The first answer, the purist answer, is ‘No’ – you shouldn’t use either service just to flog your auctions. And especially ‘No’ if you intend to turn your Twitter and Facebook presence into Spam Sausage Machines, churning out endless updates fixated on your Trade Me listings. Epic FAIL.

Of course, if ‘No’ was all there was to the answer, that would make for a pretty short blog post. So let’s quickly point out that there are circumstances under which it can be both acceptable and desirable to harness the power of Twitter or Facebook to promote your offerings [you probably knew we were going to say that].

A MATTER OF FOCUS

Regardless of whether we’re talking about Twitter, Facebook or any of the many other microblogging or social networking services, the key question is focus. What’s the purpose of your online presence? To keep in touch with your friends? Just to have an outlet for your rants and raves? Or to help with your business or professional ambitions, whether it’s to further your career or just help you earn a decent crust?

You may not have even considered the question before – most people haven’t. Now’s the time to do so.

If you decide that all you want to do online is hang with your friends or indulge in a good old-fashioned soapboxing from time to time, thanks, nothing to see here, move along please.

Otherwise, let’s talk about developing a new online focus – specifically, on those products that you sell on Trade Me. We’ll assume that they’re all part of a related product portfolio – in other words, you’re not selling car batteries today, dolls’ clothing tomorrow [if you do dabble in what we’ll charitably call a “diversified product range”, you either need to reconsider your overall selling strategy or else develop separate online identities* for each collection of products].

*EDIT: You can’t use multiple identities on Trade Me, of course, but you can and should have different  Twitter accounts and Facebook Business Pages for your various offerings. And thanks, Tim, for pointing out that this wasn’t clear in the original post.

Your focus can be reasonably broad (eg “Baby Clothing”) or very narrow (eg “Bronze Age Marvel Comics”). Either way, we’ll presume that there’s sufficient interest in the product category within New Zealand that you’ve been able to build a viable market niche selling such products on Trade Me.

Identified your focus? Great. The rest of the process can be simply described in four steps:

1. Ensure that your online identity reflects your focus (eg your Twitter User Name and profile details are all about your passion for Model Railroads of the Twentieth Century; you have a Facebook business page that talks about your comprehensive Swatch collection);
2. Start regularly posting useful information (eg to your Facebook wall or to your Twitter account) about your chosen topic: “Ten Worst Movies Available On BluRay”, “My Favourite Scrapbooking Technique”, “How Open Source Software Changes The World”;
3. Actively build a database of followers by seeking out other service users whose posts and profiles indicate that they are interested in your category;
4. Every once in a while (about every 15^th tweet, for example), in the midst of all the other useful information you’re posting, mention a relevant Trade Me auction that might appeal to your followers.

The guiding principle: provide an ongoing source of valuable information about your specialist topic (setting yourself up as an expert in the chosen field), attract those interested in your field and then interject with very occasional commercial messages (but don’t over-pollute).

These things take time, of course – don’t expect to be an overnight sensation. But once you build an enthusiastic following in your niche, you can significantly multiply the effectiveness of your auction listings.

GETTING SPECIFIC: TWITTER

Twitter is the flavour of the year. The service’s popularity has exploded around the world, and New Zealand is no exception. Twitter’s share of daily visits in Aotearoa increased 305% from the start of 2009 until mid-April (the latest data we have available), at which point, according to researchers HitWise, it was our 49th most visited web site.

Twitter’s most endearing feature is its ability to multiply messages exponentially. To paraphrase a (very) old commercial: with Twitter, “you tell two people and they each tell two people, and they each tell two people,  and so on and so on …” and before you know it, your message has been retweeted around the world six hundred times, reaching every person on the planet (okay, perhaps not, but certainly you can reach far more than just those on your own list, provided your message is of enduring interest).

So where do you start on Twitter? Returning to our four-step process noted above, start (STEP ONE) by claiming your online identity on the site. Go to www.Twitter.com and attempt to claim your Trade Me user name as a Twitter ID (we’re assuming that your user name reflects your product focus). Note that you can have no more than 15 characters in a Twitter ID (and it’s first-come, first-served globally), so you may need to modify or abbreviate to fit.

• If your Trade Me user name is too long or not available, consider using a descriptive name (related to your product focus) in your Twitter ID – that will help people find you and understand what you do.
• You also get to choose a thumbnail image to accompany your user ID. Choose or create an image that reflects your focus (but try to give it a personal twist – people like to follow other people, not corporations).
• Twitter also lets you include a single biographical weblink to let people click and learn more about you. If you’ve created a meaningful, product-focussed profile on your Trade Me member page, use that as your link (and if you haven’t already fleshed out that page properly, do it right now).

STEP TWO: Posting. You have 140 glorious characters within each tweet – not very much to provide useful, meaty information about your chosen topic (which is why many Twitterers tend to include links to more detailed blog posts in their tweets). Remember, remember, your role is to position yourself as an expert in your chosen field of endeavour, so post useful information on a regular basis. Also be aware that some will be receiving your updates on their mobile phones (and may be paying for the privilege). If they don’t think they’re getting value for money, they’ll quickly stop following you.

STEP THREE: Building a following. In essence, you want to attract a core group of (ideally Kiwi) followers who are very interested in your topic, as many people as possible with a mild interest in your topic and a smattering of others who might occasionally become prospects for your products.

How do you go about doing that? We won’t reinvent the wheel – Promo Magazine covers the topic in depth with a useful excerpt from “Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time” by Joel Comm (John Wiley & Sons, 2009):

How to Be Intentional about Creating Your Own Network of Experts

High quality followers can do different things. Some will be the type of followers who hang on to your every tweet, follow all your links, and buy your products.

You certainly want to have lots of those … but identifying them isn’t easy. Few Twitterers write on their bios that they’re looking to buy lots of products about Corvettes or football—or anything else.

What you can find very easily on Twitter, though, is experts.

This is really Twitter’s strength. The site is stuffed with people who have great information about particular subjects and are willing to share it.

Find experts on a topic related to yours and encourage them to follow you, and you’ll be giving yourself a massive and very valuable network.

Enter your keywords [in a Twitter search engine] and pull up tweets that contain that phrase.

You’ll then be able to see who’s talking about your topic and, by looking at the bios and reading their tweets, see which of those Twitterers are the leading experts. It’s much more efficient to identify the key Twitterers on the topic and get them to follow you.

If other people see that the expert is following you, they’ll assume that you’re also an expert and want to follow you too.

One way to succeed on Twitter is to hang out with the influence-makers. Find the top people in your topic on Twitter, and become a part of their circle.

When you’re one of the prominent Twitterers on the site, you’ll find it’s much easier to persuade people to read your tweets. In fact, you won’t have to do anything but make sure that your tweets are interesting, informative, and entertaining.

Read more at http://promomagazine.com/interactivemarketing/news/building-twitter-followers-0331/index1.html

STEP FOUR: Once you’ve built a useful following, you can afford to mention your auctions on an occasional basis.

AND WHAT ABOUT FACEBOOK?

Facebook overtook Bebo in April this year to become New Zealand’s most popular social networking site (Source: ComScore). Amazingly, Facebook has also (according to HitWise) overtaken Trade Me in the last month to become New Zealand’s second most visited website behind Google.

Facebook requires a bit more care than Twitter, because the site doesn’t allow you to register as anything other than an individual. However you can set up (free) a business page and populate that page with info about your products.

What to do next? John Marshall to the rescue:

Step One: Who Is Your Target Market? That’s the million dollar question. Lets say you were selling video games. You only want to add friends who play and buy those video games. Think of your target market.

Step Two: Find your target market. You ask how do I do that. It’s very easy if your target market is video games, you go to groups and search for stuff related to video games.  Once you find these groups of people you now have your target market in front of you.

Step Three: Build your following. It’s time to start adding friends and having fun. Here are a few things to keep in mind when building your following:

• Only add 50 Friends a day (If you go too fast FaceBook will tell you to slow down)
• Don’t use a program to add friends (Facebook will kick you out)
• Add a personal message when adding friends. (Draft a message, one that sounds professional, and keep it handy)
• Approve all requests for friendship from others.
• Join Groups in your target market (people will invite you from these groups)
• Join the conversation (Get out in the conversation and be seen)
• Write on your friends’ Walls.
• Link your FaceBook to other websites: your blog, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube.

Social Networking specialist Deltina Hay also provides some highly valuable advice for taking advantage of sites such as Facebook:

To avoid the scattershot approach, choose one or two social networking sites that fit your business well and invest the time to maximize your presence in them. Let’s explore what that might look like if Facebook is one of your choices.

Prepare your best information before you start.

Avoid the “I will go back and fill that in later” trap. Have all your necessary information on hand, ready to copy and paste on the spot. Complete a worksheet containing:

1. Key Terms:
Make a list of your best key terms and weave them into the rest of your worksheet items. Key terms are one, two, or three word terms that someone might use if they were searching for your business in a search engine.

2. General Information:
Your Name
Business Name
Email Addresses
URLs
Instant Messaging screen names

3. Biographical and Descriptive Information:
Short bio (50 words)
Longer bio (100 words)
Short company description (50 words)
Longer company description (100 words)
Business mission statement

4. List of Products

I based these worksheet items on a typical Facebook profile and page. If you choose a different social networking site, examine some completed profiles and base your worksheet items on them.

Create an account and thoroughly complete your profile

If you haven’t already, get a Facebook account. Completely fill out your profile using your worksheet. Under the relationships tab, choose “networking.” You can skip the personal and education tabs for business profiles, but there is no harm in filling them out. If you have an existing account, upgrade your profile information using your key terms.

But don’t stop there!

Facebook, like most good social networking platforms, offers many marketing opportunities for businesses, some for free. You can find these by clicking the “Advertising” link in the footer of the Facebook site, or by following this link: http://www.facebook.com/business/.

Since I can’t cover all of the marketing tools in one article, let’s focus on my favorite: The Facebook Page. It’s my favorite not only because it is free, but because it makes use of the many diverse Facebook applications.

Facebook pages are specifically for marketing a business or a product. They offer a way for a business to represent itself to the Facebook community in an authentic way. Facebook users can search pages the same way they search for people within the network community.

Create your page by going to “Page Manager” in the left sidebar of your Facebook profile, or by following this link: http://www.facebook.com/business/ and choosing Facebook Pages. Choose the best category for your business.

Use key terms in the name of your Facebook page!

It seems that the actual page name is the only text on a Facebook page that is used in a search. With that in mind, use at least two of your best key terms in your page name.

Populate your page with all of your best worksheet information. You may have only a few seconds to catch a reader’s attention, so put your best key terms forward.

Once your page is in place, add applications to help represent your company in your own unique way. To find applications for your page, click on “Applications” in the upper left corner of your page, or search for them here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/.

Applications are not difficult to install and are usually very easy to set up. Use this general rule of thumb when choosing an application: If you can’t figure out how to set it up after the second try, find another one. There is often more than one application available to accomplish the same task.

Applications Top Picks:

• My Flickr (http://apps.facebook.com/myflickr/): Display photos from your Flickr account using this application. These photos can include logos, product photos, photos from events, etc.
• Upcoming (http://apps.facebook.com/upcoming/): Add all of your events to upcoming.org, and you can easily display them on your Facebook page with Upcoming’s Facebook application.
• YouTube Box (http://apps.facebook.com/videobox/): Allows visitors to play your YouTube videos right on your Facebook page.
• Simply RSS (http://apps.facebook.com/simplyrss/): This allows you to display up to eight RSS feeds on your Facebook page and display the feeds from your business’s main site and newsrooms.

Implementing these applications creates an interactive page that also gives visitors a personable look into your business.

MORE READING

We’re really just scratching the surface of social network marketing in this article. We suggest you do your own additional homework as you go along (recommended tutor: Old Missus Google).

Anyway, back to the original questions: Yes, you can use Twitter or Facebook to promote your auctions, but only as a side-effect of your development as the Expert in your Chosen Field. BTW, you’ll find a few other useful side-effects along the way, as you develop and publicise your expertise. We’ll leave it to you to discover them!

Related posts:

1. What are the hottest selling categories on Trade Me? Trade Me is a glorious bazaar stuffed full each week with...
2. Five essential ingredients to make your listing famous You’ve probably heard of the “scary washing machine”, last month’s...
3. Paradigm Shift: The New 'New' Thing Over the years, Trade Me has steadily evolved from online...

Normally, around two-thirds of visitors to Trade Me are looking for a bargain (the remainder are looking for something unique, either a collectable or some other one-of-a-kind offering). However, in the midst of a recession, expect nine out of ten Trade Me visitors to be in bargain-hunting mode.

So the first part of your mission is to take the path less travelled (i.e. go to the sections on Trade Me least populated by other members), lest spontaneous bidding should break out around you.

Avoiding Bidding Wars

So where should you go on Trade Me, to minimise human contact (and thus reduce your chances of squabbling with another keen hunter over some enticing goodie)? Some statistics to the rescue.

Last month on Trade Me, the 20 least popular categories (those which achieved the lowest sell-through rates — the site average was 23%) were:

• Business, farming & industry: Businesses for sale (just 4% of listings sold)
• Art: Photographs 6% sold
• Art: Drawings 9%
• Art: Other 9%
• Crafts: Greeting cards & envelopes 9%
• Electronics & photography: Memory cards 9%
• Antiques & collectables: Phonecards 10%
• Clothing: Wedding 10%
• Electronics & photography: Camera accessories 10%
• Gaming: PC games 10%
• Home & living: Lifestyle 10%
• Sports: Waterskiing & wakeboarding 10%
• Antiques & collectables: Food & drink 11%
• Books: Rare & collectable 11%
• Computers: Blank discs & cases 11%
• Crafts: Painting & drawing 11%
• Crafts: Woodcraft 11%
• Health & beauty: Naturopathy 11%
• Music & instruments: Music DVDs 11%
• Toys & models: Magic tricks & sets 11%

NB We excluded Carbon Credits, which topped our list of Trade Me’s worst, attracting a big fat 0% sales in July. Our research indicates that in tough times consumers prefer to save their families first, before they get around to saving the planet.

If you’re in the market to buy any of these items, head over to the relevant category and browse away. Don’t mind the empty halls — that echoing sound you hear is the sound of the savings you’re likely to make when nobody else bids.

Plan B: Less Likely To Buy

On the other hand, none of those categories might look particularly compelling. Plan B involves taking a look at consumer buying intentions in recessionary times.

Relax, we’ve already done the heavy lifting. A US study conducted in July by BigResearch.com tells us that fewer people in the land of hope and glory are planning to spend in these categories in the next three months: 

• Apparel
• Shoes
• Sporting Goods
• Toys/Games
• CDs/DVDs
• Books
• Electronics
• Home Improvement
• Lawn & Garden Furniture
• Home Decor
• Linens/Bedding

Our own research suggests similar trends in New Zealand, as Kiwis cut back (though not perhaps to the same extent as their American or UK counterparts). So if you’re looking for a sharp deal in one of these categories, now would be a good time to let your keyboard do the walking. 

General Trade Me Buying Advice

Apart from these current trends, there are also a number of tricks and techniques to use when searching for hot deals on Trade Me. Here they are, excerpted from our Trade Me Success Secrets book: a dozen of the best types of auction listings to peruse when you don’t want to spend much:

1. POOR IMAGES OR NO IMAGES
Many people simply won’t bid on an auction if it doesn’t include an image, or if the image is so small or fuzzy that you can’t distinguish the product from the background. That’s why such listings can be great bargains. Yes, there are obviously risks. But if you’re bidding for an item like brand new single sheets, with a reasonably comprehensive description of what’s on offer, from a seller with more than a hundred positive feedbacks, the risk is minimal. On the other hand, if you’re tempted to bid on an unillustrated diamond ring from a brand new seller, we might encourage you to get seriously acquainted with Chapter Three of TRADE ME SUCCESS SECRETS, which shares some useful perspectives on fraud.

You won’t find image-less listings on Trade Me by searching, alas – you’ll have to browse through the categories that interest you, looking for something that isn’t there. Once you find a listing without images, you’ve still got to decide whether it’s worth taking a risk. If it’s a listing placed by a local seller, you may be able to arrange to pick up the item, giving you the chance to inspect it properly before you pay over any cash. If it’s an out-of-town seller, chances are reasonable (seven degrees of separation theory applies here) that you or a friend know someone nearby who can check the item out on your behalf before handing over the cash. Don’t be put off by a little thing like location.

2. NIGHT OWLS & DAWN CHORUSES
Trade Me operates around the clock, attracting buyers and sellers twenty-four hours a day. Some of those sellers, however, perhaps not quite completely aware of Trade Me’s automated listing processes, add new listings either very late at night or very early in the morning. There’s nothing wrong with doing that if you pay a premium to choose a suitable closing time (i.e. when there are people around to bid). If you don’t set such a closing time then the auction will close at the same time as you listed it, an appropriate number of days later. Such auctions are fair game for the dedicated buyer willing to stay up late or rise a little earlier than usual.

High-volume sellers are particularly likely to be offering products through auctions that finish at odd times. Not because they don’t understand the Trade Me system, but because (if you’re selling multiple copies of the same product) Trade Me’s automated relisting system automatically relists the product to close in increments of 24 hours since the last sale. In other words, if some insomniac buys your widget at 3.27am, your next widget will be relisted to close at 3.27am a (user-specified) certain number of days later.

Canny Trade Me buyers can and do exploit this systemic weakness by adding high-volume sellers to their ‘Favourite Sellers’ list and watching for timing anomalies.

3. ON HOLIDAY OR AT THE GAME
Our political masters don’t plan an Election Day during the school holidays or when there’s a big rugby game scheduled. No-one would show up to vote. For the same reason, you should never end an auction on a public holiday, in the middle of a big sporting event or when it’s going to clash with a major television show like the final of Dancing With The Stars or Outrageous Fortune.

Fortunately for us, sellers don’t always have an event calendar at their fingertips when they’re listing their auctions, so auction closing times seldom take account of what’s happening out there in the real world. Sure, most sellers avoid Christmas Day and the more obvious public holidays, but even so there are often times to snap up bargains because the rest of the population are cheering on the All Blacks or fighting with their tentpegs in some sodden holiday paradise.

4. MISSPELLED WORDS
Lousy spelling can be the kiss of death for Trade Me sellers – but a glowing beacon for buyers in search of a bargain. How do you find such auctions? Try looking at popular Trade Me search terms in your desired category and predicting what mangled variants might exist out there – do a search and prepare to be horrified. Alternatively, browse through the auction listings keeping your eyes peeled for almost familiar brands and keywords.

5. POOR DESCRIPTIONS
Even when they do the other things right, sellers who say little about the items on offer – or who describe them badly – are likely to scare away potential bidders. A collectable Anchor Tea Towel, listed in the Antiques & Collectables category under the headline “Tea towel”, could only attract a $2 bid. The not exactly riveting description that kept the price low: “Anchor butter,in very good condition with no tears or stains,highly decorative and nostalgic item.” Bargain hunters who can see past such descriptions stand to make a killing.

How do you find such gems? It’s not difficult – just browse through a category and look for items that seem good value but haven’t attracted many if any bids. Some sellers seem unable to find words to describe their products satisfactorily. If you’re one of those sellers, read Chapter Fourteen of TRADE ME SUCCESS SECRETS – Second Edition (Chapter Twelve of the First Edition) before you list another item.  

6. OBSCURE HEADLINES & HEADLINES WITHOUT KEYWORDS
Auction headlines should be treated like gold – every word should be a potential keyword someone will be searching for. And those odd characters that populate the top row of the keyboard are a definite no-no, if more than sixty percent of Trade Me users find listings by searching.

Have you ever searched for the keyword “l@@k”? We just did, and the Trade Me search engine just came back and told us “No results for ‘l@@k’ in New Zealand”. Yet sellers keep using such symbols in their headlines, trying to attract the attention of casual browsers. It’s a mug’s game.

The other common headline mistake: not using keywords. We searched for Tupperware and found 460 listings. The first 422 listings displayed had Tupperware in the headline – the last 38 only had a mention within the main body of the listing. The most popular of the 460 auctions had the headline “Tupperware Modular Mates x 4”, had attracted 573 pageviews and bidding stood at $41.50. The least popular was burdened with the headline “Jelly Molds x2 )”,  had no mention of Tupperware,  three pageviews and no bids. 

• Want to find bargains when you’re browsing? Look for the headlines with the funny symbols. These listings are less likely to show up for searchers, reducing your competition come bidding time.
• Looking for bargains when searching? Start by searching for your desired keyword – but then go through the listings in reverse (go to the last page of the listings and work your way back to the front). The items at the end of the listing results will attract a lot less viewers than those at the front, thanks to keywords not included (in the headlines).

7. LISTINGS IN THE WRONG CATEGORIES
Trade Me has a great many misplaced listings thanks to the joys of self-classification. Not all the listings are wrong – the Lord Of The Rings movies, for example, can be found listed under various DVD categories, including Action, Adventure, Scifi, New Zealand,Boxed Sets and Collectors. Arguably, they’re all valid categories – yet most of the LOTR DVDs have been listed under Action or Adventure and that’s where fans would be most likely to turn first. If you find The Two Towers under Scifi, it’s likely to have attracted fewer pageviews – and probably not as many bids. 

Misplaced items aren’t particularly easy to find deliberately. But if an item shows up during a search that appears undiscovered by others, check out the category in which it’s listed. If it’s wildly out of place, you could be in luck.

8. MARKET KNOWLEDGE
All those wonderful TV programmes where innocent consumers parade their home treasures in front of experts, to be told that they have a $500,000 Rembrandt hanging in their smallest room, are great entertainment – and a wonderful fantasy for Trade Me buyers. Reality seldom delivers on the dream but, if you specialise in a particular product category and know it well, you will have a definite advantage over casual sellers. As more and more new traders set up shop, your specialist knowledge could just come in handy.  

9. FADING FASHION
We live in an instant gratification society. When it’s hot we want it now. That’s why cinema chains can charge blockbuster pricing when a movie is first released – and why some patient (and thrifty) souls are willing to wait a few weeks until the price drops. The same dynamic applies to online auctions – when a hot new DVD or CD is just released, you’ll end up paying about the same to buy it on Trade Me as you would through a retail store. If you’re prepared to wait, however, the price will drop. How long should you wait? Check on the final sale price of similar items on a regular basis. When the price drops to a level that seems acceptable, get ready to bid.

In the same vein: buy off season. Buy your Christmas ornaments after Boxing Day and your swimming accessories at the end of summer.  

10. BROWSING RATHER THAN SEARCHING
If you only use the Search facility on Trade Me, you could be missing out on bargains listed by sellers who (either through some of the poor practices already outlined here or through other misadventures of their own) have done a lousy job of listing their offerings online. It’s worth taking a bit of time to browse through categories of interest – like a jumble sale or a lucky dip, you never know what surprises are in store.

11. OVER-PRICED LISTINGS
Every once in a while you’ll see a product that you want that’s overpriced – either the starting price is too high or, even if there’s been some spirited bidding, the reserve still hasn’t been reached. Don’t do anything rash – just add the product to your watchlist and wait until the auction closes. Unless the bidding gets out of hand, the auction is likely to finish unsuccessfully. Once that happens, you can use the Trade Me system to get in touch, asking them either to relist the item or make a fixed price offer – hopefully this time their expectations will be more realistic.

NB Some sellers simply refuse to make their products available via fixed offer — something about “gannets” and “scavenging”. Their loss.

12. ATTITUDE THAT OFFENDS
Some sellers, presumably as a result of previous problems, seem determined to drive away potential buyers by tough talking in their listings: “payment within three days or the item will be relisted and negative feedback will be posted.” It’s OK to have a bad hair day every once in a while but if you’re the public face for your organisation (as Trade Me listings are) then it’s not a good career move to operate on a customer-is-always-wrong model.

If you’re willing to take the risk of offending these somewhat prickly traders, go ahead and bid. Other more delicate souls may be put off, lessening the competitive pressure. Just make certain that your actions after the auction are squeaky clean.

To List Is Human, To Sell Divine

Just before we leave the topic of recessionary trading, some advice for sellers (who’re also trying to survive and thrive in the economic downturn):

The Seven Things Every Trade Me Seller Should Know About Consumers In 2009

1. Conspicuous Consumption is out of fashion (for now). We don’t want to be seen to be over-indulging while others are suffering. Bling is out, dowdy is in. Subtlety and decorum, please. We will allow ourselves small indulgences — but with discretion. So — even if you have ostentatious items to sell, a little bit of taste, please.

2. Climate Change has been postponed until we can afford it again. Yes, products still need green credentials but they’re just not the most important attribute right now. So mention any sustainable attributes your products might boast, but price your stuff competitively.

3. Security Really, Really Matters. So many finance companies and other institutions, supposedly safe, have fallen into the abyss. We won’t be nearly so trusting anymore. It also means we’ll look more closely at your feedback and your past history, so behave already.

4. Country of Origin is now a significant issue. The melamine-tainted milk powder scandal really brought it home to us — we’ve now started checking labels to see exactly where products are made. Good news for Kiwi Made, not so good for importers. Be open about the source of your products.

5. Staying In is the new Going Out. We’re eating out less, spending more on our little home nests. It’ll take a compelling offer to lure us out in 2009. Focus on selling items that improve quality of life in our homes.

6. We’re Slower To Spend.  In tough times, we procrastinate more about when, where and how we spend. We spend more time searching for information before we commit to purchase (and look further around for the best deals). And we negotiate harder when we do decide to buy. So make those listing details as comprehensive as possible and add lots of pictures.

In the US BigResearch study mentioned earlier, consumers told researchers that their new order of priorities – what they look for first when they shop — is:

• 71% Price
• 54% Selection
• 39% Quality
• 34% Location
• 13% Service

You know what you have to do.

7. We have new Spending Priorities. A September 2008 European Study on Discretionary Spending by Execution Primary Research (“what would you cut back if you had to make savings?”) saw Broadband Internet, Fixed-Line Phone Calls, Toiletries and Cosmetics and Mobile Phones as the least likely to be cut back in tough times. Most vulnerable (in order): New furniture or floor coverings, Gambling, Going Out, Electronics, Music, DVDs, Books & Games and Home Improvements.

The implication: that thrifty consumers could be interested in second-hand goods or maintenance products (e.g. “keep that carpet alive for longer …”)  in the most vulnerable categories; or in upgrades, accessories and supporting products in categories such as mobile phones (“you’ll have to pry the handset from my cold, dead hand”).

It’s The Economy, Stupid

If you’re trying to sell stuff, Trade Me is still the place to be. In fact, online auction sites typically blossom in a recession precisely because they’re the ideal place to find a bargain. Just be aware that value is the single most important attribute right now. One last collection of statistics from that July 2009 BigResearch study, this time capturing the parsimonious attitudes of recession-conscious consumers:

• 52% say they’re now considering purchases more carefully
• 49% are more price-conscious
• 47% are (gasp!) sticking to their budgets
• 45% are dining out less
• and 42% are racking up less credit card debt

Finally, just to complete the set (and so you can know what items you should be selling), here’s a list of the Top 20 Items selling most on Trade Me (July 2009) despite the recession:

• Electronics & photography: iPods (67% of listings sold)
• Baby gear: Walkers 62%
• Music & instruments: Concert tickets 59%
• Mobile phones: Telecom network 58%
• Sports: Event tickets 56%
• Baby gear: Bouncers & jolly jumpers 53%
• Home & living: Laundry 53%
• Baby gear: Monitors 52%
• Home & living: Heating & cooling 47%
• Baby gear: Safety 45%
• Electronics & photography: DVD players & VCRs 45%
• Sports: Gym memberships 44%
• Computers: Computer furniture 43%
• Art: Tattoos 42%
• Baby gear: Cots & bassinets 42%
• Home & living: Beds & bedroom furniture 41%
• Mobile phones: Vodafone network 41%
• Health & beauty: Shaving & hair removal 39%
• Baby gear: Sleep aids 38%
• Electronics & photography: GPS 38%

PS We would be remiss if we didn’t sneak in one last plug for our book, TRADE ME SUCCESS SECRETS. Its subtitle is “How to buy for less and sell more profitably on New Zealand’s most popular auction site” — and that’s what we all need, especially in tough times. See our listings on Trade Me.

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So what does it take to create a Trade Me sensation?
There are a great many answers to this question, but at a minimum you need the following five essential ingredients if you’re to have any chance of attracting exponential attention on Trade Me:

1. An auction listing with “the right stuff”
Your product might be ordinary but the listing can’t be. Not if you want people to talk about it. When we spread the word about a Trade Me listing (or any other topic), it’s because it enhances our standing with our friends, not just because we like the listing or topic.

Successful listings that attract lots of attention typically tap into some pretty basic human motivators:

• We like to be entertained
• Greed is (sometimes) good
• Given the choice, we’d prefer to do good (and sometimes, to be seen doing good)
• We’re afraid of doing the wrong thing
• Our ego could always use a boost

Most of the auctions that became famous on Trade Me were at least entertaining; some held out the chance of acquiring an item that would significantly increase in value at some point in the future (engaging the greed gene); “proceeds to charity” validated our bidding actions; the fact that we were bidding on a very popular item suggested that we were indeed doing the right thing; and being the successful bidder on a high profile auction can do wonders for the ego (at least until buyers’ remorse kicks in).

If we look back at some of the items that have caught the popular imagination on Trade Me, we find that in most cases the headline and/or description started the process of making the auction memorable.

The legendary paper clip auction (34,801 pageviews, final selling price $173) is a very good example:

• $1 RES – ONE RED PAPER CLIP
  One red paper clip.
  Excellent condition.
  Held important documents in a time of need, no longer need now so selling on.
  Hope this paper clip goes to a good home or office. Has served me well.

It was inevitable that such a good-humoured listing (penned by Aucklander Rhys White during a quiet day in the office) would attract frivolous questions. And that brings us to essential ingredient Number 2:

2. Interactivity (with a sense of humour)
One of the neat things about Trade Me is the “Ask the seller a question” facility. For 99 .9% of listings, the questions that are asked are mundane and practical (and relatively few). For those special listings that catch the imagination of the public, however, sellers can be inundated with quirky questions. Answer appropriately (tongue firmly in cheek) and you’ve got the makings of Trade Me magic.

When an iceberg floated close to New Zealand in November 2006, it was listed by an opportunistic seller (“In good condition. Some small stains – should come out. Girlfriend doesn’t like it and says it needs to go. Buyer must collect.”) and attracted (ahem) a flood of questions:

Q. How much does it weigh? I may need to rent a trailer…
A. I don’t want timewasters here mate. You don’t use a trailer to remove an iceberg. Come on, you are being silly.

Q. Hi. I’m looking for something along these lines for a christmas decoration. Do you have any in the shape of a reindeer?
A. By the end of the auction it may look like that. Get real drunk and check back in.

Q. I don’t wish to pour cold water on this, but I must point out that MAF regulations require that this ‘berg will need to be held in quarantine for 8 weeks. This may impact on delivery.
A. That’s only if it has a bird in it. But thanks for checking.

Q. Hi. do you have these in any other colours? Thanks.
A. No sorry. Besides, you don’t want the yellow icebergs.

For the record, bidding on the iceberg reached $99,999,999 before the auction was removed (as an obvious joke listing).

Of course, with more than 1.3 million items listed on Trade Me at any given time, it’s tough to stand out. Your item also needs to conform to essential attribute Number 3:

3. Original and Scarce
If you want your item to become famous, then the item needs to be “one of a kind” – even if (as was the case with the ‘scary washing machine’) that uniqueness is simply in how you describe it. You can expect copycats to emerge – we lost track of the number of ‘cute’ stationery listings that attempted to cash in on the fame of the Paper Clip – so you need to be first and freshest in your particular category.

On the other hand, if you do have a genuinely unique item, such as the cast (sold in February for $18,500) which adorned John Key’s broken arm – or the handbag wielded by Tana Umaga to discipline an unruly colleague ($22,800 in June 2006) – then your focus should be on capturing the flavour of said collectable and communicating appropriately to those who would be most interested in acquiring the item. Which brings us to essential ingredient Number 4: 

4. People who know people
As soon as the listing is posted, spread the word – to journalists, twitterers, bloggers, anyone with a suitable/relevant audience. Of course, they’ll only be interested if said item already stacks up as unique and scarce – but they’ll also be looking for timeliness. They won’t want to be talking/writing about something that’s already old news – they’ll want to be bringing exclusive news to their followers.

Of course, everyone can’t be first – the second person you tell may not have heard about your listing but you can’t pretend that they’re the first to know. So instead, like a true public relations practitioner, you need to look for an angle, a spin that can be unique to that correspondent.

An example? Bono’s bird kite which the U2 frontman had been flying during his 2006 NZ concert.

The first angle: Bono’s kite up for sale on Trade Me. Then: caught by Tauranga woman (local spin for the Bay of Plenty Times). Next: proceeds to Oxfam. Follow-up: pictures from the concert, showing Bono flying the kite. You get the idea.

And that leads us to the fifth of our ingredients:

5. Topical
If you can leverage current events, that’s another quick way to spread the word. The current furore around Michael Jackson’s untimely demise is a classic example, with quick-thinking sellers offering personalised plates (THRLER, JACK5N, WACKO or MOONWK), replica Thriller jackets, web addresses (RIPMJ.co.nz) and a wide range of other Michael-related memorabilia on the site. In such a high profile event, however, there’s a very real danger of over-exposure, so media interest may quickly burn out. In other words, choose your topicality with care.

Apart from the five ingredients noted above, there are several other qualities that will stand you in good stead when it comes to conjuring up some Trade Me magic. To all the above, add perseverance, imagination, initiative and plain old luck (‘right place, right time’).

Your 15 megabytes of fame awaits.

PS: Of course, there’s quite a skill to creating effective listings. For a more in-depth look at “The Art Of The Listing”, may we humbly point you towards TRADE ME SUCCESS SECRETS the book (now in its second edition). In Chapter 14, you’ll learn about the eight different types of effective headlines, the pictures that sell a thousand words and the vital ingredients of a successful product description. The following chapter guides you (in rather more depth than we can manage in this blog entry) through many of the promotional options available to help you drive the sale — and suggests alternative actions if your item still doesn’t sell.

You’ll find the ‘Trade Me Success Secrets’ book in your local library, from leading booksellers or on sale at our Trade Me store.

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‘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 ….

No related posts.

Oh well, let’s instead try and do our bit to help with the issue of jobs by sharing some tips on how to find a job online. We should start by pointing out that your first port of call should be Seek, which is still undeniably the most popular job site in New Zealand. More jobseekers visit there — and consequently more companies list their vacancies on Seek.

That  said, however, this blog is about Trade Me so let’s talk about mastering the art of Trade Me Jobs. Here are a few tips to help you in your journey.

MISTER, CAN YOU SPARE A JOB?
On Trade Me Jobs you’ll be given the option of either browsing jobs by category or using the Search function for more fine-tuned selection.

If you’re only vaguely interested in the possibility of a new job, then go ahead and browse. You’ll encounter some fascinating occupations. Unfortunately, because the categories are self-selected by the advertisers, you won’t necessarily find your dream job in the category you’d expect. It’s better to use the search function instead.

Because you’re going to be searching for specific keywords, you’ll first need to consider exactly what you’re hoping to find. To do that effectively, spend some time asking yourself a couple of questions:

•  ”What do I want to do? What can I do?”
  Create a list of your skills, and a list of the occupations that interest you. Don’t worry about job titles. Focus on the tasks that you’d be required to carry out in your ideal job. Then use these various lists as search keywords.
• “What companies and/or industries interest me?”
  At this point, you have the freedom to be choosy. Are there any companies or industry sectors where you’ve always wanted to work? If there’s a particular company that appeals, do a little research at that company’s website or at http://www.wises.co.nz. As we’ll see in a little while, each organisation’s culture, vision and values play a major role in determining whether you’ll be happy with your choice.

The answers to these two questions will determine your first list of keywords. Choose from this list first (NB: one keyword at a time).

If you’re having trouble with these questions, beg, buy or borrow a copy of ‘What Color Is Your Parachute?’ by Richard N. Bolles. It features some great tools to help you figure out the job that’s right for you.

The Trade Me Jobs search box allows you to filter your search by geographic region, occupational category, pay range and/or keyword. We recommend that you start your search by simply specifying your desired region and minimum pay. Then pick a keyword that reflects the type of job you’re seeking (as noted above). Finally, click on the Search Jobs button.

If you’re served too many possibilities as a result, then go ahead and specify a job category as well. But we do advise you against doing so at the start of your quest, simply because your ideal job could be listed in any number of categories, either job or industry specific.

If you’re after a customer service role, for example, you might find the job listed under Customer Service — or it could be featured within a particular industry category (e.g. transport & logistics). Select the wrong category and the job simply won’t appear in your search results.

You’re only presented with two ways to sort your search results: by Latest Listings (results are presented in reverse chronological order, most recent arrivals first) or Oldest Listings. In most cases, you’ll just want to view the Latest Listings.

A small note of caution: because jobs are listed on the site for a month, some of the oldest jobs off ered for your consideration may well have been filled by the time you see the listing. Always check the listing date before applying (and, if in doubt, contact the advertiser).

Some final advice:

1. Don’t job-seek at the office.
   Not only can it tip off your employer that you’re an unfaithful bunny, it also probably violates your company’s Acceptable Internet Use policy.
2. Don’t use a cutesy or weird email return address.
   It may amuse your friends to receive emails from your @stupid.com free web address, but it’s not a good look to potential bosses — and your email mightn’t even make it past their spam filters.
3. Don’t email applications without virus-checking.
   Nothing impresses a future employer less than a disease-riddled email.
4. Don’t just apply for any job that looks “interesting”.
   If you don’t have the minimum specified requirements (or can’t muster a compelling counter-argument) don’t waste your/their time. You’ll just end up in their digital garbage heap, especially in today’s economy.

For more detailed advice on Trade Me Jobs, check out Chapter Fifteen of Trade Me Success Secrets.

Happy job-hunting!

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Despite the recession (which impacted badly on most of the rest of Fairfax’s businesses) our favourite online auction site saw an increase in revenues of 22.1%. Meanwhile Fairfax’s NZ newspaper and magazine advertising revenues were down 14.6%.

Trade Me contributed earnings* of NZ$38.2 million to the Fairfax coffers — incidentally, meeting (for the second and final year) the revenue targets set when Trade Me was sold to Fairfax in 2006. As a consequence, Sam and the other original investors earned another NZ$45.2 million to add to their $700 million payday for Trade Me. Nice for them, but also good news for Fairfax — Trade Me continues to deliver healthy revenues despite today’s economic conditions.

One other point to note from today’s announcement: Trade Me’s NZ$38.2 million compares more than favourably to the $70.2 million earnings* contribution from the 80 newspapers and 25 magazine/guide publications from Fairfax New Zealand. This web lark seems to be quite promising after all!

*Strictly, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax and depreciation allowance) — but we know you prefer plain English in your financial reporting.

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According to those fine folk at Nielsen//NetRatings and their NZ Market Intelligence research, these were the top 10 websites in the Shopping category for December 2007:

• At Number 10, nzpost.co.nz/goshopping, which attracted 9,409 unique browsers across the month, looking for postage and packaging details.
• Number 9, mags4gifts.co.nz, Fairfax Magazines’ subscriptions-as-Christmas-gifts promotional site, 12,826 browsers.
• Number 8, interflora.co.nz appealed to 20,322 who like the thought of saying it with flowers.
• Number 7, smokecds.com, luring in 30,777 music lovers to this smokin’ music store.
• Number 6, torpedo7.co.nz, 46,051 extreme sport fanatics, on yer bike.
• Number 5, 1-day.co.nz, torpedo7′s one-day-deals site, lured 64,923 punters.
• Number 4, 121,564 visitors decided they’d like to sellmefree.co.nz.
• Number 3, designerexposure.com drew 192,909 in search of a little bit of luxury.
• Number 2, all that marketing drove 303,234 to ferrit.co.nz.

And, at Number 1, still champion after all these years, trademe.co.nz with a mere 3,532,434 unique browsers, more than eleven times the traffic of the Number 2 slot. Trade Me, take a bow.

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Oh say, have you seen:

10 – Atonement
First up is this British romantic-tragedy, with Keira Knightly “acting up a storm when her romance to James McAvoy (also seen in The King of Scotland) is turned on its head after he is accused of a crime he did not commit.”

9 – Hairspray
John Travolta in a fat suit playing the role made famous by drag diva extraordinaire Divine should have signalled disaster. Instead this remake of John Waters’ 1988 campy classic proved to be a critical and commercial hit.

8 – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
You can’t keep Captain Jack Sparrow down as Johnny Depp swashbuckled his way into the chart. The third, and supposed final film of the series, picks up exactly where Dead Man’s Chest left off as our heroic captain fights off all sorts of nasties. Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom also return, as do pretty much everyone that has appeared in the movies so far.

7 – Knocked Up
Every year a small comedy, featuring modest celebrities and a handful of expletives, seems to cut loose from the pack and deliver huge numbers at the box office – this year it was Knocked Up.

6 – Die Hard 4.0
Yippe-kay-ay as Bruce Willis dusts off his singlet and sets about saving world yet again in the blockbuster Die Hard 4.0.
 
5 – The Lives of Others
This German-language movie about the life of a secret police agent in East Berlin before the fall of the wall packed out art house cinemas around the world and took the Oscar for Best Foreign Language movie.

4 – Eagle vs Shark
Taika Waititi‘s charming Kiwi comedy about two misfits trying to find love proved a hit with audiences around the globe. As the film’s tagline opines, “Finding love was never so… Awkward”.

3 – 300
Gerard Butler shouted up a storm as the leader of the Spartans who must battle overwhelming odds against wave-after-wave of Persian attack. A huge body count (585 according to the Internet Movie Database), lashes of blood and graphic violence brought in the masses and a relatively cheap Hollywood movie ($65 million to make) turned into a huge blockbuster with takings in access of $200 million.

2 – The Bourne Ultimatum
You would think baddies around the world would know by now – don’t mess with Jason Bourne!! The fast pace never let up for the 115 minutes of running time as Jason is chased, and chases, around worldwide locations including Morocco, Italy and an unforgettable sequence at London’s Waterloo station.

1 – Transformers
And so to TVNZ’s pick for number one film, narrowly beating Mr Bourne by just a single vote. Transformers (robots in disguise) take out the top spot as the year’s best movie, as voted by you and the team at tvnz.co.nz.

Turning a children’s cartoon into one of the biggest blockbusters of the year was no mean feat and credit where credits due to one Michael Bay. The director, who is reviled by critics for his over-the-top style of bombastic action (see Bad Boys 1 and 2, Armageddon, Pearl Harbour etc), bounced back after turning in his first true turkey with The Island two years ago.

But the nature of Transformers, which pits two warring robot clans against each other on little ole Earth, suited Bay’s style perfectly. Throw in scorching hot actor Shia LaBoeuf and a whole heap of special effects and just sit back and watch the fireworks!

NZ’s Most Popular Movies — By The Numbers 
Well, that’s what the people say. The actual NZ box office results tell a slightly different story. The top 20 titles for calendar year 2007 (box office take shown for each movie):

20 Knocked Up $1,260,229
19 Rush Hour 3 $1,362,618
18 Miss Potter $1,391,383
17 Ocean’s Thirteen $1,396,154
16 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer $1,420,316
15 Live Free or Die Hard $1,432,389
14 Stomp the Yard $1,468,746
13 Wild Hogs $1,553,813
12 Amazing Grace $1,667,980
11 300 $1,848,409
10 Shrek the Third $1,982,622
9 Hairspray $1,991,518
8 Ratatouille $2,294,439
7 Mr. Bean’s Holiday $2,353,233
6 The Bourne Ultimatum $2,559,711
5 Spider-Man 3 $2,759,554
4 The Simpsons Movie $3,303,450
3 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix $4,024,957
2 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End $4,714,947
1 Transformers $5,274,014 

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We’ve just reached the Tipping Point. In the lead-up to Christmas 2007, undoubtedly driven by that seasonal event, 50.4% of the items on sale on Trade Me were new.

Yes, you read that correctly – more than half the items on sale on Trade Me pre-Christmas were NEW.  

The times, they are a’changing.

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The essence of their complaint: that the Books>Non-Fiction>New Zealand category was removed without consultation or advance notice, the week before Christmas. 

Some of the heartfelt pleas to Trade Me on the subject, via the Message Boards:

“I used this [category] heaps when selling, browsing and buying, it’s the obvious place to look first for NZ written and published non-fiction books!” — jo.dcat

“You know what is bound to happen now? People will flood the Rare & Collectable — NZ Published .. category with books that are neither rare, nor collectable, because they can’t find anywhere else to list them. That category is already misused as it is … grrrr” — bookshelves 

“I’m concerned about the removal of the NZ Non-fiction category from ‘Books’. While fiction buyers usually search (by author) non-fiction buyers tend to *browse* by subject – and ‘New Zealand’ is a significantly collected subject so it needs to be a category on its own. Many collectors of New Zealand books (like myself) collect widely within non-fiction and are going to struggle to browse among a dozen other categories (Architecture, Biography, etc) to find the New Zealand books. One of the difficulties in selling books on-line is that it works better for searchers than browsers and since people don’t have lists of non-fiction titles or authors they want, non-fiction relies on browsers. Having a New Zealand category encouraged browsing within it – scattering New Zealand books through a number of large categories makes browsing almost impossible. Please reconsider this change.” — thirzajane

“This decision doesn’t make financial sense at all. We all know how we shop for non-fiction and we know that breaking up the highly collected New Zealand non-fiction category and scattering it here and there will negatively affect sales, thus reducing success fees paid. I don’t think for a moment that this is a malicious decision, just one made by people with little or no knowledge of the mechanics of collecting/buying New Zealand non-fiction. Perhaps we should ask them to pop down the road to a bricks and mortar store and sit watching the people in the New Zealand section? They’ll be the ones who arrive with very little idea of what they want and who BROWSE until they discover something they never knew existed and which they now realise they can’t live without.” — thirzajane

“Please scour your trademe staff for someone ‘on the team’ who understands the ramifications of this unwanted change,understands book sellers and book buyers and is prepared to acknowledge a mistake has been made in this instance and has the nous to reinstate Books Non Fiction New Zealand as a primary category.” — hurworth

“I know from having been a buyer in a major bookshop that NZ books are the life blood of a bookshop in NZ! TM is a business which is fine but who is financing this?” — mme

“Please bring back NZ Non Fiction Category. Removing this as a primary category defies logic and commonsense. By all means add sub categories under NZ Non Fiction. But by this action in removing this category you have disrupted trading in Non Fiction NZ Books, created headaches for many loyal sellers and disadvantaged buyers who may be looking for NZ Non fiction.Please act quickly to restore NZ Non Fiction as a primary category and listen to the voices of experienced booksellers on this matter.” — hurworth 

“The figures from the books/non-fiction section seem to make the case for reinstatement of the New Zealand sub-section. There are now more than 3500 listings in the “other” section (the area into which we are [now] advised to place NZ non-fiction). Yet subjects with far fewer listings rate their own sub-sections (flora and fauna 80 listings, genealogy 92, wine and drink 129). Reinstatement would be a great Christmas presents for buyers and sellers — and even for TM’s bottom line.” — bookstacks
 
“We had nearly 1000 listings, many with Gallery, on Monday. TradeMe by removing all our listings to odd places you have cost us a lot of money in lost sales. Buy Nows of NZ books stopped as soon as you did this and most of our books are NZ. If we don’t get sales you lose money on commissions. We need a NZ category with sub-categories.” — morrisandbill 

Most of the Message Boarders are reporting automated email replies, but a few booksellers have managed to attract real responses. Here’s perhaps the most relevant reply from a Trade Me Customer Service staffer:

“Thanks for contacting us. We do not appear to have made a Site Announcement yet about this change so I do apologise for any confusion that you may have experienced when going to list yesterday. I can appreciate that the books you intend to sell (the ones you have listed) would fit most appropriately in a NZ Non Fiction category and this feedback is greatly appreciated. The changes were made based on feedback from members and the use of these categories on the site, but having said that, feedback on the changes is also very helpful for us. Thanks again and if you have any further questions or if I can be of any further help please do not hesitate to contact me.” — reported by felix00

Booksellers as a genus are not generally considered inflammatory individuals. However the removal of the Non-Fiction>New Zealand category has sparked a fiery reaction from these stereotypically placid purveyors of printed matter, and the issue risks becoming a cause célèbre amongst the literati. That’s unfortunate because both Trade Me and its bookseller customers have the same end purpose in mind — providing the most effective marketplace for the buying and selling of products.

The issue under debate  — whether book buyers search or browse — was well captured in an article in The Times of London last April entitled “How internet booksellers are killing art of browsing”. As The Times put the matter, rather more poetically, “The joy of stumbling on a captivating book of which you were previously unaware is being undermined by the internet.”

Margaret Atwood, the Canadian author whose books include The Edible Woman, The Handmaid’s Tale and The Blind Assassin, which won the Booker Prize in 2000, was reported in the article as saying that the “serendipity” of discovering something in a bookshop has not been replicated online. As Ms Atwood told the London Book Fair:

“You are not going to get the same experience on the net. Amazon is trying, by saying, ‘If you like this book you might like this other book’, but it’s often something quite offensive that they suggest.”

It’s quite a heavy burden to lay on Trade Me: preserve the Art of Serendipity (and the ancient and honourable craft of bookselling) by reinstating the Non-Fiction>New Zealand mega-category, so that casual browsers wandering through a large number of unrelated-except-by-country-of-origin books will encounter and potentially be captivated by previously unknown titles. A big ask, when elegant simplicity suggests that buyers would prefer to search by more specific categories.

And yet sellers are obviously convinced otherwise.

What to do? Some possible solutions:

• Reinstate “Non-Fiction>New Zealand” as a category, without changes. Easiest to implement, but probably requires a substantial amount of Trade Me number-crunching to confirm (or quash) sellers’ beliefs that sales within this category are driven by browsers rather than searchers.
• Reinstate “Non-Fiction>New Zealand” as a category, with a wide range of sub-categories to cater for searchers browsers [corrected - thanks thirzajane]. Theoretically a good idea, but inefficient (do you browse for a book about Kiwis during the Second World War under “Non-Fiction>War & Military” or “Non-Fiction>New Zealand>War & Military”?)
• Add “New Zealand” as a sub-category to every other book category. Effective but (as above) also inefficient for browsers.
• Allow sellers to add a “New Zealand” tag to any book at listing time, which can then be used as a search filter (Just as “New” and “Used” can be similarly filtered). Would enhance the listings, but at the risk of non-standardising the Books category compared to the rest of the site, a definite negative. And does nothing to further the cause of serendipity.

All in all, a difficult issue without an obvious quick fix. 

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