Jan 4, 2008

Eperks commercial

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TMRb_0eskzA My teenage son just called me into the next room to see this 'hilarious' ad on TV. Its for eperks.com and claims that they get 'top agents' to give sellers and buyers thousands of dollars in rebates. What's wrong with this advertisement - besides just being in bad taste?

  1. The agents who register with this site are not 'top agents'. Good agents don't work for minimum wage. A search of agents in the 75230 zip code brings up a hand full of agents north of LBJ, a Spanish language agent and an M street specialist.
  2. The 'up to $20,000 cash back' they promote is 15% to 20% of the agent's commission. So on a $500,000 house, a 6% commission is $30,000. That amount is split between the buyer's agent and seller's agent to be $15,000 each. Then the agent shares this commission with their broker. The split is anywhere between 50% and 90%. So each agent is really getting $7,500 to $13,500. Then you get 15% to 20% of that. So of the $30,000 commission, a client would get $1,125 to $2,700 back.
  3. This site has bad reviews all over the internet.
  4. Your home is too valuable to hand over to someone who's track record is unknown.

9 comments:

Jeff Duffey said...

That's a terrible commercial. And you're right on the money. I just don't understand how people with million dollar homes hand their largest investment over to incompetent agents. Ugh!

Anonymous said...

A very promising idea, i have to say that eperks is doing. It's going to attrack a lot buyers and seller to their site.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Lydia,

Your post is a bunch of nonesense. I am a very competent agent and have been in the business for close to 20 years. I know what it takes to be successful and I think the idea behind the site is great. You fail to make a simple calculation. Yes, I give away a percentage of my commission however I will close 10 transactions for every 1 you close.

Lydia Blair said...

Wow Anonymous Agent! You must close more than 150 transactions and over $90,000,000 a year. That would make you one of the top agents in the country. How do you have time to even read a blog?

Lydia Blair said...

Unfortunately, I had to remove an agent's negative comments about this company because their lawyers have gone after the agent.
You'd think that if they can dish it out, they should be able to take it as well.
This commercial is a pretty ugly attack on agents. Yet when agents print something negative about eperks, they sic the lawyers on them.

Anonymous said...

I have had an absolute horrible experience with Eperks. It was a total waste of money in my opinion. I never received a legitimate lead (about 1 a month and they were other agents asking if the program really worked) I tried to cancel via phone (if they ever answer) and email and they are still charging my card 2 months later...have reported to BBB.

I am an experienced agent with a JD, but do understand the "any agent" theory...I don't know what the company is doing now (a supposed rigorous screening process), but when I signed up as long as I was licensed, I was in!
My advice, use the money to advertise your business elsewhere...

Pat and Wayne said...

Lydia, check out this blog: http://www.go-beyond-mls.com/eperks-scam/

Interesting how far ePerks will go to silence free speech. They definitely sound and act like they're afraid of something...the truth, maybe?

Wayne Harriman
http://www.theharrimanteam.com
http://wallingfordwired.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

I am a broker and own a company in Austin TX. I have an 800 credit score and always pay my bills (ligitimate ones)
We had been solicited by Eperks about a year ago. They never provided any of the leads they promised. We filed with our
credit card company for a charge back close to year ago. I just got a call today 12/22/2008 saying they became aware of the charge back
in September. When trying to explain my reason for charge back (DID NOT PROVIDE SERVICES PROMISED-NONE) I was rudely interrupted
and threatened with collections. Finally I just hung up. Beware of this company- they need to be shut down.