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Capturing The Mother Lode April 30, 2009

Posted by Michael Carney in : Mother's Day, auctions, gifts, mum, trade me, trademe , add a comment

If you’re hoping to sell some bling for Mother’s Day (Sunday May 10), a quick tip: review your merchandise and try (if both possible and plausible) to squeeze your listings into one of the following categories.

Why thse categories? Because the ever-inventive folks at Trade Me have come up with a Mother’s Day Gift Finder, which will send extra traffic to those categories (click this link for more details on exactly which categories and sub-categories qualify). Might as well try and get found where the punters are getting sent!

PS Try to use the words ”gift” and “mother” or “mum” in your headline, for optimum impact.

PPS Of course you can list your offerings in other categories if they belong elsewhere. Just understand that you will miss out on some of the genetically-modified traffic supplied by Trade Me’s latest transient promotional feature.

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The Trade Me Revolution Tour Hits Town April 28, 2009

Posted by Michael Carney in : auctions , 1 comment so far

The Trade Me exec team were in Auckland today with the “Trade Me Revolution Tour”, bringing insight and infotainment to an audience of advertisers and marketers.

Lest you get the impression from the event title that this was a musical extravaganza complete with high-octane rock stars and screaming hordes of fans — well, it was (except for the music), but in a restrained Trade Me sort of way.

On the podium, five masters of the digital universe, keen to fan the flames of online obsession. First up was Trade Me CEO Jon Macdonald, adding some historical perspective to proceedings by leading us through a decade of Trade Me history. We were treated to pix of how the front page of Trade Me used to look, back in the day (from 1999 to 2009), along with some sneak peeks at possible makeovers for 2010. We were also alerted to the fact that Trade Me’s front page will be graced tomorrow (for the first time ever) with a video ad — though only if your internet connection is fast enough. Otherwise, we hope you like still images.

Jon sprinkled some interesting factoids through his presentation, including the news that:

The other speakers are largely outside the scope of this post (sorry Mike, Trent, Geoff, nice presentations but this is a Trade Me blog), so we’ll just mention one presenter who has some past and future history with Trade Me:

All in all, a useful evening that furthered the digital marketing cause in general, and Trade Me’s in particular. The Tour’s next stop: Wellington.

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The Incredible Optimism Of Domain Name Sellers April 24, 2009

Posted by Michael Carney in : auctions, trade me , 1 comment so far

It’s a constant source of amazement — and, frankly, amusement — browsing the Domain Names category on Trade Me. People who you’d think should know better are trying to flog minor domain names for — well, let’s just call them extremely optimistic prices.

One of the current listings should hopefully illustrate the point. This auction is offering letsgotrade.co.nz for a Buy Now price of $4000. The headline consists of the domain name. The compelling description that should be trying to convince us that the product is worth the pricetag is (in its entirety) this:

www.letsgotrade.co.nz domain name for sale.Make an offer

Those who’ve read TRADE ME SUCCESS SECRETS will understand the importance of a sizzling headline and supportive description if you want to make a sale. Two sentences ain’t going to support a $4000 payday.

Then there’s the other issue: in a top-level-domain like .co.nz, where scarcity isn’t really an issue, are purchasers willing t0 pay a premium for a domain name that isn’t a generic category name or a much-searched-for phrase? Sadly, Google AdWords reports that “lets go trade” doesn’t generate enough traffic on a monthly basis (either locally or globally) to provide any data.

We admire optimism — but you can sometimes go too far.

PS:  Feel free to click the Buy Now button on the aforementioned auction if it’s worth $4000 to prove us wrong!

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Quick Relist, Quick Revolt April 22, 2009

Posted by Michael Carney in : auctions, new zealand, trade me, trademe , add a comment

Today’s latest Trade Me Site Announcement ….

‘Quick Relist’ is now ‘Sell Identical Items’ under Sold Items, and you can quickly list identical items as many times as you like.

… brought a quick response (and rapid revolution/revulsion) on the message boards from the big volume sellers:

I hate it I hate it I hate it!!
 Did I mention I hate it? why couldn’t they have just added the extra button and left the QR button in place too.. now how the hell am i supposed to keep track of what sold items i have relisted STUPID TRADE ME!! I want my QUICK RELIST back!! did i mention I hate it! alt-essentials

Surely not? I haven’t had a chance to use it yet,
but I absolutely rely on the relisted sign under each item in the sold file – is that what has gone? cosimo

yes cosimo…
 over on the right hand side (where you get payment instructions sent, etc) you wont get “relisted” if you use the new sell identical item. To get that you have to go into each listing individually and relist from within there. One of the worst blunders on TM’s part in a while. As big seller – I am NOT impressed. flick13 

I’m not sure I understand what it’s meant to do
 My items that are selling at the moment still have been relisted and have the ‘relisted’ underneath the delivery instructions etc on the right side. I don’t have to select and relist manually and I can still do a quick relist of my unsold items. So what is now missing that I can’t do that everyone’s getting upset about pls? wisconsin 

wisconsin…
 try it with one that has sold SINCE the change – by using the “sell identical item” button – where the “quick relist” button used to be. flick13

OK so auction that sold at 5.31pm got the relist
 button but subsequent ones from 5.32 onwards do NOT have the relist button. YES THIS IS GOING TO BE A PAIN TO ME!!!!!!! wisconsin

We could go on, but you get the idea. However one post at 8.38pm tonight suggested perhaps a late amendment from Trade Me.

Now because I relisted manually AND they relisted
 automatically I have load of double ups – BUT – TRADE ME SEEMS TO HAVE NOW REINSTATED THE ”’RELISTED”” ON OUR RIGHT HAND PANELS. wisconsin 

A few more potholes on the road to auction nirvana ….

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Now Tweeting April 22, 2009

Posted by Michael Carney in : Uncategorized , add a comment

If you want our latest micro-thoughts on Trade Me and associated topics, you’ll find us @trademesecrets on Twitter.

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