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Trade Me
Trade Me is New Zealand's largest online auction and classifieds website. 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 was publicly listed as a separate entity on 13 December 2011 under the ticker "TME". In May 2019, Trade Me was acquired by private equity firm Apax Partners for NZ$2.56 billion. Trade Me Ltd also operates several sister websites including FindSomeone and Holiday Houses.
As of 20 March 2019[update], Trade Me's website was the fifth most visited in New Zealand and was ranked 2,711th globally according to Alexa Internet. In a country with a population of 5.3 million, the Trade Me site has, as of April 2021[update], 5 million active members. As of April 2021[update], an average of 690,000 people visit the site each day.
Participating traders primarily use New Zealand's banking system to settle payments, although Trade Me offers sellers the ability to accept credit card payments via Trade Me's own instant payment service, Ping (formerly Pay Now). Australian sellers must have a New Zealand bank account, while sellers from other countries are not allowed on the site without special approval.
Trade Me shares many features with other online auction websites, such as eBay. Some of these features include "Buy Now" and "Auto bidding". Sellers may choose to block the large proportion of members not "authenticated" from bidding. Only "authenticated" members can ask sellers questions. Members can become "authenticated" by using a credit/debit card on-site or depositing some money in their Trade Me account.
Only one membership per private person is allowed. Membership is for life, is never deleted and will be only partially deactivated if a member "closes" their membership by giving three days notice in writing to Trade Me. Member profile, bidding history and "feedback received" pages are then hidden and can be reactivated by ex-members at a later date on request. All ex-members empty member "items for sale" pages and all the "feedback sent" posted on other members pages is not hidden.
Sam Morgan founded Trade Me in 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 businesses like eBay and Yahoo, as well as the disasters of the dot-com bubble.[citation needed]
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 secondhand 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.[citation needed]
Morgan describes the initial designing and building of Trade Me thus:[citation needed]
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Trade Me AI simulator
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Trade Me
Trade Me is New Zealand's largest online auction and classifieds website. 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 was publicly listed as a separate entity on 13 December 2011 under the ticker "TME". In May 2019, Trade Me was acquired by private equity firm Apax Partners for NZ$2.56 billion. Trade Me Ltd also operates several sister websites including FindSomeone and Holiday Houses.
As of 20 March 2019[update], Trade Me's website was the fifth most visited in New Zealand and was ranked 2,711th globally according to Alexa Internet. In a country with a population of 5.3 million, the Trade Me site has, as of April 2021[update], 5 million active members. As of April 2021[update], an average of 690,000 people visit the site each day.
Participating traders primarily use New Zealand's banking system to settle payments, although Trade Me offers sellers the ability to accept credit card payments via Trade Me's own instant payment service, Ping (formerly Pay Now). Australian sellers must have a New Zealand bank account, while sellers from other countries are not allowed on the site without special approval.
Trade Me shares many features with other online auction websites, such as eBay. Some of these features include "Buy Now" and "Auto bidding". Sellers may choose to block the large proportion of members not "authenticated" from bidding. Only "authenticated" members can ask sellers questions. Members can become "authenticated" by using a credit/debit card on-site or depositing some money in their Trade Me account.
Only one membership per private person is allowed. Membership is for life, is never deleted and will be only partially deactivated if a member "closes" their membership by giving three days notice in writing to Trade Me. Member profile, bidding history and "feedback received" pages are then hidden and can be reactivated by ex-members at a later date on request. All ex-members empty member "items for sale" pages and all the "feedback sent" posted on other members pages is not hidden.
Sam Morgan founded Trade Me in 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 businesses like eBay and Yahoo, as well as the disasters of the dot-com bubble.[citation needed]
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 secondhand 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.[citation needed]
Morgan describes the initial designing and building of Trade Me thus:[citation needed]