TradeMe
Encyclopedia
Trade Me is the largest Internet-auction
website operating in New Zealand
. Managed by Trade Me Ltd the site was founded in 1999 by New Zealand entrepreneur
Sam Morgan
who sold it to Fairfax in 2006 for NZ$700 million. Trade Me Ltd also operates several sister websites including Find Someone, Old Friends, Travelbug, Safe Trader, Holiday Houses and Treat Me.
Trade Me's website is the second most visited in New Zealand after Google New Zealand
, and is ranked 1,213th globally according to Alexa Internet
. As of 2006, the group of sites collectively generate over 60% of all web traffic originating in New Zealand. In a country with a population around 4,177,000,
the Trade Me site has around 2,391,752 active members, with approximately 70,000 people online
and 1,390,000 auctions running during peak hours.http://www.trademe.co.nz/
Participating traders primarily use New Zealand's banking system to settle payments, although Trade Me now offers sellers the ability to accept credit card payments by 'Pay Now'. Australian sellers must have a New Zealand bank-account, while sellers from other countries are not allowed on the site, which reduces the potential for fraud. Many buyers pay cash on pickup with larger items — probably partially due to the relative concentration of the New Zealand population in a relatively small number of urban areas.
Trade Me shares many features with other online auction-websites, such as eBay
. Some of these features include "Buy Now", "Auto bidding" and the Safe Trader escrow
service. Members in New Zealand can become "Address Verified" by confirming their street-address, and sellers may choose to block unverified members from bidding.
Sam Morgan
founded Trade Me during the first few months of 1999, constructing the site while working full-time for Deloitte
as a technology-consultant. Within Deloitte, Morgan worked on Internet projects and supply-chain
issues.
During this time he witnessed the successes of online business
es like eBay, Yahoo etc., as well as the disasters of the dotcom bubble.
According to Trade Me legend,
Morgan, then 23 years old, decided to found the Trade Me site when, despite searching online, he could not find a heater for his flat
in Wellington
. The Trade & Exchange site had a heater for sale, but held back listings for a week before publishing them online, and by the time Morgan made contact with the heater's owner, the item in question had already sold.
Morgan describes the initial designing and building of Trade Me thus:
The site went online in March 1999 after Morgan pulled together as much funding as he could. It gained 155 members in its first week on the Internet.
In its early stages Morgan humorously listed Trade Me for sale on eBay with a $1 million buy-now price. Though eBay withdrew Morgan's auction, the prank sparked some interest among New Zealanders who realized the potential of online trading.
Trade Me developed slowly initially, because its founder had little funding to pay for the costs of hosting and of expanding the site. In addition, Trade Me initially offered a completely free service for both buyers and sellers, a strategy for expanding its member-base at the cost of short-term revenue. With little money and time available to work on the site, Morgan made the critical decision to sell almost half of his new company to his former Deloitte colleagues, bringing him around $75,000.
By August 1999 membership had risen to 3500, and Morgan could dedicate most of his time and funding to the site. The early strategy for Trade Me involved simply increasing its user-base and encouraging members to refer their friends to the site. Trade Me launched the Safe Trader escrow
service about this time.
For a snapshot of Trade Me's early development see the Internet Archive
's Trade Me archive.
The running Kiwi
in the Trade Me logo is named "Kevin" or "Kev" and his name can be seen by hovering over the site logo. Trade Me often change the logo and stylise Kevin to reflect major events in the calendar.
In its early years Trade Me continued to struggle, slowly increasing its user-base, but facing financial challenges. The site initially used web-banner
s, but falling prices for advertising made web-banner revenue insufficient to cover expenses. Trade Me then introduced fees for auction services: first for features such as bold titles; then in September 2000 it introduced "success fees". This action proved the turning point for Trade Me, saving the site from potential financial disaster. Much of the success to come was based around the 'Trade Me Manifesto', a series of #10 values for keeping the site fast and the company technology focussed.
eBay
tried to enter the New Zealand market in 2001, but had little success. Trade Me has remained the major Internet-auction site in New Zealand, with both international and smaller national competitors gaining relatively little market penetration. Morgan commented on eBay's attempt to penetrate the New Zealand market in an interview:
Morgan took time off from the stress
of running the booming Trade Me site in September 2001, and went to the United Kingdom
to manage an IT
team
in London
. When he returned to his role at Trade Me the site had become profitable, with a membership of 100,000 and growing. By April 2005 this number reached one million.
In 2005 New Zealand's Deloitte/Unlimited Fast 50 rated TradeMe the fastest-growing NZ technology company for the previous year.
On 6 March 2006 the Australian media company Fairfax acquired Trade Me in a deal worth NZ$700 million, with an additional NZ$50 million payable if the organisation met earnings-targets over the next two years. (Those targets were met.) Sam Morgan and other executives remained with Trade Me.
Since the Fairfax purchase, Trade Me has continued to stand alone, with the former Fairfax NZ sites Jobstuff and Propertystuff being discontinued.
The Trade Me site has a general messageboard where members can participate in discussions on a variety of topics, ask questions and seek advice. Controversial postings or flame-wars have occasionally resulted in interference in auctions by members with opposing views.
The Trade Me messageboard is community moderated: a post or thread may be voted off by as few as 10 members if they deem it offensive. This has led to abuse by certain members and groups who vote off popular threads that otherwise comply with the messageboard guidelines.
To help combat this problem www.votemenot.co.nz was created in November 2008 to allow messageboard members to archive threads that they feel may be voted off or expire.
The Trade Me messageboard received a major user interface upgrade in October 2009, adding 'quote' functionality and search.
The online map site smaps, which provided convenient access to New Zealand street map
s, was permanently closed in December 2008, leaving the niche to sites like Google Maps
and zoomin.co.nz. Smaps was previously embedded in Trade Me Property & Travelbug listings ; both now use Google Maps.
Trade Me sites include:
In particular the left hand navigation pane was removed from the homepage, and the whole site moved to a fixed width design. Ex. staffer Rowan summarised the changes.
Members can report fraud or listing that are in breach of the Terms and Conditions" via the "Community Watch" (CW) feature, sited at the bottom of every auction. Contact with staff can also be made via the 'Contact Us' link at the bottom of every page however Trade Me does not provide a direct email address for customer support.
A website, www.scambusters.co.nz, functioned as an independent group of watchers of fraud on TradeMe. The group comprises amateur online members, and while they presented themselves as a site for reporting fraud on TradeMe, they had no affiliation to TradeMe, and therefore no access to some of the information or help that potential victims might need.
To minimise payment-problems and reduce fraud, TradeMe restricted membership to residents of New Zealand and of Australia
in 2005. This affected around 20,000 international members.
Trade Me's terms and conditions did not always specify a restriction to persons over eighteen years of age, although any user under the age of eighteen can not negotiate a legally binding contract
. As recently as October 2005 the "Terms and Conditions" merely stated: "Becoming a member is free and there are no restrictions on who may become a member of Trade Me", with no mention of an under-eighteen-years-of-age ban. Prior to mid-2005 Trade Me did not restrict under-age users, even allowing them to enter in their correct birthdates upon sign-up. In June 2005 Fair Go
,
a television-programme devoted to consumer-affairs
, approached Trade Me Limited regarding this issue and featured the matter on a broadcast episode. In response to this, Trade Me Limited sent all the users who registered their date of birth as under eighteen an e-mail asking them to check and update their details if incorrect. Trade Me no longer allows users to register if they enter a birth-date indicating their age as under eighteen, but people under eighteen may simply represent themselves as older when they join.
In 2006 Trade Me laid a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority
(ASA) over the advertising of its largest property market competitor, Realestate.co.nz. According to the complaint, Realestate.co.nz, (run jointly by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) and Property Page Ltd) had misled consumers with their advertisements with their slogan: "the only place with every place". Trade Me stated that it had properties listed on the Trade Me website which Realestate.co.nz did not have. Trade Me also detailed other reasons why Realestate.co.nz had allegedly breached the ASA's code of ethics and comparative advertising. The ASA upheld parts of the complaint.
On 6 November 2008 the National Business Review
said TradeMe tried to "bully" its rival Lixtor
. TradeMe said Lixtor was just trying to draw media attention.
On 20 November 2008, a community newspaper The Aucklander also reported that TradeMe's lawyers asked Lixtor to remove their "Terms and Conditions"
On 3 February 2009, in the wake of the emerging New Zealand copyright law Section 92a, New Zealand Creative Freedom Foundation published an article. It was stated that Lixtor vs. TradeMe case is a good example of how the new section 92a in the New Zealand copyright law could be "misused", if passed.
On 19 August 2006 the New Zealand Listener
published an article, "Bidding War" on one such developer. The developer, Ciaran Riddell, created a piece of software, AuctionBar, which used a technique known as screen scraping. The software allowed for more detailed searches for goods on sale as well as bids and updates via text-messaging
and a tool known as a "sniper", which acted as an automated bidding-tool.
Trade Me have since amended the "Terms and Conditions" of the Trade Me website which now specifies "You may not use a robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the Website or information featured on it for any purpose" under s4.1(c).
On 7 May 2007 TradeMe released a Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget
to run in the Windows Sidebar. This gadget, available on the TradeMe site, became the first sanctioned application to work with TradeMe. As the Vista Gadget
requires an XML Feed
, the gadget caused further discussion in the developer-community about why TradeMe did not have an API. It also led to other creations by the developer-community on top of Vista Gadget.
Trade me has now released an official API.
Note: Withdrawn auctions become unviewable after 60 days and bid histories after 45.
books about Trade Me have appeared:
Online auction business model
The online auction business model is one in which participants bid for products and services over the Internet. The functionality of buying and selling in an auction format is made possible through auction software which regulates the various processes involved.Several types of online auctions are...
website operating in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. Managed by Trade Me Ltd the site was founded in 1999 by New Zealand entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
Sam Morgan
Sam Morgan (entrepreneur)
Sam Morgan is best known as the founder of TradeMe, New Zealand's largest online auction site, which he sold in 2006 to Australian media company Fairfax for over NZ$750 million.- Personal history :...
who sold it to Fairfax in 2006 for NZ$700 million. Trade Me Ltd also operates several sister websites including Find Someone, Old Friends, Travelbug, Safe Trader, Holiday Houses and Treat Me.
Trade Me's website is the second most visited in New Zealand after Google New Zealand
Google search
Google or Google Web Search is a web search engine owned by Google Inc. Google Search is the most-used search engine on the World Wide Web, receiving several hundred million queries each day through its various services....
, and is ranked 1,213th globally according to Alexa Internet
Alexa Internet
Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and Web site. Once installed, the toolbar collects data on browsing behavior which is transmitted to the Web site where it is stored and analyzed and is the basis for the company's Web traffic...
. As of 2006, the group of sites collectively generate over 60% of all web traffic originating in New Zealand. In a country with a population around 4,177,000,
the Trade Me site has around 2,391,752 active members, with approximately 70,000 people online
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
and 1,390,000 auctions running during peak hours.http://www.trademe.co.nz/
Participating traders primarily use New Zealand's banking system to settle payments, although Trade Me now offers sellers the ability to accept credit card payments by 'Pay Now'. Australian sellers must have a New Zealand bank-account, while sellers from other countries are not allowed on the site, which reduces the potential for fraud. Many buyers pay cash on pickup with larger items — probably partially due to the relative concentration of the New Zealand population in a relatively small number of urban areas.
Trade Me shares many features with other online auction-websites, such as eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
. Some of these features include "Buy Now", "Auto bidding" and the Safe Trader escrow
Escrow
An escrow is:* an arrangement made under contractual provisions between transacting parties, whereby an independent trusted third party receives and disburses money and/or documents for the transacting parties, with the timing of such disbursement by the third party dependent on the fulfillment of...
service. Members in New Zealand can become "Address Verified" by confirming their street-address, and sellers may choose to block unverified members from bidding.
Origins and early development
Sam Morgan (entrepreneur)
Sam Morgan is best known as the founder of TradeMe, New Zealand's largest online auction site, which he sold in 2006 to Australian media company Fairfax for over NZ$750 million.- Personal history :...
founded Trade Me during the first few months of 1999, constructing the site while working full-time for Deloitte
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited , commonly referred to as Deloitte, is one of the Big Four accountancy firms along with PricewaterhouseCoopers , Ernst & Young, and KPMG....
as a technology-consultant. Within Deloitte, Morgan worked on Internet projects and supply-chain
Supply chain
A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. Supply chain activities transform natural resources, raw materials and components into a finished product that is delivered to...
issues.
During this time he witnessed the successes of online business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
es like eBay, Yahoo etc., as well as the disasters of the dotcom bubble.
Morgan, then 23 years old, decided to found the Trade Me site when, despite searching online, he could not find a heater for his flat
Apartment
An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...
in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
. The Trade & Exchange site had a heater for sale, but held back listings for a week before publishing them online, and by the time Morgan made contact with the heater's owner, the item in question had already sold.
Morgan describes the initial designing and building of Trade Me thus:
"Some time later we were in a backpackers in Sydney and got evicted because it was overbooked. We went up to some backwater because it was the only accommodation we could find. Anyway, there was nothing to do, so that night I started drawing a data model. So it sort of started there really. Then when I came back to Wellington I literally sat on the couch and built the site on a laptop over a five- or six-week period."
The site went online in March 1999 after Morgan pulled together as much funding as he could. It gained 155 members in its first week on the Internet.
In its early stages Morgan humorously listed Trade Me for sale on eBay with a $1 million buy-now price. Though eBay withdrew Morgan's auction, the prank sparked some interest among New Zealanders who realized the potential of online trading.
Trade Me developed slowly initially, because its founder had little funding to pay for the costs of hosting and of expanding the site. In addition, Trade Me initially offered a completely free service for both buyers and sellers, a strategy for expanding its member-base at the cost of short-term revenue. With little money and time available to work on the site, Morgan made the critical decision to sell almost half of his new company to his former Deloitte colleagues, bringing him around $75,000.
By August 1999 membership had risen to 3500, and Morgan could dedicate most of his time and funding to the site. The early strategy for Trade Me involved simply increasing its user-base and encouraging members to refer their friends to the site. Trade Me launched the Safe Trader escrow
Escrow
An escrow is:* an arrangement made under contractual provisions between transacting parties, whereby an independent trusted third party receives and disburses money and/or documents for the transacting parties, with the timing of such disbursement by the third party dependent on the fulfillment of...
service about this time.
For a snapshot of Trade Me's early development see the Internet Archive
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
's Trade Me archive.
The running Kiwi
Kiwi
Kiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, in the genus Apteryx and family Apterygidae.At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world...
in the Trade Me logo is named "Kevin" or "Kev" and his name can be seen by hovering over the site logo. Trade Me often change the logo and stylise Kevin to reflect major events in the calendar.
Growth and expansion
Web banner
A web banner or banner ad is a form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking to the website of the advertiser...
s, but falling prices for advertising made web-banner revenue insufficient to cover expenses. Trade Me then introduced fees for auction services: first for features such as bold titles; then in September 2000 it introduced "success fees". This action proved the turning point for Trade Me, saving the site from potential financial disaster. Much of the success to come was based around the 'Trade Me Manifesto', a series of #10 values for keeping the site fast and the company technology focussed.
eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
tried to enter the New Zealand market in 2001, but had little success. Trade Me has remained the major Internet-auction site in New Zealand, with both international and smaller national competitors gaining relatively little market penetration. Morgan commented on eBay's attempt to penetrate the New Zealand market in an interview:
- "...I think there are big cultural issues there that are just not well understood. For example the Americans think that everyone has a zip code [...] they were a little late in and then they launched in US dollars."
Morgan took time off from the stress
Stress (medicine)
Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...
of running the booming Trade Me site in September 2001, and went to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to manage an IT
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
team
Team
A team comprises a group of people or animals linked in a common purpose. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks.A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. When he returned to his role at Trade Me the site had become profitable, with a membership of 100,000 and growing. By April 2005 this number reached one million.
In 2005 New Zealand's Deloitte/Unlimited Fast 50 rated TradeMe the fastest-growing NZ technology company for the previous year.
Acquisition by Fairfax
Since the Fairfax purchase, Trade Me has continued to stand alone, with the former Fairfax NZ sites Jobstuff and Propertystuff being discontinued.
Listings
Trade Me has increased its scope over time, and offers a wide range of listing-possibilities. Customers can list the following items and positions on Trade Me:- general items
- motors: cars, motorbikes and boats
- property
- jobs
- rental property
- flatmates wanted
Community and related sites
The Trade Me messageboard is community moderated: a post or thread may be voted off by as few as 10 members if they deem it offensive. This has led to abuse by certain members and groups who vote off popular threads that otherwise comply with the messageboard guidelines.
To help combat this problem www.votemenot.co.nz was created in November 2008 to allow messageboard members to archive threads that they feel may be voted off or expire.
The Trade Me messageboard received a major user interface upgrade in October 2009, adding 'quote' functionality and search.
The online map site smaps, which provided convenient access to New Zealand street map
Street map
A street map is a map showing roads and streets in a district or entire city. Street maps are great tools for navigating cities, towns or communities. They are available in printed forms, online on the Internet or on mobile phones with GPRS connection....
s, was permanently closed in December 2008, leaving the niche to sites like Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
and zoomin.co.nz. Smaps was previously embedded in Trade Me Property & Travelbug listings ; both now use Google Maps.
Trade Me sites include:
- TradeMe - the main Trade Me auction site
- SafeTrader - escrow service for Trade Me auctions
- Find Someone - a matchmaking/dating site
- Old Friends - finding old school friends and workmates
- Travelbug - booking travel/hotel accommodation
- Holiday Houses - booking holiday homes/baches - rental accommodation
- Treat Me - group buying local deals site.
Development
Trade Me received a major user interface upgrade in 2009. This new look Trade Me updated the look and feel of the site, and kept it up with developing web standards.In particular the left hand navigation pane was removed from the homepage, and the whole site moved to a fixed width design. Ex. staffer Rowan summarised the changes.
Fraud and controversy
As a fairly open marketplace which is recognised globally, Trade Me experiences the same problems (such as fraudsters) as any online auction website does, and users need to exercise vigilance. In , Trade Me set up a dedicated team which investigates fraud on-site and has a 100% record in gaining convictions for those offenders identified as using Trade Me as a medium.Members can report fraud or listing that are in breach of the Terms and Conditions" via the "Community Watch" (CW) feature, sited at the bottom of every auction. Contact with staff can also be made via the 'Contact Us' link at the bottom of every page however Trade Me does not provide a direct email address for customer support.
A website, www.scambusters.co.nz, functioned as an independent group of watchers of fraud on TradeMe. The group comprises amateur online members, and while they presented themselves as a site for reporting fraud on TradeMe, they had no affiliation to TradeMe, and therefore no access to some of the information or help that potential victims might need.
To minimise payment-problems and reduce fraud, TradeMe restricted membership to residents of New Zealand and of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 2005. This affected around 20,000 international members.
Trade Me's terms and conditions did not always specify a restriction to persons over eighteen years of age, although any user under the age of eighteen can not negotiate a legally binding contract
Contract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
. As recently as October 2005 the "Terms and Conditions" merely stated: "Becoming a member is free and there are no restrictions on who may become a member of Trade Me", with no mention of an under-eighteen-years-of-age ban. Prior to mid-2005 Trade Me did not restrict under-age users, even allowing them to enter in their correct birthdates upon sign-up. In June 2005 Fair Go
Fair Go
Fair Go is a New Zealand consumer affairs television program now co-hosted by Gordon Harcourt and Alison Mau. First aired in 1977, it is one of New Zealand's longest-running and highest-rated programmes, frequently placed high in the New Zealand TV Guide list of most viewed programs.Fair Go...
,
a television-programme devoted to consumer-affairs
Consumer protection
Consumer protection laws designed to ensure fair trade competition and the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. The laws are designed to prevent businesses that engage in fraud or specified unfair practices from gaining an advantage over competitors and may provide additional...
, approached Trade Me Limited regarding this issue and featured the matter on a broadcast episode. In response to this, Trade Me Limited sent all the users who registered their date of birth as under eighteen an e-mail asking them to check and update their details if incorrect. Trade Me no longer allows users to register if they enter a birth-date indicating their age as under eighteen, but people under eighteen may simply represent themselves as older when they join.
Clashes with rivals
Advertising Standards Authority (New Zealand)
The Advertising Standards Authority is an organisation that investigates breaches of advertising standards in New Zealand.In 2008 there is a total of $2.3 billion spent on advertising in New Zealand. These advertisements attracted 671 complaints to the ASA with 153 being upheld or settled...
(ASA) over the advertising of its largest property market competitor, Realestate.co.nz. According to the complaint, Realestate.co.nz, (run jointly by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) and Property Page Ltd) had misled consumers with their advertisements with their slogan: "the only place with every place". Trade Me stated that it had properties listed on the Trade Me website which Realestate.co.nz did not have. Trade Me also detailed other reasons why Realestate.co.nz had allegedly breached the ASA's code of ethics and comparative advertising. The ASA upheld parts of the complaint.
On 6 November 2008 the National Business Review
National Business Review
The National Business Review is a weekly New Zealand newspaper aimed at the business sector. The paper is owned by Barry Colman who also publishes the Grocers Review and several other small trade publications....
said TradeMe tried to "bully" its rival Lixtor
Lixtor
Lixtor is an Internet-auction website operating in New Zealand since 2005, as a free alternative to currently dominant "paid" online-trading website in New Zealand, TradeMe....
. TradeMe said Lixtor was just trying to draw media attention.
On 20 November 2008, a community newspaper The Aucklander also reported that TradeMe's lawyers asked Lixtor to remove their "Terms and Conditions"
On 3 February 2009, in the wake of the emerging New Zealand copyright law Section 92a, New Zealand Creative Freedom Foundation published an article. It was stated that Lixtor vs. TradeMe case is a good example of how the new section 92a in the New Zealand copyright law could be "misused", if passed.
Clashes with software developers
Various software developers have received legal threats after developing third-party software which interfaces with the Trade Me website.On 19 August 2006 the New Zealand Listener
New Zealand Listener
The New Zealand Listener is a New Zealand magazine. First published in 1939 and edited by Oliver Duff and the Monte Holcroft it originally had a monopoly on the publication of of upcoming television and radio programmes. In the 1980s it lost its monopoly on the publication of upcoming television...
published an article, "Bidding War" on one such developer. The developer, Ciaran Riddell, created a piece of software, AuctionBar, which used a technique known as screen scraping. The software allowed for more detailed searches for goods on sale as well as bids and updates via text-messaging
Text messaging
Text messaging, or texting, refers to the exchange of brief written text messages between fixed-line phone or mobile phone and fixed or portable devices over a network...
and a tool known as a "sniper", which acted as an automated bidding-tool.
Trade Me have since amended the "Terms and Conditions" of the Trade Me website which now specifies "You may not use a robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the Website or information featured on it for any purpose" under s4.1(c).
On 7 May 2007 TradeMe released a Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget
Microsoft Gadgets
Microsoft Gadgets are lightweight single-purpose applications, or software widgets, that can sit on a Microsoft Windows user's computer desktop, or are hosted on a web page...
to run in the Windows Sidebar. This gadget, available on the TradeMe site, became the first sanctioned application to work with TradeMe. As the Vista Gadget
Microsoft Gadgets
Microsoft Gadgets are lightweight single-purpose applications, or software widgets, that can sit on a Microsoft Windows user's computer desktop, or are hosted on a web page...
requires an XML Feed
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
, the gadget caused further discussion in the developer-community about why TradeMe did not have an API. It also led to other creations by the developer-community on top of Vista Gadget.
Trade me has now released an official API.
Notable auctions
- A "comfort hug", auctioned in April 2005 to promote love and good feelings. The auction received considerable media attention.
- In late 2005, a member offered a "time machine" for sale through auction (or swap for an "anti gravity machine"), with the highest bid reaching $300,000,000,001,999. The seller withdrew the auction shortly before its close-time. News of the auction reached some New Zealand newspapers, which ran a story on it. This auction used to hold the record for the highest number of questions asked and answered.
- In 2006 a user attempted to auction the Optus B1 satellite following a malfunction. The opening price started at NZ$200,000,000. TradeMe withdrew the auction after 231,908 page-views.
- In May 2006 a member tried to sell AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, using humorous descriptions of the country. The auction drew over 100 questions, and had more than 11,000 views. The country achieved a bid of $200,045,400, with a reserve price of 50 cents. In the end however, TradeMe adminNetwork administratorA network administrator, network analyst or network engineer is a person responsible for the maintenance of computer hardware and software that comprises a computer network...
s withdrew the auction. One News (a broadcast television programme) ran a report on this auction.
- Also in May 2006 a member tried to sell his leg — amputated a year earlier as a result of diabetes. TradeMe withdrew the auction within hours and swiftly added "Body Parts" to the "Prohibited Items" list.
- In June 2006 Wellington Hurricanes player Tana UmagaTana UmagaJonathan Ionatana Falefasa "Tana" Umaga, ONZM is a New Zealand rugby union footballer and former captain of the national team, the All Blacks. He played for the Hurricanes starting with the Super 12's inception in 1996 and took over the captaincy in 2003...
hit team-mate Chris MasoeChris MasoeChris Masoe is a New Zealand rugby union footballer and currently plays for Castres Olympique.-Super 14:...
with a Roxy handbag at the "Jolly Poacher" barBar (establishment)A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
in ChristchurchChristchurchChristchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
after Masoe got into an altercation with a patron. The owner of the bag auctioned it via TradeMe for $22,750, generating a large media-story and over 1 million page-views before the auction closed. - In June 2006 Lisa Lewis streakedStreakingStreaking is the act of running nude through a public place.-History:On 5 July 1799, a Friday evening at 7 o'clock, a naked man was arrested at the Mansion House, London, and sent to the Poultry Compter...
across the field at the All BlacksAll BlacksThe New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
game against Ireland held at Waikato StadiumWaikato StadiumWaikato Stadium is a major sporting and cultural events venue in Hamilton, New Zealand, with a total capacity of 25,800. Four areas contribute to this capacity: The Brian Perry Stand holding 12,000, the WEL Networks Stand holding 8,000, the Goal Line Terrace holding 800 and the Greenzone can hold...
. Days later the bikini Lewis had worn ended up for auction. The winning bid of $4,010 later proved not genuine - In October 2007 Lisa-Marie Corlet stumbled across a pebble with markings allegedly resembling the Virgin Mary. A first auction completed, but the bids later proved invalid. Corlet went on a nation-wide television-programme, Campbell LiveCampbell LiveCampbell Live is a half-hour long New Zealand current affairs programme weeknights at 7.00pm, on TV3 and is hosted by New Zealand television personality, John Campbell...
, to announce she would not accept anything less than $78,662,500,000 NZD as she believes that someone would very much treasure the item. She said she was non-religious and offered this as the reason why she chose to onsell the pebble. It was one of the most highly viewed auctions on TradeMe, with over 100,000 views, but the pebble failed to sell. - In September 2008 a man attempted to sell a dolphin he accidentally caughtBycatchThe term “bycatch” is usually used for fish caught unintentionally in a fishery while intending to catch other fish. It may however also indicate untargeted catch in other forms of animal harvesting or collecting...
while net fishing. This later turned out to be a hoax. - In 17 November 2008 LixtorLixtorLixtor is an Internet-auction website operating in New Zealand since 2005, as a free alternative to currently dominant "paid" online-trading website in New Zealand, TradeMe....
attempted to auction their auction site following dispute with TradeMe over copyright-infringement allegations. The opening price started at NZ$100,000,000. TradeMe withdrew the auction after a few hours. - June 2009: Mike Whittaker (mikew4) listed his old Kelvinator Washing Machine under the title 'Scary Washing Machine' due to its behaviour when washing. He created a fictional story about how it sucked his shoes, pants, iron and wife into a vortex, beyond which, there are dinosaurs. The auction has received over 800,000 views so far. The pictures he drew of the supposed dinosaurs are being sold as fundraisers for NZ charites. T-Shirt company 'MrVintage' has created its own Scary Washing Machine Range of mens and women's T-Shirts. The washing machine eventually sold for $5,160.
- February 2010: The TradeMe user rhorne listed a lemonLemonThe lemon is both a small evergreen tree native to Asia, and the tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit. The fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world – primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, mainly in cooking and baking...
; with the letters "XT" printed vividly upon it; for sale with a humorous description. This was designed to mock the XT Mobile NetworkXT Mobile NetworkMobile Network Code: 503 05NZ non-geographic prefix: 027The XT Mobile Network is a UMTS mobile network run by Telecom New Zealand. It operates nationwide in the 850 MHz frequency, with 2100 MHz infill in major urban areas....
due to its intermittent outages (which caused significant inconvenience to customers and delayed emergency service responses) and other flaws (such as allowing prisoners to communicate with persons outside in order to coordinate criminal activity). There were some suggestions made on the auction that the proceeds should be donated to charity, however the seller made it clear that was not his intention. The auction sold for $1,155. - September 2010: Turners Auctions Christchurch (turnerschch) sold a 1973 Mig 21 Fighter Jet Listing:312051399.The aircraft was sold on behalf of a receiver and was formerly an asset of property developer David Henderson (Christchurch, New Zealand)David Henderson (Christchurch, New Zealand)David Henderson is a Christchurch, New Zealand based property developer.In 1994 he founded the Libertarian magazine the Free Radical. He was also a student of Zenith Applied Philosophy, "It really sparked my interest. I found it greatly stimulating and inspiring, immensely so...
. The auction attracted 324 questions and 257093 views making in the fourth most viewed Trademe auction of all time. It attracted significant media attention both on New Zealand Television and radio as well as newspapers in both New Zealand and Australia. It was sold to Auckland based buyer nzseals for $59454. - In August 2011, a seller listed a personalized number plate labelled 'MAORI' and listed it for $99,000. The auction achieved numerous offensive comments, and received media attention. It received no bids, and was withdrawn by the seller.
Note: Withdrawn auctions become unviewable after 60 days and bid histories after 45.
Further reading
Two how-toHow-to
A how-to or a how to is an informal, often short, description of how to accomplish some specific task. A how-to is usually meant to help non-experts, may leave out details that are only important to experts, and may also be greatly simplified from an overall discussion of the topic...
books about Trade Me have appeared:
- Trade Me Success Secrets : How To Buy Better & Sell More Profitably On New Zealand's Most Popular Auction Site by Michael Carney, Activity Press, 2005, 294 pp. ISBN 0958263418
- Trade Me : your ultimate guide by Juha Saarinen (foreword by Sam Morgan), Penguin 2005, 179 pp. ISBN 0143020447
External links
- TradeMe - official site