Seznam Escapes Sanctions As Czech Regulator Forces Sreality Pricing Reset

Seznam.cz, the operator of Czech market-leading property portal Sreality.cz, has avoided formal sanctions after agreeing to overhaul parts of its pricing model following an antitrust probe by the country’s competition authority.

According to local publicationLupa.cz, the Office for the Protection of Competition closed proceedings tied to possible abuse of dominance in online real estate advertising after Seznam offered binding commitments. The authority had been examining whether the company charged advertisers with small listing volumes disproportionately high unit prices, in some cases up to 50 times more than larger customers, while also varying prices by region and franchise affiliation.

Seznam has committed to lowering the base unit price for sale and rental listings, applying the same prices regardless of where the property is located, and to softening discount structures that had favoured larger franchise networks over smaller independent agencies. It now has 90 days to implement the changes.

The regulator said Seznam holds a “very strong position” in Czech real estate advertising, making its pricing architecture more than a commercial detail, it’s market infrastructure.

The deal is somewhat similar to an outcome in the Swiss market where Swiss Marketplace Group recently reached an amicable agreement with Switzerland’s price supervisor over pricing complexity on its property portals, standardising elements of its offer and securing regulatory certainty for three years.