Rightmove to trial profit opportunity for agents

Rightmove is to launch a beta version of its website next week, on June 8, to trial sellers’ response to a suggested retail price of £95 for upgrading their property to a ‘premium listing’ advertisement for a month (31 days).

Agents pay between £12.50 and £35 for a premium listing, so could make a profit on the difference between the ‘wholesale’ price and the retail price.

The trial will be in the Hull and East Riding area. Rightmove says it follows requests from some leading local agents for Rightmove to set a suggested retail price to help them sell premium listings on to potential sellers in their location.

Premium listing is the new name for premium display, a high impact advertisement on Rightmove designed to help get sellers and agents more leads.

Rightmove says that a premium listing will, on average, generate 21% more enquiries and attract 34% more property detail views than a standard listing.

The advanced style of listing includes larger pictures and fonts, and a silver background.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said: “We know premium listing can work wonders for agents and sellers in increasing click-through rates to full details and generating more leads. By setting a price on site, we hope we have a solution suited to this tough market where agents can benefit from more business opportunities at no cost to them, or even create some extra revenue.”
 
The suggested retail price of £95 for a premium listing is marketed on the site, as upgrades are only available to sellers who are marketing through Rightmove member agents. There will be no relenting on the ban on private sellers, says Rightmove. The pricing policy will also limit the number of premium listings, preserving their exclusivity and performance.

Sellers who are looking at their property advert on Rightmove will be given the option to upgrade it via credit card payment to Rightmove or contact the agent to negotiate payment direct.

Premium Listing is still available to agent members, priced between £12.50 and £35 for the life of the listing. This means that agents can sell the premium listings themselves either as part of a package or individually and still make a substantial profit.

Rightmove adds a note of caution, however, and will clearly state on site to sellers, that a premium listing is not a ‘silver bullet’ for a sale, and sellers should be considering their property price and presentation too.

Rightmove adds that it is hoped this will give agents more opportunities to persuade stubborn sellers to reduce asking prices, which will also lead to more sales of existing stock.