(This is the Online column, written for The Southland Times)
Hasn’t Mrs Morgan’s little boy Sam done well for himself?
The Trade Me message board has been running red hot with threads discussing the sale of New Zealand’s No 1 online auction site to The Southland Times parent company Fairfax.
It seems for every trader wishing Sam Morgan and the other shareholders well with their new-found wealth, there are a further 10 grumpy bums accusing them of being disloyal for selling to an Aussie company.
It’s almost amusing reading messages from some traders offering their “expert” opinions on the sale — that Trade Me isn’t worth the $700 million price tag, that there aren’t as many successful auctions as Trade Me claims, that the membership numbers stated on the site are inflated … I could go on but I have limited space.
Are people really so stupid that they think a company the size of Fairfax would spend that much dosh without making sure it was a wise investment?
The message board has become something of a psychic gathering this week, with many predictions that this will be the end of Trade Me as we know it. Members are polishing off their crystal balls and forecasting the introduction of membership fees, increased success fees and the demise of the message board. Oh, the sky is falling.
Of course there are things about Trade Me that can do with some improvement — I’ve commented on several of them myself in this column in the past, including the not-so-user-friendly site search engine, the $1.99-(plus GST)-a-minute cost for customer support and some issues regarding buyer safety.
However, for the most part it’s a great site. Mr Morgan was sharp enough to see a gap in the market and do something about it before auction behemoth eBay had even thought about properly expanding into little old New Zealand. By the time eBay was eyeing up this part of the world, Trade Me had the biggest advantage any trading site could want: an established customer base.
All the conspiracy theorists on the message board will probably disagree with the site’s stats page that says there were 2.29 million visits to the site last month but with the figure independently audited by Nielsen NetRatings, I’m happy to take it as gospel.
Here’s my prediction: Trade Me will continue to grow, Fairfax will be happy and the nervous Nellies will just have to find something else to moan about.
PS: Happy 7th birthday Trade Me.