Thinking of building a Trade Me alternative. Tell me why it's a terrible idea

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Forums › Startups › Thinking of building a Trade Me alternative. Tell me why it's a terrible idea

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yudumcan

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#3487255 4-May-2026 10:14

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply and all your feedback, I appreciate it. I ended up talking a lawyer the other day to understand the regulations, policies, consumer rights, trading rights, buyer and seller protections and all the ecommerce law. It's going to be very difficult to even validate the idea before commiting to any of the requirements and that's a lot of $$$. So I decided to let this one go and put it in the bin!

But I do have another idea which I've been working on and I'll start a thread for you to roast me :)

Cheers

networkn

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#3487257 4-May-2026 10:18

yudumcan:

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply and all your feedback, I appreciate it. I ended up talking a lawyer the other day to understand the regulations, policies, consumer rights, trading rights, buyer and seller protections and all the ecommerce law. It's going to be very difficult to even validate the idea before commiting to any of the requirements and that's a lot of $$$. So I decided to let this one go and put it in the bin!

But I do have another idea which I've been working on and I'll start a thread for you to roast me :)

Cheers

Good for you for understanding when a dream can't be made a reality within the limits you have set.

There are plenty of businesses, who have started, taken a bunch of money from people and let them down badly.

yudumcan

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#3487262 4-May-2026 10:29

networkn:

yudumcan:

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply and all your feedback, I appreciate it. I ended up talking a lawyer the other day to understand the regulations, policies, consumer rights, trading rights, buyer and seller protections and all the ecommerce law. It's going to be very difficult to even validate the idea before commiting to any of the requirements and that's a lot of $$$. So I decided to let this one go and put it in the bin!

But I do have another idea which I've been working on and I'll start a thread for you to roast me :)

Cheers

Good for you for understanding when a dream can't be made a reality within the limits you have set.

There are plenty of businesses, who have started, taken a bunch of money from people and let them down badly.

Thank you, I knew it was going to be risky and what I was getting myself into. I wanted to be confident that I can protect both sides before making any money. But the amount of regulation and compliance is massive. So it's better to walk away early rather than create bigger problems later on

eracode

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#3487278 4-May-2026 11:17

I hear Trademe has heaved a massive sigh of relief. 😀

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

Quacko

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#3487300 4-May-2026 12:32

It's a shame not to have more competition in this space but the barrier to entry is prohibitive. I do wish TradeMe would start innovating, it feels like their platform has stagnated for the last decade. I guess they don't really have enough commercial pressure.

yudumcan

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#3487319 4-May-2026 13:18

eracode:

I hear Trademe has heaved a massive sigh of relief. 😀

They probably saying " jeez that was close" 😅

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richms

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#3487320 4-May-2026 13:21

Quacko:

It's a shame not to have more competition in this space but the barrier to entry is prohibitive. I do wish TradeMe would start innovating, it feels like their platform has stagnated for the last decade. I guess they don't really have enough commercial pressure.

I'm amazed that their response to something that was trash and cost money having competition that was more trash but free was to make their product free instead of fixing it.

Richard rich.ms

mattwnz

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#3487363 4-May-2026 15:16

Quacko:

It's a shame not to have more competition in this space but the barrier to entry is prohibitive. I do wish TradeMe would start innovating, it feels like their platform has stagnated for the last decade. I guess they don't really have enough commercial pressure.

I have found that there is a huge increase in the number of charity shops in towns, and also a lot of people just leaving stuff outside their house to sell or give away. Many people can't be bothered with the admin over it. Trademe IMO is seems to be more of a property site now, now that they own the homes site etc. The trading side of things basically gets eyeballs onto their site.

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