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Julie Smith · 06-10-2012, 09:56 PM

Hi All,

Have anybody bought or sold a UK property via ebay?
I've searched the forum, but it looks like nobody uses ebay for buying/selling UK properties.
Any reasons for that?

Thank you.

Paul Barrett · 06-10-2012, 11:42 PM

Because you have to pay commission.,EA are no longer needed in the high st sense.
You can sell a property for about £250 using online EA, no commission or anything..
Essentially it just gets your ad on the major property sites which is ALL you need these days to sell a property.
Not many people traipse up and down EA in the high st anymore.
Online is where its at.
However a For Sale board is still a highly effective simple marketing tool
Make your own up or the online EA may supply one as part of ther package.
The days of commission driven sales are over, traditional EA are not needed if you can be bothered to do the donkey work yourself.
When you think of the thousands you would save, I think most people will gladly dispense with a traditional EA
Hopefully they will be going out of business as they have been fleecing house sellers for far too long.
The online EA service will fulfill most house sellers' requirements and save them a fortune to boot!!!
Having said that I sold my last house on the basis on a For Sale board

Julie Smith · 07-10-2012, 10:26 PM

Paul,

As far as I understand, you explained, why online estate agents are better than high street estate agents.

However, my question was, is anybody using eBay to sell or buy UK property.

The eBay way to sell your home - they say, it costs £37 to advertise a £325,000 house.

I wonder how it's effective, and do people buy bargains there.

daniel · 07-10-2012, 10:57 PM

Hi Julie,
I've looked into ebay for buying and selling around 4 years ago and without knowing if much has changed decided against it after seeing unrealistic prices and unqualified buyers crowding the arena.
Nothing against eBay per say but I'd not personally want to be buying or selling such a valuable asset through this marketing channel.
I'd stick to an estate agent or buying agent - whilst you have a few who complain about a couple % in fees they rarely come up with solid examples of selling or buying property using alternative methods successfully and more important consistently.
In term of buying and selling residential property I think the traditional estate agency route is the most time & cost effective method.
A decent lunch for 2 will cost you over £37. Getting what you pay for springs to mind.

Paul Barrett · 08-10-2012, 06:51 AM

The same argument about sourcing tenants via anything other than traditional LA has long ago been destroyed
I haven't used a traditional LA for over 5 years.
As long as a private LL can have the property on the major web sites that is all you need.
The same applies with EA; there are plenty who facilitate presence on the major web portal for effectively next to nothing, which is all you need these days.
Very few people don't look online FIRST.
So why would you need a traditional EA.
Most people are perfectly capbable of doing their own negotiating and an EA is not needed.
So I think I would quibble over a couple of %
I would rather have a few thousand pounds in my pocket and not an EA's.
EA like LA are not needed by the vast majority of people.
If EA fees were based on the same type of fees as LA then there would be a considerable reduction in fees paid by sellers.
Why EA think they should be renumerated on the basis of the sale price they achieve I shall never know.
They should do their best to obtain the best price for a small fee; just like LA obtain a tenant for a fee.
This wiil mean they will efectively have the same business model as LA.
EA will have to get used to the idea of not receiving vast commission based on the sale price.
The internet means people don't need to pay such exorbitant costs.and as providers now have opened up access for joe public, why would we pay more when we don't have to.
It a person wishes to pay vast amounts of commission for an EA to sell their property, that is their choice!

Julie Smith · 09-10-2012, 07:46 AM

(08-10-2012 06:51 AM)paul_barrett Wrote: So why would you need a traditional EA.

Paul, if you look at my question closely, you'll see it's not about traditional EA at all)
It was about eBay vs. other marketing channels.

I understood, that selling property on eBay may be tricky, because of "unrealistic prices and unqualified buyers". But what about buying there? Seems like nobody tried it. And if nobody tried it, it's for a reason.

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