Free home exchange

I have operated three home exchange businesses over the past 10 years. In each case, they started as a free service. That is, they offered free listings for those that wanted a home exchange. We also offered almost free listings, charging $ 7 for a one year listing.

Over the past 10 years I have seen many new home exchange and vacation rental travel sites start, build their business then either sell their business or just abandon it. In fact, since 2000 I have only seen one home exchange service that started with free listings survive after starting to charge. Why?

Offering free listings is often the best way for new websites to start up. It may take upwards to a year for a new site to get on search engines. Often the owners of these free sites pay to advertise to get noticed. After the intial investment in a website, marketing and assorted other costs many of these free
sites, after spending thousands, start to charge a fee. This may happen from 1 to 4 years after they start accepting listings.

From my own personal experience from offering free sites, along with the input of many owners of home exchange sites, I noted many reasons for this lack of success.

1. You do the math.

A site has 10, 000 members and advertises that their listing fee is $50 a year. This is a half million a year.... Goodbye day job..

The reality is that many of these listings may not have paid or got their listing at a reduced rate. There are larger clubs that will negotiate a listing fee, others that say one thing on their website, as an example $75 for a one year listing but offer $29 to $49 yearly memberships through their newsletters.

Further, some larger clubs have bought out smaller clubs at a dollar a listing, thus creating the illusion that their membership was created through expensive prices.

One larger club even offered free listings to anyone living in Hawaii that saw their ad in a local newspaper.

Don't get fooled by the math. It isn't as it seems.

2. Quality I have taken the opportunity to put my own listing on many new clubs. Why? I own other clubs. The reasons are three fold. It gives me a better idea how to improve my own club, I see how other clubs serve their clients and as I am genuinely looking for my own exchange, it provides me with more opportunity.

Even though I am genuinely looking for an exchange I have never had an offer from any of my ads on free clubs. After the club started charging, I didn't choose to pay but my listing wasn't taken off. It stayed on the site. In some cases my contact info still came back to me, I tried the contact myself. On other clubs, I tried the contact. I didn't receive any response, but my listing was still displayed. Why? To create an illusion that the club had more listings than they really have. They remove my listing email contact but left my listing on.

The truth is that there are several people listed on free sites that genuinely are looking for exchanges. There are also many that are listing their home as a lark or worse.

Some listing members really do not want to make a commitment to an exchange, they are just interested in seeing who answers the listings.

Some listers are "hit and run" listers. They list their hom and leave to go on to other clubs. These people are hoping to get an exchange but don't make an effort to try contacting others. They sit back and wait after listing on every free service available.

There are also others lurking on free sites that aren't looking for exchanges. Several years ago while offering our own free listings, we received an email.

It was an apology. The person who write us went on to explain that she and several of her college classmates were doing a marketing assignment. Their assigmnment was to determine what kinds of people answered home exchange ads. She went on to mention that she and others in her group made up listings, she listed a Hawaii home, while some of her classmates made up and published listings on our site from Italy and New York.

She thought it was great fun. However, the reason for the apology was because of some of her immature classmates. They received replies, answered them as if they were a real destination and even lead people on suggesting travel dates. The worst part was that one family went ahead and purchased air tickets.

That's when she had the courage to email us. The listings were removed.

Then there are scammers. They advertise that they offer a home excahnge, accept offers for exchange, or sometimes many offers. Wait until you buy your air tickets then email you that they have changed their minds. A home exchange wasn't possible. HOWEVER, they could offer a vacation rental for a fee. This is a bait and switch tactic that is often used on free sites. The lister had no intention of an exchange, they wanted only a vacation rental.

Fortunately, bait and switch is rare on many long time home exchange sites Many established clubs recognize and block these people from their websites.

Rention

Keeping members seems to be the biggest challenge for any home exchange club, free or established. Yes, each club has a core of loyal members that renew their memberships each year at a reduced rate. Equally there are newer members that don't travel every year, thus won't renew.

Free clubs have a terrible time retaining members once the start to charge. Often these members belong to numerous clubs and just won't renew with the newer club once a fee is established.

Often members that take free listings don't want to pay and they leave. The members that offer bait and switch just move on to other free services.

This leaves the club with the option of offering existing members a life time free membership just to keep the appearance of having more listers than they already have or deleting thousands of members.

In some cases these new clubs have invested 10's of thousands in marketing and counted on members paying once the started. Reality sets in when only 90 out of 10 000 pay to remain members.

Making money while offering free services

Some clubs make money while offering free services through advertisng Google ads and Adsence on their sites. They create large sites, not because of home exchange, but because of the money they are making through advertising. Home exchange becomes secondary.