trademe fees impacting your ROI?

Another hike in trademe fees........Sam Morgan's beloved baby has morphed into a major cash cow for Fairfax, plain and simple. But is this attitude doing any favors to the sustainability of trademe, or more importantly, the trademe community? How loyal are kiwis to this new greedy trademe? I would suggest that trademe owners Fairfax are on the fast road to finding out.

The following details give you some indication as to how drastic some of the changes to trademe's fee structure have been- thanks to the scambusters community for this info (these guys do a great job of trying to keep trademe honest and I'm a huge fan of theirs)

trademe fee's which have increased in the past year:

• General success fees rise (5.5% to 5.9% for low priced goods)
• Businesses for sale rise from $29.95 to $49.95
• Property rise from $49 to $99 to $149
• Horses rise from $4.95 to $19.95
• Domain names to $19.95 (originally just general listings)
• Motor vehicles from $19.95 to $29.95
• Success fees added for vehicle auctions (extra $20)
• Mandatory withdrawal fees of $2 or the success fees calculated at the reserve price
• Rental properties from $19.95 to $29

I would be interested in some comments on these figures from loyal trademe merchants. Surely these cannot be a good sign for the sustainability of your ROI (return on investment) using trademe ?

Comments

[Dobby]

It's hard to keep up with the frequent fee hikes, so just to let you know ... you missed a few :-)

Rental Properties increased again yesterday to $49, as did the withdrawl fee which is now $3. Homepage features increased from $19 to $39 in June for general listings, and from $29 to $39 for vehicles. A feature listing in motors increased from $9.95 to $19. A number of other fee changes also happened around this time that you can read about here:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Community/FeeAnnouncement.aspx
An interesting point to note is that members are often given only hours notice of these fee increases, and TMs sole communication medium is to post a message on the Site Announcements, which users must actively check on a daily basis.

Greed ... one of the seven deadly sins! Deadly in the short term to sellers profits, and I suspect in the long term to the loyalty of the TM user base.

[Lisa Willis]

Well that is why I started my own site, www.bargains4u.co.nz, bout time TM had a worthy competitor.

My fees are miniscule compared to theirs-
House $19.95
Cars $9.95
2% Success fee

AND - its an international site that offers heaps more services than TM

Hope to see you all there soon

[John Morrison]

Trademe has become very popular and as a result a near monopoly. TM's fees must never be regulated, but rather their now very high fees must eventually help their opposition get a "foot in the door". To the detriment of TM.

I believe if any regulation is needed then it should the standard of ethical behaviour practised by owners of web trading sites.

A good start in this direction would be to lay out for the public gaze the number of complaints the police recieve in a year from buyers using TM and the number of "lost parcel" complaints that NZ post recieve annually involving TM.

Cheers

[dean]

I totally agree trademe are just a bunch of greedy bastards we should spam mail warning people of that and point them to a better auction site

[Martin]

Well, was quite happy with trade me .... at the beginning, but I have started to list my bussiness/ goods with every other trade/me kind of website that i can find.
They are getting far to greedy, and if they whould have keep to there oringinal fees , I probably would not even have worried about looking at other sites ....

[Andrew]

I run and own the website Musicthingz.co.nz - retailer of Musical products. Trademe won't last for many more years if they continue as they have been. Close to 6% commission fees are undoubtedly the highest fees asked for any auction site anywhere in the world - which is most likely because Trademe is the world's most popular auction site per head (I think?) . NZ has a habit of overcharging it's citizins because it's segregated largely from the rest of the globe - if sites like Zillion/Sella can take control of only 5% of the market initially - this will dominoe and force Trademe to change - however,because Trademe do not offer any opportunity to advertise (aside from a $10,000 fee) I for one hope they sink into obscurity.

[Peter]

And now the success fee has gone up to 6.9%!!!!

[bruce]

rentals are now $69 ... we want to leave our place, the landlords not nice ... but $69 ?!?!?! I'm surprised ANY places are on there for that price.

[Peter]

I sold something on Trademe recently, and was shocked by the fees. I will be looking for alternative ways to market our stuff. I am sure that we are not alone.

2 thumbs down to you Sam Morgan for selling out to the 'devil' You made your money by providing a simple solution for NZ people to be able access an auction site. You were one of us and we became loyal. Now you have handed us over to a multinational that is ripping us off. Clipping the ticket is one thing, but ripping it on half .... Trademe has become an alligator. One that is controlled by a board of people who have no thought to invest in the very communities that make their money for them.

There were plenty of other ways to cash out of a business without letting the 'devil' in the door.

I for one will help to spread the word! People will vote with their feet, and I look to the day that Fairfax's Trademe turns into a ghost town.