Is Trademe slowly dying?

[jjshephard]

What has happened to the engagement on Trademe, less than 13,000 online out of 5 million on Sunday early evening? The Trademe Community message board has threads with 
single digit views and even no views at all, sales has tanked in the last 6 months. Is it really the bad economy or is everyone just spending their money only at Costco now
on lays chips and muffins?

Hoping things will go back to normal, unless there's an alternative to Trademe I'm unaware of.

Well 1 and a half years later it does seem Trademe is dying. Just found out it was delisted in May of 2019 at a share price of $6.45 and since then there's no graph to follow, but it's share price has plummeted to $4.32.

It seems the media is not covering this at all, but Trademe will not be like it was before, the current foreign owners are not interested by the looks of it, and Trademe's CEO? Who is he anyway, do they exist? Most of the worlds leading companies have a CEO that is quite public and brings confidence to their shareholders and customers, but not Trademe. 

We used to sell well over 10% of our auctions and were Top Sellers, now we have consistently been selling at a 1% sell through rate for the past 6-7 weeks and prior to that 3 then 2%, ever declining, I have documented all our sales details, and can pretty much say Trademe is almost dead. There are so many auctions that have very low to no views even, which is extremely disheartening because this was our main source of income, so we have had to shift to Facebook Marketplace, and are actively searching alternive markets to sell in. 

After trying to communicate with Trademe, no one there seems interested or bothered with the concerns of their customers, well they'll pretty much be without a job soon and the shareholders will cut their losses in the near future if they don't change and adapt soon.

[king1]

I can totally agree with that jjshephard - I've been listing a few things lately and often get only a few views and nothing else...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

My favourite sellers regularly drop prices until things sell, and I think I will have to do the same. It figures, since I only buy at rock bottom, my fritter budget has gone seriously down as the cost of power and groceries have risen. So not just me, lots of us slow fashion slow living folk are doing it I suspect.

And the sense of community died when the forums went, and you cannot run a popular marketplace without a community, which is why farcebook is taking over. Every village knows that, but merchant bankers obviously missed the lesson. Don't care? No, they don't. Why should they? They aren't involved the way the old Trademe was, arms length paid employees, not the same thing at all...

[zqwerty]

This is known as "Enshittification", a well known phenomena on the internet at large. Also known as "platform decay".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification

[harm_less]

Trade Me's decline is due to a combination of factors IMO. The dismal state of customer support, increasing shipping rates, fierce competition from Facebook and the NZ's retail sector is flatlining at present so TM's listings are flooded with B&M stores looking for a least effort online presence and customers are very thin on the ground for everyone.

For those like us who sell clothing the EOY stockholder reports from the big retail chains such as Katmandu, The Warehouse and Rebel Sports provide an indication of the dire state of the retail sector presently. Briscoes have been the standout recently so maybe Rod Duke's perpetual sale model has something going for it. For many of those of us in online trade we typically have minimal ongoing costs unlike the rent, warehousing and staff expenses for a B&M operation so we are better placed to ride out the storm if we operate wisely. I really do feel for the typical CBD retail store who sees only a handful of walk in customers per day with most of them walking out empty handed. Literally sitting and watching your business going down the drain and all too inclined to blame every factor they can imagine.

One thing is for sure in that our city centres are hollowing out with the likes of $2 shops and tattoo parlours taking advantage of the peppercorn rentals being offered by desparate landlords and the government is seeing the effect of the commercial slump in a falling tax take as businesses struggle. Maybe a reset for our society's rampant consumerism but at a painful cost to those who have based their livelihood on selling stuff that can be done without when times are tough.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Trademe used to be the local market place where locals sold their stuff. When I go looking I first start by filtering location, and that single move reduces the offering by two thirds. Then I go to Used and that cuts out another two thirds.

And that is why TM is a different place.

---

Trade Me's decline is due to a combination of factors IMO. The dismal state of customer support, increasing shipping rates, fierce competition from Facebook and the NZ's retail sector is flatlining at present so TM's listings are flooded with B&M stores looking for a least effort online presence and customers are very thin on the ground for everyone.

For those like us who sell clothing the EOY stockholder reports from the big retail chains such as Katmandu, The Warehouse and Rebel Sports provide an indication of the dire state of the retail sector presently. Briscoes have been the standout recently so maybe Rod Duke's perpetual sale model has something going for it. For many of those of us in online trade we typically have minimal ongoing costs unlike the rent, warehousing and staff expenses for a B&M operation so we are better placed to ride out the storm if we operate wisely. I really do feel for the typical CBD retail store who sees only a handful of walk in customers per day with most of them walking out empty handed. Literally sitting and watching your business going down the drain and all too inclined to blame every factor they can imagine.

One thing is for sure in that our city centres are hollowing out with the likes of $2 shops and tattoo parlours taking advantage of the peppercorn rentals being offered by desparate landlords and the government is seeing the effect of the commercial slump in a falling tax take as businesses struggle. Maybe a reset for our society's rampant consumerism but at a painful cost to those who have based their livelihood on selling stuff that can be done without when times are tough.

I went looking for a replacement sun umbrella recently, and even the Autumn price drops meant I couldn't afford to replace my five year old Briscoes $50 bargain. In the end though I discovered I could replace the canopy - which is the bit getting tatty - from Australia, free post, for just under the price I originally paid for the whole market brolly.

So I bought two. 

[harm_less]

Trademe used to be the local market place where locals sold their stuff. When I go looking I first start by filtering location, and that single move reduces the offering by two thirds. Then I go to Used and that cuts out another two thirds.

And that is why TM is a different place.

In your situation you have Auckland on your doorstep so that filtering isn't as severe as for those of us who live out in the provinces. In that respect the added burden of paying for delivery nationwide, if the seller can be bothered offering this, often turns what would be a bargain into its competing with buying retail.

The earlier post about "Enshittification" really does hit the Trade Me situation on the head.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Yup. Shipping is a killer for the individual seller. But I note that when I bought my two replacement outdoor directors chairs from Briscoes - $99 down to $ 29.95 each - it cost me $7 courier. Warehouse is even cheaper. And yet, the pair of lightly worn designer leather sneakers - with a zip woo hoo! I frittered this weeks spend up on cost me and the seller ten bucks to send to me. And both purchases were pretty much local...

The big box stores do have an advantage.

[Lilith7]

Enshittification - what an apt & truly excellent term...

[kiwi]

There used to be secondhand shops everywhere at one time, & op shops too, but both are far rarer these days. I think that's probably due to online sales.

Whangarei has quite a lot of op shops.
Hospice, Salvation Army, two SPCA shops, and the Habitat for Humanity shop looks to be expanding. There are other second hand shops around.

[kiwi]

I have recently discovered Amazon. I would never have considered it previously but when I couldn't find what I wanted on Trade Me or anywhere else Amazon had it and at the right price. The service and delivery time were also excellent. I have browsed there for other things but still am resistant to buying off such a large and growing corporation.

Temu has also taken hold. Not for me thanks.

When I go to Trade Me I want to see second hand goods. Well, I do go there for new items at times but I get annoyed seeing duplicate listings of the same new item when I'm looking for second hand. It's really boring and makes looking for what I want tedious.

[king1]

I have recently discovered Amazon. I would never have considered it previously but when I couldn't find what I wanted on Trade Me or anywhere else Amazon had it and at the right price. The service and delivery time were also excellent. I have browsed there for other things but still am resistant to buying off such a large and growing corporation.

Temu has also taken hold. Not for me thanks.

When I go to Trade Me I want to see second hand goods. Well, I do go there for new items at times but I get annoyed seeing duplicate listings of the same new item when I'm looking for second hand. It's really boring and makes looking for what I want tedious.

at the top of the search results you can filter the list to exclude new items, filter by area etc...

I get the feeling though TM would be rather barren if they prevented duplicate listings...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Except, certain sellers are now listing their stuff as used to get round the filtering. Duplicating listings is also prevalent in searches, I often see the same stuff twice, maybe more, unless I filter by 'latest listings', I think you're right king, that is TM itself not the sellers. Boosting the apparent number of offerings...

[kiwi]

Some sellers of new items list multiple the same at what they want to get, then list one at zero reserve. Or more likely starting at a dollar.