No, you can’t advertise directly on Rightmove. Although, in a way, you sort of can. There’s a kind of loophole.
Let me explain.
Who can advertise on Rightmove?
In order to advertise on Rightmove, you need to be an estate agent. Agents pay a fee to Rightmove, in order to show their listings. This is Rightmove’s business model, and the reason the site is free to use for us civilians.
It’s not in Rightmove’s interest, or in the estate agents’ interest, to let any Tom, Dick, or Harry stick their house on the website.
There are 18,785 agents registered on Rightmove. You can search them all here.
How much does it cost to advertise on Rightmove?
On average, £1,431 per month. This is an average taken from Rightmove’s 2023 annual report. Their pricing isn’t very transparent, and I assume this varies dramatically based on the size of the agent.
£1,431 is certainly not cheap. Again, this explains why private sales aren’t allowed on the site – the model simply wouldn’t work.
Luckily, there is an alternative.
How to (nearly) advertise directly on Rightmove
Now this is the loophole. If you want to advertise directly on Rightmove, you need to use an estate agent. However, you can use an online agent such as Strike or Yopa.
It works like this:
- Instruct an online estate agent to list your property
- Choose the cheapest package, where you do all the photos and viewings
- Get your listing on Rightmove via the online agent
This works because you’re effectively using the online agent’s membership of Rightmove to market your own property. You get full control, and it’s far cheaper.
How much cheaper? Well, I’m not going to claim it’s entirely free. There are free options with these online agents, although that doesn’t necessarily mean you get on Rightmove.
We sold on Rightmove via Strike in 2023. We paid Strike nothing for the basic service, and £199 for the Rightmove listing. Presumably this is needed to cover their membership cost. But to all intents and purposes we sold direct – did the photos, viewings, messages, everything. And it certainly did help save on fees.
