Wheedle.co.nz: experiences, comments

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Forums › Startups › Wheedle.co.nz: experiences, comments

Klipspringer

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#109817 27-Sep-2012 12:38

A new buy & sell website - backed by Mainfreight co-founder Neil Graham - will launch next week and claims it will provide "quality local competition" to market-dominator Trade Me.

The site Wheedle.co.nz is due to launch October 1 and says it will provide a new place for businesses and individuals to advertise products and services.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10836684

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#692180 27-Sep-2012 12:42

I am going to have a look just because Sam Morgan called it a joke. No other reason.

freitasm

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#692182 27-Sep-2012 12:43

Lots of discussions on Twitter yesterday. They apparently use "40 servers" to run the site. Whoever managed to register yesterday also found out that session information was not consistent across those servers.

My joke this morning was something along the lines of "I am still surprised Wheedle needed 40 servers to serve 503 and 404 responses."

The site was up and down a few times. I managed to register to secure my user name, to find out that going through pages would show me logged in as "freitasm", not logged in at all, or logged in with someone else's name and information being shown.

Another article says they have outsourced development to an Indian-based company. This is a shame, with so many talented developers in New Zealand that could probably do a much better job in development, deployment and management. They probably cut costs by not doing proper unit/system/integration/regresion/deployment testing.

Let's see what happens on 1st October.

gzt

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#692184 27-Sep-2012 12:46

Another one coming: http://www.voxy.co.nz/business/list-sell-trade-launching-further-competition-trademe/5/135868

BlueShift

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#692186 27-Sep-2012 12:47

What's with the name - Wheedle? Sounds a bit whiny really. Do people not look these things up in the dictionary before naming their companies?

whee·dle /ˈʰwidl, ˈwidl/ Show Spelled [hweed-l, weed-l] verb,
whee·dled, whee·dling. verb (used with object)

1. to endeavor to influence (a person) by smooth, flattering, or beguiling words or acts: We wheedled him incessantly, but he would not consent.

ajobbins

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#692187 27-Sep-2012 12:47

Many have tried and failed to compete in the market. Reality is that it's a winner takes all type of market, and Trade Me won years ago.

These types of marketplaces work best where there is the biggest possible number of buyers and sellers, and especially in NZ there isn't room for two players. Even with an amazing product and no fees, It would likely take years for them to become a real threat to Trade Me, and they would probably go broke in the process.

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johnr

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#692188 27-Sep-2012 12:47

topple trademe what a joke

ajobbins

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#692191 27-Sep-2012 12:52

People whinge about Trade Me and their fees, but they all still use it.

Fact is, they actually have an excellent site in terms of usability. It's world class in my opinion.

Here in Oz, eBay pales in comparison on many fronts, and there is just nothing like Trade Me which is really annoying. I miss it

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RedJungle

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#692198 27-Sep-2012 13:07

ajobbins: Many have tried and failed to compete in the market. Reality is that it's a winner takes all type of market, and Trade Me won years ago.

+1

My prediction is they will sink a massive amount of money into this, then disappear.

davidcole

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#692202 27-Sep-2012 13:09

It's a pity though that trade me being almost a monopoly can do what they like with fees and there's not a real avenue to go elsewhere. But without enough dissatisfaction to go elsewhere there's no drive to stand up a competing site.

It's a real chicken and egg scenario.

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gzt

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#692207 27-Sep-2012 13:15

TradeMe has many organisational weaknesses and market vulnerabilities. There is room for innovative competitors, but there are none.

The competitors so far have business plans like:

1. Make auction site
2. Go live
3. Profit

The mismanaged media for the latest two is not a good sign for either of them.

Paulthagerous

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#692209 27-Sep-2012 13:17

BlueShift: What's with the name - Wheedle?

This is a REAL Weedle :)

Zeon

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#692227 27-Sep-2012 13:36

I don't think these guys are experienced enough in this type of field to be able to do it. Need the critical mass and I'd hardly call mainfreight groundbreakingly innovative...

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floydbloke

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#692228 27-Sep-2012 13:36

ajobbins:
Here in Oz, eBay pales in comparison on many fronts, and there is just nothing like Trade Me which is really annoying. I miss it

Quite ironic really, with TradeMe being Australian owned.

Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?

davidcole

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#692229 27-Sep-2012 13:37

Zeon: I don't think these guys are experienced enough in this type of field to be able to do it. Need the critical mass and I'd hardly call mainfreight groundbreakingly innovative...

But if they were smart, they'd offer integrated packaging/shipping as a value add, I mean they have the distribution system already.

freitasm

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#692230 27-Sep-2012 13:39

davidcole:
Zeon: I don't think these guys are experienced enough in this type of field to be able to do it. Need the critical mass and I'd hardly call mainfreight groundbreakingly innovative...

But if they were smart, they'd offer integrated packaging/shipping as a value add, I mean they have the distribution system already.

You mean their logistics? Sure, but then they failed at not thinking of it.

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