COMPARE · 8 MIN READ
Unreserved vs a traditional agent
A flat $900 against a percentage of everything you own. Compared on cost, service and control, including where the agent is genuinely the better buy.
Short answer
A traditional agent sells your property and takes a percentage. We sell it and take $900. The work is largely the same and the portals are identical. What commission actually buys is someone else’s time, which is worth it for some sellers and not for most.
Key takeaways
- Commission is a percentage, so the fee rises with your sale price. Ours does not.
- Selling costs on a $700,000 sale commonly run to around $24,250 once commission and marketing are counted. Unreserved is $900.
- Both routes list on realestate.com.au and Domain. Buyers cannot tell the difference.
- Unreserved is a licensed agency, not an advertiser. That changes your recourse.
- An agent is genuinely the better choice in four situations, named below.
What the two actually cost
Commission is a percentage, so there is no single number. The figure moves with your sale price, which is the property of it that matters most.
| Sale price | Traditional agent (approx.) | Unreserved | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500,000 | ~$17,300 | $900 | ~$16,400 |
| $700,000 | ~$24,250 | $900 | ~$23,350 |
| $1,000,000 | ~$34,600 | $900 | ~$33,700 |
| $1,500,000 | ~$51,900 | $900 | ~$51,000 |
Agent figures use the same basis as our savings calculator: commission plus marketing, at roughly 3.5 per cent of the sale price. Rates vary by state and agency, so treat these as indicative and check your own agreement.
Ben’s insightThe number that should bother you is not the percentage, it is what the percentage is charged on. An agent does not do 50 per cent more work selling a $1.5m home than a $1m one, but the fee is 50 per cent higher. That is the part of the model that has never been explained to my satisfaction, and I charged it for fifteen years.
What is identical either way
- The portals. realestate.com.au and Domain, the same listings, the same buyers. Nothing on the listing tells a buyer how you are selling.
- The legal process. Contract of sale, vendor disclosure, cooling-off and settlement all run identically. Your conveyancer does the same work.
- The photography and copy. Same photographers, same standard. Ours are coordinated for you on the Plus tier and self-arranged on the $900 tier.
- The auction option. We run auctions and reverse auctions, so choosing a flat fee does not lock you into a private treaty sale.
The percentage is the whole argument. See it on your price.
Commission scales with your sale price and a flat fee does not. Put your number in and see the two side by side before you read another word.
See what you’d keepWhat is genuinely different
| Traditional agent | Unreserved | |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers enquiries | The agent, during their hours | AI handles phone and SMS 24/7, routed to you |
| Who runs inspections | The agent | You, with booking tools |
| Who negotiates | The agent, on your behalf | You, with licensed support available |
| What you pay | A percentage of the sale price | $900, or $6,900 on Plus |
| When you pay | On settlement, deducted from proceeds | Up front, or split on Plus |
| Who carries the price risk | You. The fee scales with the price either way | You, but the fee does not move |
The honest summary: you are taking on the enquiry handling and the negotiation, and keeping the difference.
The two plans this page does not compare
The comparison above puts a commission agent against our $900 Lite. If what you actually want is somebody else running the campaign, that is a different plan of ours, not a different company.
Every comparison on this page uses Unreserved Lite at $900, because that is the like-for-like: a listing on realestate.com.au and Domain that you run yourself. We sell two others, and depending on your situation either may suit you better.
| Plan | Price | Portals | Who runs the campaign |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $500 up front | Domain only | You |
| Lite | $900 up front | realestate.com.au + Domain | You |
| Plus | $2,000 up front, then $4,900 on a successful sale | realestate.com.au + Domain | A licensed campaign manager |
All three charge zero commission at settlement and all three include the AI Inspection Agent, the valuation tools and every sale strategy. Captured from our own pricing page, August 2026.
- Basic is the cheapest way onto a major portal. $500, Domain only. If your buyers are local and you are comfortable without realestate.com.au, it is the sharpest price in this whole category.
- Lite is the one everybody compares. $900, both major portals, the full toolkit. Most sellers should be on this.
- Plus is the one that removes the work. $2,000 up front and $4,900 only if it sells, so the larger half is contingent on the result. A licensed campaign manager runs photography, copy, pricing, buyer follow-up and negotiation. You still open the door at your own open homes.
Ben’s insightThe reason Plus is split $2,000 and $4,900 rather than charged up front is that we think the bigger number should depend on the outcome. It is still a flat fee: it does not rise with your sale price the way a percentage does, so on a $1.2 million sale it is $6,900 against roughly $30,000 in commission.
When an agent is the better choice
Four situations, and they are real. If one of these is you, pay the commission and do not feel clever about avoiding it.
- You have no time. Enquiries arrive midweek, inspections are on weekends, and negotiations move in hours. If you cannot be available, delegation is worth paying for.
- Your property is hard to price. Unusual homes, unusual land, thin comparable sales. Mispricing costs far more than any fee.
- You negotiate badly under pressure. Some people know they would accept less to end an uncomfortable conversation. Accepting $30,000 less to avoid discomfort is worse than paying a fee.
- You want one accountable person. A named individual whose job is your outcome has genuine value, and a platform is not that.
The conflict nobody mentions
An agent on a percentage is paid substantially more for a sale than a no-sale, and only marginally more for a higher price than a lower one. On a $700,000 property, accepting $30,000 less costs you $30,000 and costs an agent on 2.2 per cent about $660.
Both parties want a sale. Only one of them is meaningfully exposed to the price. That is not dishonesty, it is arithmetic, and it is worth knowing which side of it you are on.
Ben Williams, Founder
The same tension shows up in how properties get quoted in the first place, which we covered in the underquoting report, and in how reserve prices get set.
Night and day vs an agent
“I’ve sold a property previously using an agent, and the contrast between them and Unreserved was night and day. We sold an investment property in Melbourne. The market was challenging, but we waited it out for the right buyer and sold for what we wanted. Can’t thank the team enough, and the app was really easy to use.”
Sarah B · Verified seller · Investment property, Melbourne
Talk to a licensed agent before you decide
Fifteen minutes with someone who has sold both ways, and no commission riding on which one you choose. No obligation.
Talk to a licensed agentCommon questions
How much does a traditional agent cost in Australia?
Selling costs on a $700,000 sale commonly run to around $24,250 once commission and marketing are counted, and because commission is a percentage the figure rises with your sale price. Unreserved charges $900 regardless of what the property sells for.
Is Unreserved a licensed real estate agency?
Yes. That matters more than it sounds: a licensed agency carries statutory obligations around disclosure and conduct, and gives you a complaints pathway to a state regulator. Some private-sale services are advertisers rather than agencies, which is a different relationship.
What does a traditional agent actually do that I would have to do myself?
Answer enquiries during business hours, run inspections, qualify buyers, present offers and negotiate. The listing itself, the photography and the paperwork are largely the same either way. What you are really buying with commission is time and delegation.
Will my property sell for less without an agent?
Not automatically, and the evidence for a commission-sized premium is weak. What genuinely moves your price is the price you set, the quality of the campaign and how you handle negotiation. Those are the three things to get right whichever route you take.
When is a traditional agent worth the commission?
When you genuinely have no time, when your property is unusual enough that pricing it is difficult, or when negotiating directly would cost you more than the fee. Those are real situations and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
Do I still get on realestate.com.au without an agent?
Yes. Unreserved lists your property on realestate.com.au and Domain, the same portals a traditional agency uses. Buyers cannot tell from the listing how you are selling.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ben Williams
Connect with Ben on LinkedIn →
Ben spent 15+ years as a licensed estate agent and conducted over 2,000 auctions before founding Unreserved. He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Property & Valuation) from RMIT and is licensed across VIC, NSW, QLD, SA, and WA.