Amazon appears to be preparing to offer consumers the option to hire real estate agents through its professional services marketplace, likely in exchange for referral fees. The service would mark the entry of yet another internet behemoth into the real estate marketing space, joining Facebook and Google as a potential source of business for agents.
ICNY 2020
- The service would mark the entry of yet another internet behemoth into the real estate marketing space.
Update: Amazon has removed the “Hire a Realtor” placeholder page referenced in this article since it published.
Amazon appears to be preparing to offer consumers the option to hire real estate agents through its professional services marketplace, likely in exchange for referral fees.
The service would mark the entry of yet another internet behemoth into the real estate marketing space, joining Facebook and Google as a potential source of business for agents.
Amazon has a placeholder webpage that offers users the option to “Hire a Realtor.” The page is indexed in Amazon’s Home and Business Services section, a vendor marketplace that the company has gradually rolled out over the last two years.
If the marketplace works for agents like it does for other professionals, then agents would pay referral fees to Amazon in exchange for new business. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
Home inspectors are among the many vendors that can get business through Amazon’s professional services marketplace
One source who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were approached by a person who was looking for help with integrating agents into Amazon’s professional services marketplace. Agents would have to pay Amazon an upfront fee to be eligible to receive leads through the marketplace, in addition to referral fees, the source said.
Real estate agents are a natural fit for the marketplace, where users can already hire home inspectors and interior designers.
The ‘Hire a Realtor’ placeholder page that has been deleted from Amazon since this article published.
When requesting services from those two providers, users can select a job type, such as a post-offer pool inspection or home staging, describe the project and attach photos.
It’s easy to see Amazon prompting homeowners or buyers to add property photos or specify their price range if they were hiring an agent through the marketplace.
As with so much else on Amazon, its Home and Business Services section also features reviews for participating service providers, raising the possibility that Amazon could become yet another purveyor of real estate agent reviews.
Reviews for home inspectors on Amazon
“This could be an interesting ad angle,” said Sam DeBord, a broker at Seattle-area brokerage Coldwell Banker Danforth.
DeBord filled out a vendor application form for Amazon’s Home and Business Services — though the application page doesn’t list Realtor as a primary job category.
“So many review platforms, so little time,” DeBord said.
He received a second response to his application about 24 hours after receiving an automated one. It suggests Amazon might be willing to entertain his application in the future.
“… your selected profession is a new profession and there are no services on Amazon to list your estimates against,” the response read. “We’re considering your services and we will notify you if these become available.”
While Amazon’s services marketplace is composed mostly of third-party providers, the company reportedly recently added an in-house team to install smart home devices on request, including the company’s own smart-home products.
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