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Using an online estate agent to sell your home can save you thousands of pounds. But can you trust them? We look at how they work, what they charge and the pros and cons of online estate agents vs high street agents to help you decide. So whether you're thinking of PurpleBricks, Yopa or Strike you'll know what to watch for.
Online and hybrid estate agents handle 5.2% of UK home sales (2024 Twentyci data). The average cost of selling a property is approximately £5 thousand pounds according to our cost of moving calculator with estate agent commission making up the majority of typical selling fees.
However, online estate agents generally charge a lower fixed up-front fee than traditional estate agents (£0-£1200) and provide what you need to get your home on the market — photos, floorplans and listings on Rightmove and Zoopla.
Most online agents will arrange viewings and give you feedback on viewings and offers via an online dashboard. Many support with sales negotiation and progression. There is usually an extra charge if you want the online agent to conduct viewings.
When they first emerged more than 10 years ago, the service offered by online estate agents was hands-off leaving you, the seller, to write up the marketing information, negotiate with buyers and conduct the viewings. But in recent years, online estate agents have added to their packages and offer a more “hybrid” estate agency service and, some now offer no sale no fee packages.
With the success of PurpleBricks and Yopa, home sellers benefit from the reduced costs of operating online, alongside access to “local property experts” who assist with the valuation, negotiation, sales progression and (for an additional cost) viewings.
Find and compare the best online estate agents with our easy to use comparison tool.
The main benefit of using online estate agents like Purplebricks over traditional agents is the savings you can make. For more advice on reducing the cost of selling your home, see our guide: the cheapest way to sell a house.
The cheapest online estate agents will market your home for no charge (Purplebricks) and the most expensive (Yopa) charges £999 including VAT (although charges may be higher in London). Note that free Purplebricks packages exclude professional photos and floorplans and Rightmove listing — you need to upgrade to a marketing boost package (£899) to add these services.
It’s not unusual to pay extra if you want the online estate agent to do things like conduct viewings. In comparison, high street estate agent brands charge an average of 1.42% incl VAT, according to a July, 2018 study by the Advisory. So, if you sell your home for £300,000, you’d have to pay a high street agent approximately £4,250 in commission.
Use our estate agent fee calculator to compare high street estate agent fees with online estate agent fees:
Estate Agent Fee Calculator
“Hybrid agents”, like Yopa, are online agents that also offer services traditionally only delivered by high street agents. This makes their packages more expensive than other online agents. Before going with a hybrid agent that offers you a local property expert that do valuations, offer negotiation and sales progression, you should ask:
Yopa charges £999 (London price is more). The fixed up-front fee service includes:
Purplebricks now offer a basic free service to sell your home. Their free package does not include photography, floorplan or Rightmove listing but they have property experts to assist with the valuation, sales progression and negotiation. They offer a comparable package to Yopa with their Marketing Boost package at £899 with digital photos, floorplan and premium Rightmove listing and a Full House package at £1499 which includes the full service including hosted viewings.
The main advantages of using an online estate agent over a high street agent are:
The main disadvantages of using an online estate agent versus a high street agent are:
It’s good to talk to your local high street estate agents as well to help make your decision. Find and compare local estate agents with our free tool: compare success rate, speed of sale and track-record achieving asking price
Regardless of whether they are high street or online, estate agents don’t have the best reputation as a profession. 71% of people said they don’t trust estate agents to tell the truth, according to the Ipsos MORI Veracity index.
First up you must check that your estate agent – online or high street – is a member of one of two grievance bodies who can pursue your claims should things go wrong: the Property Ombudsman and the Property Redress Scheme. This gives an element of reassurance. See what reviews say about them.
Our online estate agent comparison table shows our verdict, which is our opinion of the agent’s offering and gives their latest TrustPilot scores and reviews. Make sure you read the good and bad reviews to understand how peoples’ experience varies.
As of 2024, online and hybrid estate agents’ market share is 5.2% according to Twentyci. The most popular online agents are Purplebricks and Yopa.
As mentioned above online agents operate from nationwide call centres, and are less likely to have local knowledge. This means that valuing your house is often done using online data.
That’s fine as a guide, but you really need people with local knowledge to help you set the right asking price. This can also be the case with “hybrid agents” that use local property “experts”, because the scale of the geographical areas each local expert covers usually means they don’t know the specifics of your local market and the houses like yours on your road.
This shortcoming is easily overcome by asking three local high street agents to value your home before deciding whether to opt to go online. See our guide on selling your home for the right price. It’s also a good idea to do your own research. Use our instant online valuation tool to get an idea of the value of your home:
Find out how much your house is worth with our online tool.
Like high street estate agents, online agents use Zoopla, Rightmove, On The Market and other property portals to market your property. So while people won’t find your photo in a high street agents’ window as they go for a stroll on a Sunday afternoon, serious buyers will regularly check the portals. You will want to look at the different agents’ marketing packages. “For Sale” boards are also offered by online agents – but double check that they will erect the sign for you.
The quality of photos used by online estate agents is just as good as those from high street agents. Just a quick look on Zoopla or Rightmove will show you the quality of photos used by the online agents you are considering. And just with high street agents, you can opt for additional virtual tours and 360 degree photos.
The cost of photography should be included in the package you choose – but you must check this, because some online estate agents may charge you extra. We believe this is an essential element of selling your house, so choose an agent that includes professional photos in their package.
Most online agents will arrange the viewings for you and keep you updated by phone or using a dedicated online site just for you – but they won’t usually attend.
Will I need to conduct viewings? In most cases, you’ll need to conduct viewings if you go with an online estate agent. Most online agents will have an accompanied viewings package at an additional cost to show prospective buyers around. You need an average of 4.9 viewings before you sell your house, according to HomeOwners Alliance research. With this in mind, we’ve researched how much each estate agent will charge to conduct five viewings, and outlined the costs in the table below.
| Online estate agent | Fees for viewings |
|---|---|
| Purplebricks | £899 |
| Yopa | £300 unlimited hosted viewings |
| Esale | £375 unlimited viewings |
| 99home | £360 on select packs (8-10 viewings) |
Viewing fees checked and updated January, 2025
Online agents have different packages – and change them often – so compare who does what and how they are rated on our comparison table.
Some online agents will take offers, discuss them with you and negotiate the price for you. Others will leave it up to you. If you don’t want to haggle, you should choose an online agent who will do it for you. Before you decide, see our guide to accepting an offer on your house.
Arguably, online estate agents do not have the same commission-based incentive as a high street agent to get you (and them) the highest sale price possible. But online agents say if they don’t do all they can to help customers sell their homes and provide a great service, then they would be out of business.
The best way to find the right online estate agent for you is to Compare online estate agents first. When selecting an agent, you should check:
You can call the online estate agent, or visit their website, directly from our comparison tool – which means you could find the right company to sell your home within minutes. If you decide to use an online estate agent, see our guide on selling your house online for more advice on the selling process.
HomeOwners Alliance Ltd is registered in England, company number 07861605. Information provided on HomeOwners Alliance is not intended as a recommendation or financial advice.
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