn't seem to understand Agency in quite the way an agent should.
Oh ok that was a waste of 15 minutes then! Just kidding.
A simple question- How on earth does it possibly benefit your customer to with hold their property from the major portal/s for 2 days?
I may be old fashioned but surely my job is to promote my clients property to as wide an audience as possible without undue delay?
On the other hand if I sell a property within 48 hours of it coming on the market I look closely at the reason why:
1. Was it just perfect timing? Right place, right time, right buyer
2. Was it Luck? We all need a little bit of that
3. Was it undervalued? Hmmm……..
It's down to agent choice and we've already told OTM that at this stage, with their presence being what it is, we will NOT be doing this.
B6RKY…."A simple question- How on earth does it possibly benefit your customer to with hold their property from the major portal/s for 2 days?"……….I'll answer by asking you a question " Can you explain why it is NOT of benefit to a seller to be on OTM for 24/48 hours and RM/Z after?…..Or do you aim to sell your properties in 24/48 hours…. which is definitely NOT in a sellers interest.
It is not a benefit for the seller because they may miss out on a potential buyer during that period.
@Henderson….that is a bit like saying "if the owner had placed their property on the market 2 days earlier they may have got a potential buyer that is now suited"…..Don't get me wrong, if someone wants on RM immediately we will do that, but people who instruct an agent expect that agent to market the property to achieve the best price-best buyer-simple. Its totally subjective when people make comments about not advertising on here or there. I stopped newspaper advertising…….could be that some of my sellers are missing out on a potential buyer from a tech shy elderly buyer. Fact is, as an industry we never have, and never will advertise on EVERY media possible……and that is where the "not in a clients interest" argument will ALWAYS fall down.
I think your missing the point wilko and you haven't answered my question though I will do you the honour of answering your question directly with a simple fact.
RM & Z are the market leaders. My analogy is that if you were marketing any product on TV and you could afford ITV 1 (RM) why on earth would you advertise on the History Channel (OTM) first? Don't you want to real your largest target audience? Similarly if you were advertising on ITV and SKY (the 2 market leaders) and a suddenly brand new channel launched and said please advertise with me we are going to be the biggest (eventually)but by the way that you can't advertise with both SKY or ITV you would laugh at them. Seems like the buyers and sellers both know were to go for their goodies already and it will be difficult to change that.
I have a suggestion. You do not advertise it at all for 48hrs, not on any website or your window, he'll, don't even tell your neighbours dog about it. That'll be in the best interests of the seller, no????? Or on the other hand, perhaps plaster the town, every street, every bus stop, every bill board, every property website (with visitors) with the property to gain eye balls and leads? So, tell me, what would work best for the seller, wider coverage or, or none??? (Seriously, answer that honestly please!) Some of you need to start using or finding a business brain, or you will be left with no clients and no business. Take the emotion out, and use your head. More PR, not less.
I agree with B6RKY, I really still don't understand why you would hold off advertising a property for days when you pay for rightmove.
Surely the best way for those agents that use OTM to decide which is their dominant portal is set a level playing field. IF OTM is as good as RM then advertise on both see where your buyers come from otherwise you will get flawed data.
You'll be singing the praises of OTM for 20 leads (in 48 hours) and when RM supplies you with another 10 you will say that OTM is performing better. BUT if you advertised on both maybe the figures would be different 15-15 or even in RM favour. seems crazy that you would push people to find you rather than go where the buyers look.
I don't think B6RKY was saying it was as clear cut as that and of course you want buyers to work a bit. Buying a property is as much an emotional motivation as a practical one. There is way more emotion in FINDING something than it being obvious, our job is to provide the breadcrumbs to follow surely.
Good point, although I'm not 100% convinced that being harder to find is necessarily better, but I can see the point that if they found a property on a property portal that was (at the moment) little known rather than a big name that they would feel a sense of finding something more worthwhile.
I do like it on here when instead of slamming the competition we actually bring up a point I hadn't thought of. Thumbs up RealAgent
Sorry to disagree RealAgent but I think it is clear cut. Buyers are essentially lazy (gross generalisation of course) and want everything put on a plate for them. That is the whole point of a Portal for them. Ideally they want all the property in one place. They want all the agents together instead of trawling round potentially dozens of agents who cover a specific area. That is why more buyers use RM & Z rather than going on individual agent sites. I have found most have a preference for one or the other but rarely a sound reason for that preference. It tickles me when I am on a valuation against a corporate and find them spinning the line "we advertise you on over 30 websites!" Who is going to look on 30 websites? The premise of OTM is excellent but its launch and promotion to agents is potentially fatally flawed by the "one other portal" "rule." This should not have even been contemplated until OTM had a decent and confirmed market share and track record. If it manages to survive it will be at the expense of strengthening its main rival to an unassailable position of strength. Sadly has it ran before it could walk and landed flat on its face?
I agree with you in part B6RKY, there really wasn't a need for more than one portal. But seeing as we got a second with Z it made sense to me that if there really was going to be another it was one that we as agents had some influence over. I think its fair to say some buyers are lazy about finding, hence we exist but I still maintain a motivated buyer will hunt out a property. Ive done it myself when Ive wanted to move and if I thought there was a site, where properties came up a little ahead of some other portals I would definitely make that one a place to visit. I have posted elsewhere on this thread about the response we have had today, I am genuinely surprised. If I'm honest I wasn't expecting anything from OTM yet so the number of calls has been interesting. That said we have yet to work out how we identify them as such without going through statistics so if anyone can enlighten me?……I take your point about strengthening RM but to be fair they were streets ahead anyway and I doubt they are going anywhere, but do we need them to? We just have to get a rival that doesn't have a commercial gain motivation to offer them a run for their money. That then gives us leverage over their price increases and desire to be the first port of call for would be sellers.
RealAgent there will always be someone trying to earn money from us. With the investment RM have made to bring us to where we are today and, I am told, their continuing investment to keep them at number one, has seen us all benefit. I pay less per month to RM & Z than I used to with the local newspapers. Did we advertise in the papers to sell houses or to been 'seen' along with the competition? My fees are also higher now because the public can actually see my investment for them 24/7 rather than once a week. It does grate to get the RM annual increase but their rep is very good and extremely helpful. I have not had a price increase or visit from Z for years. Whilst I was not unhappy with the present situation like everyone else I am happy to reduce my costs. To that end I would like OTM to succeed but I am surprised that its leadership should be so out of touch that they would approve the "one other portal" rule at this stage. I cannot see the justification at this time and in my opinion it is suicidal.
Depends what you are looking to get out of it Clarkuk, If you are a member of OTM and you list 24/48 hours ahead of RM on the site, and the public hear about it, OTM will be the place to check for new instructions. if this happens Rm is instantly relegated to second place and OTM achieves its objective quicker. Here is the catch tho! Will all agents hold offer advertising on RM to make OTM a success? some yes all no, loads of reasons why from feeds need sorting to staff understanding the process and even human nature wanting to secure the sale asap or just general apathy that if the agent down the street is not bothering why should i? – The people that are not going to do this are just looking for a second portal to advertise on which kinda defeats objective of OTM in my opinion.
All TWO of the agents in our area – less than 6% – who went with OTM have dropped Zoopla. Its made no difference at all here other than to have Haart reducing their visibility by half, which is good for us. OTM need to start spending money on self advertising like its going out of fashion if they want the buying public to know about them.
That starts on Sunday night with the first television advert.
They have only reduced their visibility by half IF it can be shown Z provided the SAME amount of interest/visibility for them that what RM did (and I very much doubt that, as they would be a true fence sitter if it did) ………They may well have dropped Z, but I suspect it was because Z was not providing half of the visibility they needed so perhaps there visibility has fallen by the average visits per month they got from Z and nothing more……. that said what has/will OTM provide them with, even the Z MD is advertising it for us!!
I feel another reason agents have left Zoopla along with poor search and OTM is for the very reason Jefferies thinks it works! “Zoopla offers the home buyer useful data such as how long a property has been listed and asking price history. OTM will not be showing this data (Good for OTM ).who is paying Zooplas bill Mr Jefferies and got them to where they were.
Was just going to say the same thing. We must have lost count the number of our vendors who call and ask us to put their property reduction list onto our local paper advert and how long the property has been listed for.. Oh hang on, no, we have NEVER had anybody ask that. All that information does is potentially decrease property prices. Vendors and Landlords alike will love OTM simply because it "does what it says on the tin" and advertises their property, simple as that.
property bee provide me with that information…
RealAgent, there you go again with your pathetic childlike capitalisation of leading. And as for your other comment … Z's visitor volume will not be affected one iota for a good few months at least. I'm more than happy, ecstatically happy, to have my properties and agency bathing in the limelight during that period.
Haree, as I have said to you before the agents you represent DON'T need visitor volume, they are looking for good quality motivated BUYERS. Most of those will be local to the areas they live in and unless there has been a gas explosion in the area that wiped them all out, they will realise that if all of the LEADING agents in the area are not on Zoopla then they will look to see where they are, or worse for your agents contact them and ask them which will make them even more prominent in the market place you cover!
Absolute nonsense. You need to take a basic course in marketing and human behavior RealAgent.
43% of the stock on Z in my town is mine. Almost looks like my own website. Fantastic piece of marketing and promotion for my agency. Thank you so much AM.
Oh go on then Harree tell me you've taken a course in human behaviour then! That is so funny. You keep thanking AM, I guess if you say it enough you might even start believing it shortly! Don't worry my friend they will give you a bigger area to compensate for your loss of earnings!
I absoluteky agree with you True agent! Estate agents paid a lot of money to get both Rightmove and Zoopla where they are today. So what do they both do?…stab estate agents in the back by allowing the internet low cost, low service brigade on OUR paid for platform! Smart move if you really want to upset by far the majority of your clients! We need OTM as it is the only platform where the BACKERS would have been able to block that stupid decision.
Ultimately, this will lead to a civil war not just between the portals but between the Independent and Corporate Sectors. The Corpoate sector has chosen sides already. Just imagine if us Independents put aside our petty differences and unite as one under the OTM banner! OTM is not just a portal, it could be so much more, the potential of this NETWORK of Independent estate agents with a voice would actually enhance the property mover experience to the considerable advantage of participating INDEPENDENT estate agents. If we can get our act together we would have a brighter future rather than be mugged annually by RM and Z and their Corporate controllers. That is why I am a Gold member of OTM. Now is the time to step up to the plate, if you have not yet joined OTM I urge you to do so NOW. This business is changing rapidly and we need to UNITE to defend and enhance our offering. 26th January 2015…Independence Day! (Ok so I watched that film last night but you get the gist)!
Well said David. OTM is so much more than lower subscriptions – it offers a never-to-be- repeated opportunity for professional agents to unite with a portal that acts with integrity, not selling itself to the highest bidder with all the unnecessary add-ons.
Time for fence-sitters to wake up and smell the coffee!
OTM doesnt have the right data structure to network agents. It pulls data in via the rightmove schema which by desivn has helped to stop agents collaborating.
Good comment Trevor. One of the few who get it! I agree. It all depends on how you collaborate. The trick is how to find a way to multilist between independent estate agents without the fee sharing aspect and without requiring the technology required. TEAM had a fantastic solution but could only muster a maximum of 500 agents as no one likes fee sharing! The MLS works in America because they charge 6%. Not viable in the UK….unless! I think you and I ought to talk. Email me on inspirationalone@live.com if you truly get the implications of a solution to uniting the independent sector via an independent portal such as OTM.
I'm ecstatic 24 hours after OTM's launch … all but one of the AM agents in my area have removed their properties off Z and for local searches in my town I am now by far the predominant agent displaying property … great advertising not only for my stock but also my agency … and it will be enhanced further when the last OTM agent removes their property. If Z visitors think there isn't much choice and decide to search elsewhere they'll be off to RM first, and of course we are there as well. Thanks AM!
So you don't think that when buyers don't see any of your areas LEADING estate agents on Zoopla they might wonder where they have gone?! I think your celebrations are perhaps a little premature because actually instead of taking their presence for granted, buyers will now be actively seeking them, raising their profile over yours!
Please don't under estimate the intelligent of your potential purchasers, they are likely to 'Think Different' than your self.
Should have said Intelligence – I do have the excuse of being Dyslexic
"I am now by far the predominant agent displaying property" – Did you not suggest the leading agent near was not signed up in your area not long ago or something on the lines of (forgive me if I am wrong)……….. yet now you suggest you are pretty much the only one left………………look out Harree for the "Why would all the agents drop it, if they were wrong" and it not a case of "only Harree felt it right to support the website which works against vendors and not for them"………….you spin, I spin, we all spin…….but surely your last statement tells you come off Z as well, if not only to do what I did for years……. prove if they can't find you houses on one site, they will look on another! Your last comment just think about it as a business owner who has just confirmed you could save some cash!
We had a look at various offices OTM competitors and a remarkably large number of them are still listed on both RM & Z. Some still have both promoted on their websites. Its early days I suppose, but I just can't see OTM having the resources to police and more importantly enforce the 'rule'.
In my opinion the rule doesn't matter now Eric, the primary objective of Agents Mutual has been achieved; OTM exists as an alternative available to those agents who can and want to join. In effect Agency has provided itself with the Top Trump cards that can be used to negotiate with other portals and other service suppliers.
That said the one other portal rule does matter, it is the primary objection that is preventing many agents joining. If AM want to significantly grow the membership they have to find a way of addressing the objections of the remaining 55% of the industry who qualify for membership. The rule isn't going to take down either Rightmove or Zoopla and so it would be wise to reassess the objectives and if necessary sacrifice this particular sacred cow as it is stopping the herd from growing.
Robert – I absolutely agree regarding the ability to negotiate, but had it not been for the one other portal rule, I would have joined like a shot as would many others. I was also surprised that despite meeting with OTM, I never received a response to my queries nor any follow up. Frankly, they didn't seem to care whether we signed up or not.
Actually our properties were also still showing on Zoopla yesterday. We had a call from OTM by lunchtime confirming that we needed to remove them, which of course we already had taken steps to do. I suspect that many agents don't have in house IT, or Graphics departments so will be changing things over the coming days. It needs to be remembered you are talking about independently owned business across the country so to have expected military precision with regard to the launch was unrealistic.
Get on your dashboard and mark em all as "not live" if Zoopla allows you too…… although I have heard of an agent who "Z+ whatever it is called" is deactivated but his properties are on……!! So you can't have Z+ because you are not a member BUT your properties will remain until the dust settles! Proof perhaps the funny games have started……
Err you've had almost year to get ready!?
No we haven't. Up until the last working week of December, our Zoopla group contract hadn't been signed by all. I suppose some didn't want to commit till their competitors committed. My notice was e-mailed to RM on Christmas Eve, which in my book meant that my properties should have dropped off RM on 24th Jan 2015 ie in time for the OTM launch. RM see it differently and won't remove them till 1st Feb ie next Sunday. I have tried logging onto RM+ to remove them manually, but it just freezes.
Received an email back from Z to confirm that they have had some feed issues and that the properties will start to "gradually" disappear over the next few days!…..Hmm sabotage methinks!
Wonder if Jefferies will do a recount on 2nd Feb!?
Well I just hope Jefferies are reading this site. Zoopla are not houser, but sure didn't want a black hole appearing yesterday. Fair play to them for that though, it was quite a smart move. As you say SP a re-count in a few days will be interesting though.
I think we'll see a clearer picture by the end of the week! ! Bad sportsmanship zoopla !! Nothing worse than a sore looser.
Mr Jeffries doesn't know what he is talking about, but lecturing to an audience that doesn't understand what they are listening to, it doesn't matter. Cliche King's new clothes.
Do one can deny I might have a rather unique (if limited) set of skills which to allow me to comment with some authority on this. OTM is better than Rightmove and from both an applicant perpsective looking and an agent perspective marketing can prove it. Rightmove and Zoopla only have an adminisiration advantage over OTM; Easily identified but as easy to resolve as juggling with Jellies
When the dust settles I think Jefferies may find themselves in deep trouble after yesterday's goings on. I know of 13 local agents to me who never had tier listings removed from Zoopla despite requesting to do so. And all of it done in what appears to be an attempt to raise the Zoopla share price. That being said, not even a sleight of hand from Z&J could have ruined yesterday's launch.
Yep, same here. At least another 15 to 20% around us to come off……. Z calling people "silly" yet refusing to carry out instructions from its CONSUMERS……. really silly!