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Realestate.com.au has launched what it is describing as a free, unbiased platform to help agents extend their digital reach.
The high profile property portal has launched Agent Ratings and Reviews, allowing agents get noticed by more people on realestate.com.au at no cost.
REA Group said Agent Ratings and Reviews will go live to consumers on realestate.com.au in early 2019, giving agents time to look their best by gathering real, authentic reviews from past buyers and sellers ready for launch.
“Selling a property can be a challenging task, and 41 per cent of Australian sellers admit it’s difficult to find the right agent to sell their home,” it added.
“With more than 600,000 visitors coming to realestate.com.au to research agents every month, a great online presence is increasingly important.”
REA Group said agents have the ability to challenge a review if they believe it to be fake, as well as the right of reply on all reviews.
“In just over a week, more than 700 ratings and reviews have already been submitted. All reviews will pass through realestate.com.au quality checks to ensure they are from real clients who had purchased or sold a property over the past 12 months.
“Unlike many other websites which charge for reviews, Agent Ratings and Reviews on realestate.com.au is and will remain a free service.”
REA Group general manager – leads, Rachel Morley said this is an important initiative.
“Ratings and reviews have become an important part of research in today’s digital world, with 55 per cent of consumers reading online reviews before making a purchasing decision.
“In collaboration with the industry, we recognised that Agent Ratings and Reviews on realestate.com.au needed to be free and unbiased, and feature reviews from genuine past clients to ensure agents were being represented fairly.
She said the response so far has been “incredibly” positive.
“We know there is a big desire from agents to migrate reviews from other platforms onto realestate.com.au and we’re looking into how we can achieve this.
“We would encourage all agents to actively seek out reviews from any client over the past 12 months to ensure that come launch, they have reviews visible on realestate.com.au.”
- We all whinge about them but we ignore our own industry web site, if we all started to use and promote this we could make a huge dent in their revenue and wrench some control back. Having said that we are marketers and it is the most amateurishly advertised web site i have ever seen so the operators need to lift their game but it could make it better for us all as an industry if we had control of our own advertising medium.0
- Hopefully by checking if the property was ACTUALLY listed and sold they will put paid to some of the fake reviews that agents put online. Another disturbing trend we're noticing is the credit for a sale going to two agents who worked on the sale as a 'team' - BS - they're only doing it because it bumps the sale numbers up on both individual rep's profiles. This is something REA and the relevant consumer authorities should look into because it is presenting a false image to consumers.0
- Apparently you can only get a review if you list and sell the property. Not one or the other. Our office works as a team and by doing this we are disadvantaged.
I agree with other comments, will be free initially there is always a catch..0 - REA is a terrible organisation. I get vendor paid advertising to list a property...
At the end of all the house photos is an advertisement by ANZ....
It states “would you like to know the value of your home... contact ANZ for a free property appraisal”
It’s my property that I paid for and these people put an add by a bank to take away my leads that I work so hard to generate.
I have a family and children and trying to survive... how will I survive with this type of underhand business they do?
0 - In 12 months they will be charging, nothing is for free0
- I agree. They will soon take over (along with Domain) the entire transaction process. I also agree they are after more of our data. For a long time I have wondered about some of the online forms we use for example REI forms for appraisals. This is invaluable lead data as think about it, they get all the details of the vendor, property, valuation etc. Then we see these online Lead generator websites pop up (I know we have certainly been approached by one or two) who claim they have hot leads for people in our area who are actively looking to sell. Now where would they get that information from? My guess is this gold dust is coming from bodies who collect out data via these online forms.REA progressing nicely to the stage when they will be selling property. Disguising products as free with a view to getting data when the end game is really to attract agents then to CHARGE them for leads the AGENTS and VENDORS information delivers. Agents have had enough of all this. The likes of some agent magazines and some trainers should reassess their relationship with REA. Don't get me started on the chief inventor.0
- Yep think you have something here. Never thought that we are actually giving them our leads when we use those online digital forms. Where else would those websites get that information. I am getting tired of being fleeced by these bog media corps. This sickly sweet attempt at smoothing over agents saying they are introducing this new service for us give me a break. As always it's just another ploy to take more of our profit. We need some fresh blood to come in and stop this lot dominating this space. They will dosage agents one day by selling property. Bitcoin might be how they do it0
- For us this is too little too late. They charge too much FULL STOP. Offering review service for free is pathetic when the cost of listing/using them is so ridiculously expensive. We are still paying for the review service they will claw it back from us in other ways. David Wright I agree with you. They are just trying to capture all our data. Their pages are full of ads. They are archaic in their thinking and the world of real estate is moving on. There are other places to advertise now like Facebook and other channels. We don't actually need them as much as we think we do.0
- Perhaps it a way for REA to capture both the Vendors and the Purchasers details.
0 - Let's see how long it remains free history shows that it starts that way and ends up costing eventually. More than happy to be wrong if it remains free will be worthwhile.0
- REA progressing nicely to the stage when they will be selling property. Disguising products as free with a view to getting data when the end game is really to attract agents then to CHARGE them for leads the AGENTS and VENDORS information delivers. Agents have had enough of all this. The likes of some agent magazines and some trainers should reassess their relationship with REA. Don't get me started on the chief inventor.0
- All the agents will flock to it like moths to flame. REA will be a broker in next 5-10 years0
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