hipages (ASX:HPG) is the largest tradie lead-generation platform in Australia, with FY25 revenue of A$83.2M. But operator reviews on ProductReview, Trustpilot and Whirlpool are consistently 1-2 stars — and in 2023, hipages gave a court-enforceable undertaking to the ACCC after admitting misleading conduct on subscription auto-renewal between October 2018 and January 2022. The ACCC has since named subscription traps a 2026-27 enforcement priority.
If you’re an operator considering alternatives — or a homeowner trying to understand why your tradie keeps complaining about hipages — here’s the landscape.
hipages in brief
How it works: You pay per lead ($8–$200 depending on category) plus a 12-month subscription. Leads are officially “sent to 3 tradies.” In practice, operators report 5-10+ tradies receiving the same lead with all paying.
The math: Effective cost per booked job at typical 1-in-5 quote conversion runs $150–$400. A skip bin operator paying $80 per lead and converting 1-in-5 needs a $400 booked job to break even on lead costs alone.
The complaints:
- Locked 12-month subscriptions with $199+ early-termination fees
- Credits expire silently
- “Exclusive 3” leads sent to many more
- Refund requests for dud leads consistently denied
- Public profiles hide negative reviews
The ACCC undertaking: Hipages admitted to misleading or deceptive conduct on auto-renewal disclosure for the 2018–2022 period. The undertaking is public on the ACCC website. It’s the kind of regulatory record that should be in every alternative pitch.
Airtasker (ASX:ART)
Different model: customer posts a task, providers bid, customer chooses. 15% service fee on completed jobs — no lead fees, no subscription, no per-lead charges.
Better for: One-off odd jobs, removalist work, gardening, cleaning, painting, basic handyperson tasks.
Worse for: Skilled trades where bid races compress margins (electrical, plumbing, building) — the lowest-bid mechanic structurally favours operators willing to undercut, which isn’t sustainable for licensed trades.
Owns Oneflare (acquired May 2022 for A$9.8M) — Oneflare is being progressively merged into the core Airtasker marketplace and the brand will likely be retired by late 2026.
ServiceSeeking
Smaller third-place AU lead-gen. Pay-per-lead model from $75/month for 75 credits. No commission on won jobs, no 12-month lock-in.
Better than hipages on: Contract terms (month-to-month), simpler pricing.
Worse than hipages on: Volume — much smaller customer base, fewer leads per month per operator. Not viable as a primary lead source for full-time operators in most categories.
Word of Mouth Online + ProductReview
These aren’t lead-gen platforms — they’re review aggregators. ProductReview.com.au is the de facto AU consumer review consensus layer. ProductReview Brand Manager subscriptions ($1,200+/yr) let businesses respond to reviews and add structured data, but no leads come through it directly.
Why it matters: Consumer search behaviour. People searching “[tradie name] reviews” land on ProductReview before they land on the operator’s own site. Claiming and managing your ProductReview profile is more valuable than most paid lead platforms.
Localsearch
Robina-based AU directory, free self-serve listings + paid marketing upgrades. Strategy is now “modern digital marketing partner” — directory listing + SaaS upsell, similar to Thryv-owned Yellow Pages.
Better for: Operators who want a local-SEO-supportive directory listing without committing to lead-gen subscriptions.
Worse for: Direct lead generation — Localsearch’s lead volume is small and indirect.
Yellow Pages (Thryv Australia)
Sensis sold to NASDAQ-listed Thryv for A$257M in March 2021. Strategy is now SMB SaaS (CRM, scheduling, payments, reviews) — the directory is a loss-leader funnel into the SaaS upsell.
Honest assessment: The Yellow Pages brand is dying as a consumer search tool. Its residual SEO value still drives some traffic, especially for older demographics, but not enough to justify lead-gen spend on it alone.
Gumtree
Owned since October 2022 by The Market Herald (an ASX micro-cap media holdco) for A$60M. Buyer’s interest is the SEO/traffic asset, not product investment. Gumtree’s messaging system has been broken across 2024-2025, the trust/verification layer doesn’t exist, and ProductReview/Trustpilot scores are 1.7-1.8 stars.
For tradies: Gumtree is largely dead as a lead-gen channel. It’s still used for second-hand goods listings but the trades section sees more scam complaints than genuine inquiries.
Facebook Marketplace
Strong map UX (one of the best of any AU classifieds), but identity is a Facebook profile — no ABN, no license check, no insurance audit, no payment escrow. Online classifieds drove $122M (47%) of all 2024 scam losses per the NASC Targeting Scams Report. Marketplace can’t add ABN/insurance verification without breaking its supply-side network effect.
For tradies: Marketplace works for low-trust, low-ticket P2P. It does not work as a serious lead source for licensed trades.
What we’d choose, by use case
| If you’re… | Best option |
|---|---|
| A skip bin operator in SEQ | Hipages still has volume, but month-to-month alternatives or direct SEO/Local Trader-style verified directories beat the unit economics |
| A licensed builder or electrician | LinkedIn + Google Business Profile + ProductReview + word of mouth, with hipages as marginal supply |
| A solo handyperson | Airtasker for volume, hipages for higher-ticket leads — but watch the contract terms |
| A landscape gardener | Hipages for leads, ServiceSeeking as cheaper supplement, no Airtasker (bid races destroy margin) |
| A cleaning service | All platforms work — focus on local SEO and Google Business Profile reviews as the durable asset |
The bigger picture
Most AU tradies who sustain a business without paid lead-gen rely on:
- Word of mouth — repeat business and referrals
- Google Business Profile — local SEO, free, drives local search to you directly
- Their own website — even a simple one ranks for
[suburb] [trade]queries - ProductReview profile — durable consumer-trust signal
- Direct Facebook page — community-level visibility
Paid lead-gen is a top-up, not a foundation. Operators who become dependent on hipages or similar platforms have no leverage when the platform raises prices, changes terms, or routes leads to competitors.
The right answer for most tradies isn’t “which lead platform is best” — it’s “how do I stop relying on lead platforms entirely.”