onthemarket.com - dead in the water?

[emptycoffers]

//www.onthemarket.com

From what I've read this is a new property website to rival Rightmove and Zoopla cooked up by some of the posh top-end estate agents.

Mega Down sides are that any agent who lists on Onthemarket is then only allowed to list on EITHER rightmove OR Zoopla NOT both!!!

Go Figure!!!

Also they have banned online estate agents like Housenetwork ... ha ha ha - GO Figure!!!

I hope they've got deep pockets and long arms because they have just pissed all their money up against the wall.

I can't see any hope for this desperate attempt to preserve the existing estate agency business model.

Only one house listed within a 3 mile radius of me.

I wouldn't list with any agent who used them if the agent can't then list my house with both Zoopla and Rightmove - Bonkers - waste of time.

[emptycoffers]

here's the background:

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-2850730/CITY-FOCUS-Bitter-war-estate-agents-leave-movers-getting-thousands-pounds-sell-home-industry-insiders-believe.html

hoa.org.uk/2014/12/agentsmutualissues/

[bryonyelf]

Zoopla isn't great. Website hits are all rightmove. Zoopla doesn't get many at all.

[bryonyelf]

Many hits that should be.

[JonathanRolande1]

don’t write it off three days after launch, it is in the agents interests for it to work. Zoopla and Righmove shares have dropped this week. The City aren’t often wrong!!

[ignominious]

Quite a few properties in London but the site has way less functionality than rightmove and zoopla, and there's no app. I'm enjoying watching the drama.

[bryonyelf]

Onthemarket are doing very well. We had a presentation with them a few days ago. They are picking up a huge amount of agents and doing so quite quickly.

I reckon they will overtake Zoopla (good) before the end of the year. Growth has exceeded expectations by all accounts.

Hopefully then they can target rightmove (greedy bastards) and then this will leave Z and RM with the junk agents and builders as they won't meet criteria.

I was sceptical at first but now can really see them making moves and achieving where others have fallen. It is about time. Rightmove and Zoopla are for shareholders. OTM is for agents who actually just want to sell houses. RM & Z put profits first.

[Anewmeanewname]

I like Zoopla, find it quite user-friendly. Bryony, out of interest, how do RightMove and Zoopla put profits first? Surely all estate agents and associated businesses are motivated primarily by profit?

[bryonyelf]

Of course yes, we are a business and like any business we try to make a profit but when the likes of RM make 74% profit to cover their shareholders and increase the cost of agents advertising every year massively something has to give and this is it (hopefully).

It has taken the few who had the balls to set this up and the rest of us to follow to tell rightmove and zoopla they need to change.

[bookishandblondish]

On the Market need to sort out their transport distances. Very bizarre distances given for some properties.

Personally, I prefer rightmove for layout. I find on the market irritating in a different way - the app doesn't use postcodes which is bizarre and not helpful. Zoopla - I use but prefer rightmove for ease.

Also looking at a property - agent says sale agreed but still showing for sale On the Market. Not on Zoopla/ Rightmove but tend to find them up to date.

Currently looking in London.

[RulerLenska]

OP what's all this "go figure" stuff about? Are you American?

[rallytog1]

But rightmove does what the people want. There is no public demand for this new site, nor is there a demand for agents who restrict where they advertise. It feels like the industry is cutting off its nose to spite its face with this venture.

[bryonyelf]

Not at all rally. You have no idea the costs to advertise on rightmove and zoopla. OTM is not for profit v rightmove 74% profit. OTM have 5000 agents already since launch. Things are changing and will continue to do so.

Do you ever wonder why (some) agents charge so much? Our costs are in excess of £30k a year just with right move and we are a small firm.

If the agents go with OTM and continue in the numbers they are, there will be a shift. It is already evident with zoopla.

[JoanHicksonMIfive]

Do you work for them? Why are RM greedy bastards? Is this new firm providing a service and not making any money?

[rallytog1]

So estate agents' fees will soon come down then, will they bryone?

[bryonyelf]

I'd hope so rally.

No I don't work for them - I am actually first to put my hands up and say yeah whatever when the idea first started but we are looking at it as a genuine contender. I work for a small firm in a fairly rural part of Scotland.

OTM is not for profit v right moves profits after tax of aprox £96 million last year!

[cafesociety]

I don't like their logo. A local estate agent has stickers all over its windows and looks like an archery range....or that it's now an RAF recruitment office.

[Rockdoctor]

I know people that have moved their properties from agents that have signed up with 'on the market' once they realised the property was no longer being advertised on rightmove and zoopla. May or may not have a real impact on viewings - but agents that aren't signed up are using this as a real selling point.

[ignominious]

Ridiculous of otm to exclude the online estate agents. It makes the whole thing look like a last attempt to save the bricks and mortar agents who charge around 20 times the price.

[Pipbin]

Being a simpleton here but if OTM are not for profit then why are they bothering? If you are not going to make money out of something like this then why bother doing it?

[bryonyelf]

It is run by agents for ages who object to the massive fees being charged by rightmove and zoopla.

Time will tell if it works but so far it is looking positive. It is 100% not for profit.

[bryonyelf]

not ages - agents.

[wobblebobblehat]

I guess this thread was started by someone from OTM...

[rallytog1]

"run by agents for agents"

Fine, but any business venture should be run for the customers. As a pp has said, people want their house to be marketed on RM and Z. I'm coming up to selling a house soon and I would actively avoid any agent who wouldn't advertise my house on both these sites. I don't give a fig if my house is on OTM because no one looking for a house to buy will look there first - they'll look on RM, and maybe Z.

Agents might want a cheaper property portal. But their customers just want the best and most visited one.

[bryonyelf]

Let's have this conversation again towards the end if the year when zoopla as gone.

[ignominious]

Wobble, definitely !