Loving and Hating TradeMe

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misterwindup

7 posts

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#39500 15-Aug-2009 10:25

Some thougths and questons, re: TradeMe

1. did you notice they're now pushing bigger adds (make huge money from these)? I block these ads with adblock plus (using 'easylist) in the firefox browswer - works great! Spread the word!

2. does anybody know: TM asks to round up sales to give a donation, which is good, but does TM match that donation (or give any themselves - hypocritical??)

3. any ideas whether TM qualifies as having Monopoly status in NZ? Sella, etc, are not competition ...

4. trade-me is a well run site, but they are way too expensive on high price items (just paid $64 after selling a computer)

THOUGHTS?

Richard (@ iHelp, auckland)

tardtasticx

3075 posts

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#246888 15-Aug-2009 10:52

They have to change the success fee, yes, its way to high. I'm not sure if it counts as a monopoly though, since there is other competition it the market.

Aaroona

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#246895 15-Aug-2009 11:07

The Sucess fee HAS to change.

I rarely use Trade Me now since it costs to much to sell stuff on there.

Success fees
Up to $150 6.9% of sale price (50c minimum)
$150 - $1500 $10.35 + 4.5% of sale price over $150
Over $1500 $71.10 + 1.9% of sale price over $1500
(max fee = $149)

That is honestly the most ridiculous thing I've heard. You'd think they'd be trying to make it easier for people to sell stuff (especially right now when things are so hard)

As far as the ads go, I haven't seen an ad for almost a year (adblockplus =D)

But I just turned it off, and It does seem they have gotten bigger..
I would be happy to turn off my ad blocker if the success fee's were reduced.

as it is, when I surf Geekzone, I have set my adblocker to auto-disable while on the site ( I mean, I'm not paying for a subscription, so why not view a few ads).

As far as a monopoly, I don't believe they have a monopoly, since there ARE other trading sites that are up and running.

The only reason TradeMe is so huge, is because they got into the market before all these other trading sites were available.

But I do feel there needs to be some more competition, since the prices are now too high

magu

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#246944 15-Aug-2009 13:19

I actually don't mind the success fees (although they could go down) because the site always worked for me. Bought a car for $400 and sold for $1700. Sold a single bed in less than 30 minutes. Bought inumerous items at very good prices.

Can't really complain when it clearly works well for me. Just put another 2 couches and a computer desk on it today, and althought it cost me almost $10 to list everything, I'm sure there will be ROI.

"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads." - Doc Emmet Brown

antbs

370 posts

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#247003 15-Aug-2009 18:03

misterwindup: Some thougths and questons, re: TradeMe

1. did you notice they're now pushing bigger adds (make huge money from these)? I block these ads with adblock plus (using 'easylist) in the firefox browswer - works great! Spread the word!

2. does anybody know: TM asks to round up sales to give a donation, which is good, but does TM match that donation (or give any themselves - hypocritical??)

3. any ideas whether TM qualifies as having Monopoly status in NZ? Sella, etc, are not competition ...

4. trade-me is a well run site, but they are way too expensive on high price items (just paid $64 after selling a computer)

THOUGHTS?

Richard (@ iHelp, auckland)

my reply:

1. Noticed this too, got to get AdBlock Plus back on my Firefox!
2. Hypocritical indeed- especially with the killing they are making
3. Oh yeah it's a monopoly.. the thing about online auction sites is people go where the most people are. That's why sellmefree failed, sure it's great to list but you have no one buying your stuff
4. I agree with you totally on this point. For someone who runs a business on TradeMe, each time you sell a computer you are stung with a $70 fee. If you are only making $350 on an auction it's crazy.

I'm also very glad TradeMe doessn't let you incorporate HTML into your auctions. However video in your auctions like vzaar (vzaar.com) does would be great.

Sellanz

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#247110 16-Aug-2009 07:48

My thoughts were the same as you, hence why I started sella.co.nz. It was the same why I started finda.co.nz.

Success fees are things that really kills sales, yes, trademe has pretty much everyone in NZ using it, but in every other classified vertical there is always a solid number 2 keeping the number 1 player honest.

Thats the plan for sella.co.nz - we have only been going since just before christmas, so thats about 9 months, and this month we should have over 350,000 odd users. We are adding over 3,000 new members each week. In fact we have more or less grown by 50% in the last 4 weeks alone. We now have thousands of bids a day which really is the key stat - people need to sell stuff, but before that, we need people to list stuff.

TradeMe is a hard nut to crack, but I'm taking a long term view on this, and bringing the experience of building finda into a 750,000+ user a month site, I think we can create a decent competitor to them.

Any feedback that anyone can give is much appreciated.

Shane
founder sella.co.nz

nate

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#247191 16-Aug-2009 14:19

misterwindup: 2. does anybody know: TM asks to round up sales to give a donation, which is good, but does TM match that donation (or give any themselves - hypocritical??)

I don't think so. Rounding up is voluntary so it's up to the seller to decide whether or not to do so. If it was compulsory and TM weren't also donating, then it'd be hypocritical

misterwindup: 3. any ideas whether TM qualifies as having Monopoly status in NZ? Sella, etc, are not competition ...

I wouldn't say monopoly as they aren't the only ones in the online market. You also have Zillion, sella etc. They are competition as they offer the same service as TradeMe. I would say TradeMe is more of the market leader in online auctions.

4. trade-me is a well run site, but they are way too expensive on high price items (just paid $64 after selling a computer)

If you don't like their pricing, find another avenue to buy/sell. Easy.

misterwindup

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#247459 17-Aug-2009 08:27

Followup from my initial post....

I think when we look long-term, there's no future for TradeMe style big-business sites. I think the future is in a free sites, like Craigslist (but auction based), that are totally mediated by users.

The question is one of mechanism: how do you shift users off something everyone uses even though it's horrible w/ its rates and charges, like PayPal, Ebay, TradeMe... ? Simple example: organize all major sellers to agree to shift to a free site on a certain day. Most people using TM are buyers, so they don't care about rates, and most sales are one-offs of this and that (garage sale), so rates are no big deal. But when you sell your post-warranty computer for $1100, rates matter. And for small businesses, a 5% cut can be 50% of the profit for the seller.

The idea "go elsewhere if you don't like it" is not every interesting. It's right up there with "if you don't like the government, vote for someone else." The reality is that only organized change will bring about a better situation for NZ. Otherwise, you're just punishing yourself and nothing changes.

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magu

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#247471 17-Aug-2009 08:57

I think it's in the perception. I actually don't think TradeMe is "horrible w/ its rates and charges", like you said. I do think they deliver on what I pay.

"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads." - Doc Emmet Brown

Kaos36

709 posts

Ultimate Geek

#248732 19-Aug-2009 18:57

Trademe banned me from their messageboards years ago cause i got in an argument with a gamer on their who would go round accusing everyone of being a pirate this person who was in her 50's & a game reviewer (in her own words) thought she was kingpin of the MB one time. And if you didn't agree with her well then you must be into piracy. Stupid cow! Ended up telling her where to go got a warning didn't listen told her where to go again got another warning again i didn't listen 3rd time i was banned. I can still trade though.

Few months later there she was doing her anti piracy rounds in TM, accusing a seller of piracy in his Auction! Turned out he wasn't pirating so (finally) TM banned her! Best day of my life when i found out she was banned. :D

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freitasm

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#248736 19-Aug-2009 18:59

Kaos36: Trademe banned me from their messageboards years ago cause i got in an argument with a gamer on their who would go round accusing everyone of being a pirate this person who was in her 50's & a game reviewer (in her own words) thought she was kingpin of the MB one time. And if you didn't agree with her well then you must be into piracy. Stupid cow! Ended up telling her where to go got a warning didn't listen told her where to go again got another warning again i didn't listen 3rd time i was banned. I can still trade though.

No surprise... Whatever someone does to you most Internet places (including Geekzone) won't allow personal attacks.

Kaos36

709 posts

Ultimate Geek

#249675 22-Aug-2009 15:07

freitasm:
Kaos36: Trademe banned me from their messageboards years ago cause i got in an argument with a gamer on their who would go round accusing everyone of being a pirate this person who was in her 50's & a game reviewer (in her own words) thought she was kingpin of the MB one time. And if you didn't agree with her well then you must be into piracy. Stupid cow! Ended up telling her where to go got a warning didn't listen told her where to go again got another warning again i didn't listen 3rd time i was banned. I can still trade though.

No surprise... Whatever someone does to you most Internet places (including Geekzone) won't allow personal attacks.

Haha you dont visit TM 'Opinion' part of the MB's the abuse and put downs just make me cringe at times that im a kiwi - racisism, abusive posts, targetting, baiting others and rampant trolling is allowed. I was a moderator for a forum for 4yrs and it was pretty laid back in its rulz yet we never would allow some of the things that go on in TMMBs

My telling this woman where to go wasn't abuse, it was disagreeing with her everybodies a piracte stand. Apparantly she made a few phone calls to TM yet i never once went running to TM. - you couldn't even say where can i download the latest patch without being accused of piracy - in fact she had no idea - downloading game patchs aint piracy she was an idiot in my books. She was also banned from www.gpforums.co.nz for doing the same thing.

TM have a lazy Moderating setup if there was mods in those MB's seen doing their work that place wouldn't be like it is in places like Opinions/general/ Oh and stay away from Parenting!

you want someone to get a warning all you have to do is ring them even if its not abuse at all or get 10 of your mates (voting gangs) to vote a post and TM will give you a warning. TM MB is total fail worse place to post in all of the kiwi forums ive visited - Moderators should be seen doing the rounds on those boards. They are just lazy.

Worst Response To A Crisis:
From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs damage my videotapes?"