Compare Redfin and Sold.com

For Sellers

Listing Rate
1%
Commission
Minimum commissions and other terms may apply. Buyer's Agent Commission (2.5%-3%) is not included, but you may be able to negotiate this as well. Redfin charges 1% Listing Commission only when working with a Redfin Agent in approximately 60% of all transactions originated.

For Sellers

Partner Agents
25%-30%
Referral Fee
Redfin Partner Agents do not work for Redfin. Instead, Redfin matches consumers with various real estate agents in exchange for 25%-30% referral fees. Such results suffer from pay-to-play bias because the network does not match consumers with agents unwilling to pay cut of their commission. Redfin Partner Agent is used by the company in approximately 40% of all transactions originated. Redfin cannot offer listing savings for Partner Agents, because such action constitutes an illegal price fixing. By using Partner Agents consumers only subject themselves to added fees, not savings!

For Sellers

Concierge Listing
2%
Commission
Minimum commissions and other terms may apply. Buyer's Agent Commission (2.5%-3%) is not included, but you may be able to negotiate this as well. Concierge Listing program is highly limited in availability.

For Sellers

Referred Agents
30%
Referral Fee
Sold.com does not provide real estate services to home sellers. Instead, this company matches consumers with various real estate agents in exchange for a 25% referral fee. Sold.com results suffer from pay-to-play bias because the network does not match consumers with agents unwilling to pay 25% of their commission to Sold.com.

For Buyers

Buyer's Savings
+/- 21%
Commission Rebate
When you work with Redfin to represent you, it contributes +/-21% of its total commission to you and your closing costs as a way to financially compete for your business. Rebates are only available where allowed by local State law. Home Buyers do not pay any taxes on the amount, the refund amount is always tax-free.

For Buyers

Partner Agents
25%-30%
Referral Fee
Redfin Partner Agents do not work for Redfin. Instead, Redfin matches consumers with various real estate agents in exchange for 25%-30% referral fees. Such results suffer from pay-to-play bias because the network does not match consumers with agents unwilling to pay cut of their commission. Redfin Partner Agent is used by the company in approximately 40% of all transactions originated. Redfin cannot offer rebates for using Partner Agents, because such action constitutes an illegal price fixing. By using Partner Agents consumers only subject themselves to added fees, not savings!

For Buyers

Not Applicable
0
No Rates
Sold.com does not match consumers with buyer’s agents.
Question: What is the difference between Redfin and Sold.com?
Answer: Redfin is a full-service real estate agent and a referral fee network while Sold.com is a referral fee network that enables broker-to-broker collusion with use of blanket referral agreements
Compare Redfin and Sold.com for home buying and selling. HomeOpenly is an impartial and an open resource focused on trending real estate services, portals and start-ups.

First published: 02 April 2019
Last updated: 25 April 2021

Buying and Selling with Redfin

WARNING: Unlawful Kickbacks, Broker-to-Broker Collusion, False Marketing, Wire Fraud, Price Fixing.

Redfin is a broker-to-broker collusion scheme, where "partner agents" unlawfully agree to pay massive kickbacks to receive your information and engage in market allocation, consumer allocation, false advertising, unlawful kickbacks, wire fraud, and price-fixing practices in violation of, inter alia, 18 U.S.C. § 1346, 18 U.S.C. § 1343, 15 U.S.C. § 1, 15 U.S.C. § 45, 12 U.S.C. § 2607, 12 C.F.R. § 1024.14. As a consumer, you will always significantly overpay for Realtor commissions subject to hidden kickbacks and pay-to-play steering promoted in this scheme.

United States federal antitrust laws prohibit consumer allocation and blanket referral agreements between real estate companies.

Be smart; do not allow your information to be "sold as a lead" to a double-dealing Realtor in exchange for massive commission kickbacks paid from your future home sale, or your future home purchase.


A multi-state broker, a full-service company rebates buyer's part of the commission it receives, where allowed, and provides listing savings to sellers. In some cases, this company acts as an Internet referral fee network where it is unable to provide real estate services.

Redfin Pricing

Redfin offers listing savings to sellers (1% to 1.5% listing fee) and commission refunds to buyers where allowed by State law (21% rebate approximate.). Redfin works with about 3,100 Partner Agents in regions where it has no direct representation in exchange for a 30% referral fees.

Listing Services

  • MLS Listing
  • Zillow, Trulia, etc. Listing
  • Accept and Deliver All Offers and Counteroffers
  • Hold Open Houses
  • Professional Photography
  • Professional Floor Plans
  • Yard Signage Installation
  • Spare Key Lock-box Installation
  • Schedule Inspection Services
  • Schedule Private Showings
  • Closing Duties
  • Home Cleaning (Optional)
  • Home Painting (Optional)
  • Home Staging (Optional)
  • Landscaping (Optional)

Buyer's Agent Services

  • Find the Property
  • Accept and Deliver All Offers and Counteroffers
  • Recommend Other Professionals
  • Attend Inspection Services
  • Schedule Private Showings
  • Negotiate Needed Repairs
  • Closing Duties

Redfin Editor's Review:

Redfin is one of the largest real estate agents in the United States that offers service of a traditional agent with a competitive commission. It is important to separate Redfin services into three distinct categories: a real estate agent, a referral network and a direct cash buyer.

This review is focused on its operations as a real estate agent and a referral network. RedfinNow is further segregated into its own category because it operates as an investor and not a professional agent service model built to represent consumers.

Redfin went public in 2017 with an IPO that has raised $138 million and have thus saved consumers millions in commissions over typical rates offered by traditional real estate brokers. However, Redfin’s operations as a referral network result in an inefficiency known as reverse competition and possible price fixing. Such practice may result in lower quality of service and higher commissions due to added fees.

Agent Listings
Redfin Agents are salaried employees who are also paid bonuses based on client feedback and are not motivated by commissions. Redfin Agent Listing includes posting home on the MLS and MLS Aggregator services, professional photos, 3D tour and all typical services offered by a traditional real estate agent. Redfin gives sellers access to a well-designed dashboard to track buyers viewing your home and other communication features.

Redfin Partner Program
Redfin partner agents
Credit: Redfin Partner Referral Program via Redfin Partner Agents

Where Redfin cannot directly serve consumers, the company relies on a referral network of approximately 3,100 independent agents at other brokerages. Approximately 40% of all real estate transactions originated by Redfin are executed by this referral network.

Referral agents pay 30% of their commission back to Redfin when they close a transaction. Once Redfin refers a customer to a Partner Agent, that agent, not Redfin, represents the customer from the initial meeting through closing. In the past, Redfin had actively dictated that Partner Agent commission listing rates are set at 1.5%, or that Partner Agents issue rebates set at 15% to buyers (15% went to Redfin as a kickback.) Redfin has since revised this policy because it violates antitrust law.

In the United States, all independent brokerage fees are always negotiable and each real estate agent establishes its own policy for a fee structure, amount of commissions, and the sharing of any listing commissions.

Price fixing is prohibited by antitrust legislation. To fix, control, recommend, suggest or maintain commission rates or fees for other agents' services is an improper practice. Redfin Corporation has recently stopped such blatant price fixing strategy, where a statement on the company’s website now reads: "Since Partner Agents aren't employed by Redfin, we can't guarantee our 1%–1.5% listing fee or offer a Redfin Refund for customers who work with a Partner Agent." This statement means not only that Redfin "can't guarantee" these savings, but also that consumers shouldn't expect to receive savings from a Partner Agent.

Redfin still heavily engages in market-allocation and consumer brokering practices in their efforts to earn referral fees, instead of actually providing representation services. In 2019 Redfin has made a massive move by allowing with RE/MAX brokerage to participate as Partner Agents, where consumers are "sold as leads" to RE/MAX brokers for 25% cut of their commission.

Consumers a highly likely to overpay for listing commissions and receive little or no refund using Redfin Partner Program, when buying or selling a home, because the added 30% referral fee makes it impossible for Partner Agents to negotiate a fair market rate.

By utilizing Partner Agents, consumers are not just getting nothing, but are being subjected to thousands and sometimes tens of thousands in useless fees paid for the privilege of getting connected to a random agent.

Redfin Partner Program is one of the worst consumer brokering programs in the market because it implies that consumers will get a lower listing rate, or a refund from the Partner Agent shown on the Redfin website, but due to price fixing antitrust law this is not true.

By negotiating with an agent directly, or using HomeOpenly Open Marketplace, consumers are able to receive such savings, because HomeOpenly has a 0% referral fees structure and we are legally able to advertise rates for thousands of independent agents who offer all sorts of independently set savings – refunds, listing rates, or flat fees.

In fact, any real estate agent who uses Redfin Partner Program is able to freely advertise their services, refunds and/or listing rates on HomeOpenly and bypass excessive referral fees set by Redfin, saving consumers 30% in referral fees. Consumers should absolutely avoid using Redfin Partner Program agents.

Concierge Service
In November 2017 Redfin has launched a program called Concierge Service in select areas that offer home sellers added benefits of coordinating, supervising and paying for services such as deep cleaning, painting, staging, and landscaping in exchange for a 2% listing fee.

Where does Redfin operate?

Redfin currently operates in select areas across Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Richmond, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and New Jersey..

Selling with Sold.com

WARNING: Unlawful Kickbacks, Broker-to-Broker Collusion, False Marketing, Wire Fraud, Price Fixing.

Sold.com is a broker-to-broker collusion scheme, where "partner agents" unlawfully agree to pay massive kickbacks to receive your information and engage in market allocation, consumer allocation, false advertising, unlawful kickbacks, wire fraud, and price-fixing practices in violation of, inter alia, 18 U.S.C. § 1346, 18 U.S.C. § 1343, 15 U.S.C. § 1, 15 U.S.C. § 45, 12 U.S.C. § 2607, 12 C.F.R. § 1024.14. As a consumer, you will always significantly overpay for Realtor commissions subject to hidden kickbacks and pay-to-play steering promoted in this scheme.

United States federal antitrust laws prohibit consumer allocation and blanket referral agreements between real estate companies.

Be smart; do not allow your information to be "sold as a lead" to a double-dealing Realtor in exchange for massive commission kickbacks paid from your future home sale, or your future home purchase.


Sold.com is a referral fee network designed to collect fees by matching consumers with local real estate agents willing to participate. Sold.com operates as a licensed real estate brokerage in California under BRE License #01937601, but it does not produce any services that are typically offered by real estate agents and does not represent consumers when selling real estate in any State.

When consumers submit information to Sold.com, this information is simply sold to real estate agents who are willing to pay for it with a 30% share of their commission.

Sold.com Pricing

Sold.com revenue comes from referral fees.

Listing Services

  • This Service Does Not Represent Sellers

Buyer's Agent Services

  • This Service Does Not Represent Buyers

Sold.com Editor's Review:

On paper, Sold.com seems to have a great idea – to provide its users with the best way to sell a home, but in reality, it is a referral network designed to steer consumers toward agents and other services willing to pay a cut of their commission back into the network.

Sold.com states that it is an “unbiased” and consumer-focused service, but the actual model turns out to be much less effective - Sold.com is a California licensed real estate broker that collects a 30% referral fee from all real estate agents that participate.

This fee makes it hardly a free service for anyone since referral fees are inevitably passed down to consumers. More importantly, Sold.com applies this pay-to-play bias towards all matching results, meaning, only real estate agents that have agreed to pay a referral fee are displayed in match results for consumers.

Sold.com audits all transactions because it needs to find out how much money real estate agents receive in commissions, inevitably collecting private details of consumer’s agreement for home purchase or sale.

Sold.com plays fees down to consumers - it states directly that the service is 100% free, but at the same time, it rigidly locks every participating real estate agent into 30% referral fee attached to the back-end of every contract. As a licensed real estate agent that doesn’t perform any real estate services or takes any responsibility for the transaction, it is not entirely clear how this process works under the Business and Professions Code and RESPA.

Clearly, real estate agents only sign-up with Sold.com because the price of the referral fee can be easily incorporated into their client's agreement with excessive commissions. Sold.com receives the second lowest score because this service is clearly biased and it claims to provide the complete opposite of what it actually does.

Update: on September 29, 2021, SOLD.com (operated by Ten-X Finance, Inc. 'shell' real estate brokerage CA DRE License 01937601) has originated a request to the editor asking for this review to be removed.

The following is a pdf link to the notice originated by SOLD.com, dated September 29, 2021.

The following is a pdf link to the reply written by the editor of this review, dated December 13, 2021.

Where does Sold.com operate?

Sold.com currently operates in select areas across United States.