Purplebricks USA Guide

Purplebricks is a discount real estate brokerage available to home sellers and buyers in the United Kingdom, where sellers pay an upfront fee instead of a traditional percentage commission.

In the U.S., the model never really caught on. Purplebricks launched here in 2017, but exited the market in 2019 after struggling to gain traction with American buyers, sellers, and agents.[1]

If you’re looking for discounted real estate services in the U.S., Purplebricks is off the table. The good news is you still have other ways to save, including low-commission brokerages and flat fee services that offer different levels of support.

This review explains what Purplebricks offered, why it didn’t work in the U.S., what the company looks like today, and which alternatives make the most sense if your goal is to pay less to sell your home.

What is Purplebricks?

Purplebricks is a discount real estate broker based in the U.K. It’s known for charging sellers a flat fee, instead of taking a percentage commission.

The company also owns a stake in the German brokerage Homeday, and it used to operate in the U.S., Canada, and Australia before pulling back in 2019.[2]

The main thing to know is how the pricing works. In many cases, sellers pay Purplebricks upfront, and refunds can be limited depending on the plan.[3] That’s fairly normal in the U.K., but it’s not what most U.S. sellers expect, since agents here usually get paid only when the home sells.

» MORE: Top alternatives to Purplebricks in the U.S.

Purplebricks expanded internationally, then refocused on U.K.

After establishing itself as a leading online estate agency in the U.K., Purplebricks pursued international expansion across several markets.

By 2018, the company had launched operations in the U.S., Australia, and Canada, and had acquired significant stakes in related businesses in Germany and Canada.

Over time, Purplebricks scaled back these international efforts. The company exited the U.S. and Australian markets in 2019 and sold its Canadian business in 2020. The buyer continued operating under the Purplebricks brand until December 2021.[4][5]

During this period, Purplebricks also reduced spending and narrowed its geographic focus. Today, the company operates primarily in the U.K. and maintains a presence in Germany through Homeday.

Best U.S. alternatives to Purplebricks

Purplebricks is no longer available in the United States, but home sellers still have plenty of options to save on real estate commission. Common alternatives fall into two broad categories: agent-matching services and brokerages with built-in commission discounts.

Unlike Purplebricks’ U.K. model, these U.S.-based options generally follow a pay-at-closing structure, meaning sellers typically owe listing fees only if the home sells.

Services like Clever, Ideal Agent, and UpNest don’t actually list your home themselves. Instead, they connect you with a local, full-service real estate agent who’s willing to work for a lower commission.

The reason this works is pretty simple. These platforms send agents a steady stream of potential clients, so agents don’t have to spend as much time or money on marketing. In return, many agents agree to charge lower or flat listing fees.

From the seller’s point of view, the experience still feels familiar. You work one-on-one with a local agent who handles pricing, marketing, showings, negotiations, and the closing process.

Why Purplebricks USA failed

Purplebricks’ U.S. expansion relied heavily on paid advertising to drive awareness and customer acquisition. Over time, the cost of those ads became much higher than the revenue the company earned from each listing.

According to real estate tech analyst Mike DelPrete, Purplebricks USA burned through a $20 million marketing budget between June and December 2018.[6]

During that same period, Redfin — the largest discount real estate broker in the U.S. — spent roughly $16 million on marketing.

That spending resulted in roughly 1,200–1,400 new listings. In practical terms, Purplebricks was spending about $15,000 in advertising to sign up each seller, while earning only around $3,200 per listing.

Redfin’s smaller advertising budget yielded a whopping 22,000 closed transactions, or an average of $730 spent per new customer acquired.[6]

Source: Mike DelPrete

These numbers help explain why Purplebricks struggled to make its U.S. business model work at scale.

How does Purplebricks make money?

To remain viable, discount brokers like Purplebricks must find ways to offset the savings they offer consumers.

Purplebricks aims to do this in three primary ways:

• Reducing the cost of acquiring new customers
• Working with a higher volume of customers per agent
• Collecting a fee from every customer, regardless of their outcome

Importantly, Purplebricks' pricing model is only profitable at scale. Even with the nonrefundable fee, it still has to attract a wide range of customers to offset its discounts.

In the U.K., this approach played out like clockwork. It's how Purplebricks became (and remains) a profitable powerhouse brokerage on its home turf.

Purplebricks confidently entered the U.S., ready to spend (and lose) a ton of money, knowing that if it caught on here, it could become profitable over time, too.

Unfortunately, that’s not how things played out. There are many reasons Purplebricks USA failed, but three stand out in particular:

• Americans didn’t want to pay upfront fees
• Its price point wasn’t competitive enough
• The company launched in the wrong U.S. markets

Purplebricks’ nonrefundable fees didn’t resonate with Americans

When Purplebricks first entered the U.S., it employed the same basic pricing model that helped it become the leading real estate agency in the U.K.[7]

U.S. sellers would pay a flat, upfront $3,200 fee (later raised to $3,600) that was non-refundable — meaning they were on the hook whether Purplebricks USA successfully sold their home or not.

While these sorts of nonrefundable, upfront arrangements are common in the U.K., sellers in the U.S. typically pay success-based fees. In other words, agents and brokers collect their commissions only if and when a home actually sells.

That made Purplebricks USA a riskier option than its U.S. competitors in consumers' eyes.

Purplebricks USA’s price point wasn’t competitive enough

Purplebricks entered the U.S. market with a flat-fee pricing model, but its listing fee was not meaningfully lower than several existing alternatives.

At the time, U.S. sellers could already choose from a range of discount brokerages and agent-matching services that:

• Charged similar or lower effective fees
• Had stronger brand recognition
• Typically only charged sellers after the home sold

Because Purplebricks also required upfront payment, its pricing did not stand out as a clear value proposition compared to more established options.

With multiple alternatives available that did not require upfront fees, Purplebricks faced challenges convincing sellers to switch.

» MORE: Which company charges the lowest real estate commission?

Purplebricks' market selection created challenged

Purplebricks initially launched in high-cost metro areas such as Los Angeles, San Diego, and New York City.

On paper, this strategy made sense. A flat fee delivers the largest percentage savings in expensive housing markets. In practice, however, these markets introduced several obstacles.

1. More competition among brokers and agents in high-end markets

Because home values were so high in these areas, the discount-broker landscape was already competitive.

Purplebricks USA didn't just have to show customers it was a better deal than an old-school realtor. It also had to persuade them that it was superior to other discount services with more brand recognition — and better pricing models.

2. Higher advertising costs in major metro areas

Marketing in major metro areas is significantly more expensive. Since Purplebricks relied heavily on advertising to build awareness, the higher costs reduced the efficiency of its customer-acquisition strategy.

3. Purplebricks’ target consumers don’t live in high-end markets

Purplebricks targets cost-conscious consumers, so it may not have been the best fit for high-end markets where the average cost-conscious consumer can't afford to own a home. As Mike DelPrete notes, "It’s like taking a budget airline that caters to price-conscious families and launching a New York-to-London route for business travelers."[8]

Purplebricks later adjusted its approach by eliminating upfront fees and expanding into more affordable markets such as Las Vegas and Phoenix. By that point, however, the company had already scaled back its U.S. operations and exited the market shortly afterward.[9]

Where does Purplebricks still operate today?

As of this writing, Purplebricks only operates in the U.K. It also retains a major stake in Homeday, a German discount brokerage.

How much does Purplebricks cost in the U.K.?

Purplebricks charges fixed fees based on your home’s price, not a percentage commission. Sellers choose how and when they want to pay, with two main options for each price band.

You can pay a fixed upfront fee, which is usually the cheapest option overall, or choose a “no sale, no fee” option that spreads the cost and charges more if your home sells.

Pricing currently ranges from £799 to £1,499 ($940 to $1,765) for the Pay Upfront package, or £200 to £300 ($235 to $353) for the No Sale, No Fee package.

» MORE: Learn about selling with Purplebricks in the U.K.

Purplebricks review controversy

Purplebricks has faced public scrutiny over the years regarding how customer reviews are collected, managed, and presented online.

This attention has largely focused on third-party review platforms, which the company has used prominently in its marketing, particularly when expanding into new markets.

Discount real estate brokerages have long faced a stigma — sometimes deserved, sometimes not — that low prices mean subpar service quality.

To combat this stereotype, Purplebricks touts its excellent rating on third-party consumer review website Trustpilot as evidence that its customers have outstanding outcomes.

Does Purplebricks 'game the system' on consumer review websites?

However, critics have raised numerous questions about the validity of Purplebricks' Trustpilot rating.

The company has faced accusations that it attempts to "game the system" with tactics such as:

• Asking customers to leave reviews before their home has sold
• Only asking "happy" customers to leave reviews
• Flagging negative reviews as suspicious to attempt to get them removed from Trustpilot

Purplebricks faces 'corporate bullying' accusations

Critics have also accused Purplebricks of "corporate bullying" for its behavior toward allAgents, a website where consumers review U.K. real estate agents.

Purplebricks issued legal threats to allAgents in 2017, demanding that the website remove negative reviews it claimed were fake. The U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority later rejected a Purplebricks complaint alleging that allAgents was deliberately soliciting negative Purplebricks reviews.[14]

The review scandal spreads

Finally, in 2019, Purplebricks' Canadian subsidiary reportedly offered staff days off in exchange for getting friends and family to post fake positive reviews on Facebook and Google.[15]

How to interpret online reviews

Online reviews can be helpful, but they don’t tell the whole story on their own. One person might be reviewing their experience early in the process, while another is reacting to a deal that didn’t go as planned, so expectations and timing can really shape what people say.

If you’re reading reviews, it helps to scan both the good and the bad, pay attention to patterns that show up again and again, and check more than one review site.

Since selling a home is a huge financial move, many sellers also talk to a few different agents or services before choosing the option that feels like the best fit for their situation.

FAQ

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