UK online estate agent eMoov reintroduces no sale, no fee plan
UK online estate agent eMoov has reintroduced a no sale, no fee offer to customers. "Pay Only When Sold" is priced at £1,495 ($1,945), instead of the ordinary upfront fixed fee of £795, and was first trialled in 2015. Rival agents HouseSimple and Hatched have also begun offering a similar option, but eMoov says its service offers better value with buyer vetting, offer negotiation and sales progression included. Market leader PurpleBricks was recently told by regulators to better inform customers its fees applied whether their property sold or not.

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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.