An equity company Apax Partners is making a bid for it. That will probably kill Trademe.

Was hoping I would read that Ebay is buying it so it gets disbanded and Ebay launches here.

Are Trademe worth that much more than the sum of their customer base?

I suspect the fees could climb higher without too much backlash, at least enough for a net gain in the short term. They're relatively untouchable in NZ's eCommerce circle.

I would say its a pump and dump. Buy it, sit on it for 3 - 5 years will stripping assets out and cutting costs, paint great picture for relist to stock exchange, run away.

I have had some experience with Apax. I was a freelancer at a European company that they bought and subsequently sold.

Their business model is buying companies, doing a bit of a renno job and then selling them on.

If they are going to make a firm offer for trademe, you can be certain that they will already have a strategy for how they would eventually sell the business a few years down the line.

They do not seem to make a habit of relisting companies on the share markets, normally they just go for a trade sale to an existing player.

It is also possible that they may turn out to be a bit of a stalking horse and their offer flushes out interest from Amazon, Alibaba or Ebay.

Have been using marketplace and aliexpress mainly, Trademe barely gets my atten anymore. Sold a car on Marketplace within 48hours, no fees and got what I wanted. I'll keep the $50 listing fee thanks very much.  

tehgerbil:

 

Are Trademe worth that much more than the sum of their customer base?

 

I suspect the fees could climb higher without too much backlash, at least enough for a net gain in the short term. They're relatively untouchable in NZ's eCommerce circle.

 

The fees are already very high for some sale methods. My wife sold a phone and the buyer used Afterpay. With that and the TM fees it cost her almost $60 to sell a $700 phone.

marketplace as in facebook?

Geektastic:

 

tehgerbil:

 

Are Trademe worth that much more than the sum of their customer base?

 

I suspect the fees could climb higher without too much backlash, at least enough for a net gain in the short term. They're relatively untouchable in NZ's eCommerce circle.

 

 

 

 

The fees are already very high for some sale methods. My wife sold a phone and the buyer used Afterpay. With that and the TM fees it cost her almost $60 to sell a $700 phone.

 

Yeah, just started selling a fair bit of stuff on Trademe in the last few weeks and agree, the fees are just crazy.

Batman:

 

marketplace as in facebook?

 

Yes. This message is directed at everyone: DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THAT MARKETPLACE UNLESS ITS A FACE TO FACE TRANSACTION. DO NOT EXCHANGE GOODS WITH PARTIAL PAYMENT

agree, unless I can pay on pick up i'm not paying for stuff sight unseen. although most people that get burnt often let the whole group know they have been ripped off. makes for entertaining reading. 

I really wish there was a decent competitor to Trademe. They all failed, some in a most epic fashion.

Allgoods

Wheedle

ListSellTrade

SellShed

Geta

Any I've missed? Haha..

Pretty tough to crack the buy/sell market unless you already have an established customer base.

Few buyers will visit your site unless you have a large range of goods across different groups
Whilst at the same time unless you a large customer base few sellers will be bothered to list.