A popular real estate sales website is targeted by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. He faces a huge punishment

The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has initiated explanatory proceedings regarding the new settlement model of the Otodom platform from the OLX group. According to the announcement, the aim of the activities is to assess whether the introduced changes may lead to restriction of competition in the real estate advertising services market.

What is the problem in Otodom?

The new settlement model assumes a departure from a uniform method of calculating fees in favor of a system in which the amount of costs of publishing advertisements may depend, among others, on: on the value of all properties offered by a given user in a specific settlement period. Additionally, the conditions of the local market and its specificity are to be taken into account.

In the opinion of the office, this may mean differences in fees between individual users and the lack of full control by advertisers over key elements affecting the price.

– Therefore, the amount of fees is to be differentiated for individual entities and will depend on prices on the local market and its specificity, which is beyond the advertisers’ control. This can be a disadvantage for real estate agents. The complaints also concern the lack of transparency of the rules for setting fees, as well as differences in the terms of cooperation with real estate agencies, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection said in a statement.

Position of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection

The Office also analyzes whether the platform owner has a dominant position on the market.

– We decided to check whether the new rules violate competition law. We verify whether the owner of the Otodom website has a dominant position, i.e. whether he can operate to a significant extent independently of competitors, contractors and consumers. We will check whether the new rules may result in restriction of competition on the market, including between intermediaries – said the president of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, Tomasz Chróstny, quoted in the press release.

Let us recall that in competition law there is a presumption of such a position if the entrepreneur’s share exceeds 40%. relevant market.

Possible consequences for the website

If further analysis confirms the suspicion of violation of regulations, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection may proceed to the stage of antitrust proceedings.

In such a case, the entrepreneur may be subject to a financial penalty of up to 10%. annual turnover.

At this stage, however, the office is only conducting explanatory proceedings to assess the nature and scale of the changes introduced by the platform.