Does buying on Trade Me put you off?

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sleemanj

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#136613 3-Dec-2013 13:01

A question for my assembled fellow kiwi geekery.

Background

I sell small amounts of electronic components type stuff on Trade Me.

I also show my trade me listings on a non-trademe site, predominantly this is a "gallery" of my trade me listings with perma-links (eg "Stackable-Arduino-Header-Set-12.html") to product info, and appropriate links to the Trade Me listings for purchasing.

I get a reasonably consistent number of eyeballs daily on my non-trademe site from organic searches, from persons located in NZ.

I'm considering adding a standard checkout process on my non-trademe site, but it's a little complicated to do the stock management so as to not leave the trademe listings short-stocked, so trying to decide if it's worth it.

Therefore, Question

So, if you stumbled across a gallery site like mine, would you be put-off by being directed to purchase the items on Trademe, rather than a more typical checkout?

---
James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

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#944685 3-Dec-2013 13:01

Hmmmm. Here we go.

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graemeh

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#944690 3-Dec-2013 13:05

I would not be put off at all by being directed to Trade Me.

It might even give me more confidence that you were legit and not some scam site setup to take money and not deliver.

kingjj

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#944692 3-Dec-2013 13:06

Do you offer Pay Now through your TradeMe listings? Personally given the choice between a store with a checkout that I don't know the history of (if found organically via a search) and a TradeMe store/user with a good history and the protection of using Pay Now, I'd opt for the latter. Than again if both options were offered and there was an incentive to purchase off the website directly (eg combined/free shipping) than that may well swing it to the websites advantage.

sleemanj

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#944694 3-Dec-2013 13:07

kingjj: Do you offer Pay Now through your TradeMe listings?

Yes.

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James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

gzt

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#944697 3-Dec-2013 13:09

So, if you stumbled across a gallery site like mine, would you be put-off by being directed to purchase the items on Trademe, rather than a more typical checkout?

As a Kiwi, no. I know TradeMe and I can see your reputation on TradeMe which increases trust.

Buyer locating and purchasing multiple small items if your inventory is large could be a problem. Backordering could be a problem don't think TradeMe allows that.

nakedmolerat

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#944730 3-Dec-2013 13:53

Trademe + PayNow = Business from me

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nate

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#944802 3-Dec-2013 15:18

My Dad runs a small online store selling gardening stuff. Interestingly, after we setup his online shop, he's seen a major swing from the majority of business coming off TradeMe, to most of it going through his online shop.

My 2 cents is if you're running a good online shop, it's not too hard to get the best of both worlds.

reven

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#944807 3-Dec-2013 15:24

usually ill see what is cheaper, trademe prices are often higher due to the fees. you often saw the same seller on trademe and sella.co.nz but items were 10% or so cheaper on sella due to no fees.

Demeter

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#944831 3-Dec-2013 16:02

kingjj: Do you offer Pay Now through your TradeMe listings? Personally given the choice between a store with a checkout that I don't know the history of (if found organically via a search) and a TradeMe store/user with a good history and the protection of using Pay Now, I'd opt for the latter. Than again if both options were offered and there was an incentive to purchase off the website directly (eg combined/free shipping) than that may well swing it to the websites advantage.

I couldn't agree with this more. The Pay Now option also happens to dictate who I purchase items from off TM. No PN? No Sale.

Edit: This obviously only applies to new items from stores. Secondhand stuff I don't mind hitting online banking for.

b0untypure1

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#944847 3-Dec-2013 16:25

yea i prefer trademe as their support is great and since we are buying from a business, buyers can have protections from the relevant legislation

sleemanj

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#944866 3-Dec-2013 16:48

Thanks everybody, seems to be a consensus that having to actually do the purchase on trade me isn't going to really be a deal breaker for most people (well, not given the type of products I sell), and that for a lot of us it's actually preferable.

Pretty much goes along with what I thought it would be.

---
James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

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Geektastic

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#944872 3-Dec-2013 17:11

graemeh: I would not be put off at all by being directed to Trade Me.

It might even give me more confidence that you were legit and not some scam site setup to take money and not deliver.

Coz that never happens on Trade Me...!

If TM ever gets professional and starts emulating things like Buyer Protection as found on Ebay, I think it will be a lot better. People use it because it is more or less all there is, not because it is the best example of the genre.

TwoSeven

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#944881 3-Dec-2013 17:44

Web sites are really what I would call a 'point of presence' into your sales and inventory system if one could think of it that way.

Trademe and EBay (and other sites) generally have an API that one can use to automate ones sales, which means that one can use ones own order inventory system to manage stock.

If I were creating a private retail site, I would apart from ensuring that had a good sales and feedback mechanism that integrated with my back-end system, I would focus on ensuring that it promoted my branding to the market demographic I was targeting.

The answer to the original question would be that I would probably buy from someone if I trusted their brand (how that occurs is a different question).

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DarthKermit

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#944914 3-Dec-2013 18:31

I've never (yet) had any problems or scams either with buying or selling thru trademe. Not to say that others haven't had some trouble.

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

Hammerer

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#944925 3-Dec-2013 18:46

It is worth having an e-commerce website if you plan on growing your business. There's options at TradeMe like getting a TM store, using TradeVine or another integrated product for your website.

I use Trade Me because of the range of products that I can access through one registration. I use Amazon for similar reasons. You can leverage that TM registration through those solutions that integrate with TM.

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