Review Criteria : Security

When you pay for whatever services you book it is vital that your payment details are taken in a secure environment. This protects your card details being intercepted and used fraudulently.

Please note that those sites who do not provide any paid-for services do not have a rating for this criteria.

Criteria for GOOD rating
All payments taken in at least 128 bit encrypted secure environment.

Criteria for AVERAGE rating
Payment processed securely, but through a 3rd party service that does not provide same buyer protection as bank-backed payment processing (e.g. Paypal)

Criteria for POOR rating
Insecure payments used.

When you advertise your property online you want to get enquiries from genuine buyers and not unsolicited contacts from third party companies and scam artists.

Sites that offer spam screening check all messages before they are sent to you, minimising the chance of unwanted messages getting through.

Criteria for GOOD rating
Anti-spam screening in place.

Criteria for POOR rating
No screening in place or email addresses exposed.

When you enter your personal, payment and property details on a website you don't want those details being used for any purpose other than what you intended them for.

A privacy policy is an organisation's statement of how they will use your details. We've checked the privacy policies of all the sites listed here for some key points and rated them accordingly.

Criteria for GOOD rating
Clear privacy policy that states that details will only be used for the creation and running of your advert, processing payments and other essential tasks.

Criteria for AVERAGE rating
Unclear privacy policy that does not clarify exactly how your details will be used in terms of marketing & sharing with third parties.

Criteria for POOR rating
No privacy policy, privacy policy that allows for sharing of information without requiring an "opt-in" or leaking of personal details.

A long established site can provide confidence in their ability to deliver on their promises, represent you professionally and that they will still be trading when you sell your property.

For the purposes on this test we have looked at how long the site has been advertising properties for sale by owner. Some sites may be run by companies who have been trading in related areas prior to this date, but it is how long they have been offering the service that you are paying for that we have looked at. To arrive at these dates we have consulted the websites themselves, domain registration data, companies house information and the Internet Archive.

Criteria for GOOD rating
Established in 2002 or before

Criteria for AVERAGE rating
Established in 2002 - 2004

Criteria for POOR rating
Established in 2005 or later