When the first edition of Trade Me Success Secrets was published, New Zealand’s largest auction site had a million
members and was turning over $300 million in auction sales per year. The company was privately owned and seemed an unassuming little business.
Two years on, a few things have changed.
- Australasian publishing giant Fairfax bought the company early last year, paying 700 million dollars for “that site where we sell off unwanted Christmas parents”. That nice young man Sam Morgan picked up a couple of hundred million dollars himself.
- Turnover has doubled. Now $600 million worth of goods changes hands through the site on an annual basis.
- There are now a million items on sale on Trade Me at any one time, more than twice the number on sale two years ago.
- Trade Me membership has swelled from 1 Million to 1.8 Million.
- The site’s traffic has doubled to more than 440,000 unique visits a day.
- The site attracts 3.6 million visitors a month.
- Trade Me attracts over 65% of domestic page views on the internet in NZ.
- Trade Me now serves more than one billion pages a month.
- Earlier this year, Trade Me hosted its 100 millionth auction.
- Trade Me Property is now NZ’s #1 Real Estate Site in terms of traffic, and carries details for more than half the homes on sale throughout the country.
- Trade Me Motors has more automotive listings than any other NZ website, and around 90% of NZ’s automotive web traffic.
- Trade Me Jobs was launched in 2006. Now some 60,000 job applications are sent every month to jobs advertised on Trade Me.
- There’s more than 30,000 new members joining every month.
- There’s a sale made every three seconds on the giant auction website which is spawning thousands of new home-based and small business operators.
Under the circumstances, it was time for a new edition.
Thousands of Trade Me members have already learned how to buy better and make more money on Trade Me through Trade Me Success Secrets. The first printing sold out in six weeks, was quickly reprinted and has kept on selling steadily.
Now the SECOND EDITION, hot off the presses — completely revised, updated and expanded, with three new chapters — will teach you even more!
Whether you’re a casual buyer looking for a bargain, or an entrepreneur keen to make serious money on Trade Me – this is the book for you.
Trade Me Success Secrets is a simple to follow, very comprehensive guide to being a better trader.
For buyers, Michael shares his extensive knowledge to give you the winning edge – like:Look for listings with poor images or no images at all. Many people won’t bid on such auctions but if you do your homework diligently and are dealing with a seller who has achieved a reasonable number of 100 percent positive feedbacks it could be worth the risk – and you won’t have much competition.
Or:
Be a night owl or an early-bird. Trade Me operates 24/7 and some sellers add new listings that will close either very late at night or very early in the morning, when few buyers are around to indulge in a last-minute bidding war. Set your alarm clock and you could score a tasty worm at a rock bottom price.
For sellers – the book highlights a number of winning tips like:
The best 55 cent investment you’ll ever make is Trade Me’s Gallery promotional option, which pays for a photo to accompany your listing headline wherever it appears on the site. Such listings get 170 percent more bids.
AND:
The headline is the single most important part of your Trade Me listing and must include the right keywords, pricing information and a benefit or offer for potential purchasers
OR:
You’ll be remembered by your customers for what you do after the auction. They want just three things: instant gratification; fast, clear communications; and to get what they were promised.
Trade Me Success Secrets has real-life case studies from dozens of successful buyers and sellers.
Did you know over 500 people now make a living from buying and selling on Trade Me? One person who trades under ALFLE just turned over one million dollars on Trade Me in the last year.
Trade Me Success Secrets covers bidding strategies, behaviour and pitfalls for buyers, safe ways to trade to avoid being ripped off, how to search the thousands of listings for just what you want. It covers the selling process, tips to get your auction noticed and boost bidding, products to sell (and not to sell), legal obligations and mine fields, getting the product to the buyer, promoting and managing your Trade Me business, 101 products to start selling on Trade Me, and much more…
Author, Michael Carney was online in 1987 before most people knew the world-wide-web existed. He is a veteran marketer who works for an Auckland advertising agency. His reputation for being technologically savvy and for pushing the edge comes to the fore in his first book, Trade Me Success Secrets. ‘I was inspired to write the book when I saw the sheer numbers of Kiwis visiting Trade Me. Many of them are new to the world of online auctions and need guidance on how to get the best out of Trade Me.’
A former playwright and advertising copywriter, Michael is married to Celia and they have two school-age sons.
Trade Me Success Secrets second edition by Michael Carney is an Activity Press paperback published in November 2007 and priced at $34.99.
Fabulous Feedback From The First Edition
dedlin 3 Sep 2007
LISTEN UP!!! Much as I should be keeping such a great secret to myself, I have read about a quarter of the Success Secrets book so far and, with $2,300 worth of stock arriving today from China–believe me, this was timely–I now believe that this was unreservedly the best $33 I have ever spent. Thanks, Michael. You have not only confirmed much of what I had already suspected, but also opened up many new avenues of inspiration and motivated me in directions not previously contemplated.
bodnz 11 Apr 2007
WOW! What can I say – THANKYOU!! Great Book in all ways -content/layout/quality item and more. In summary: Products -THE BEST!, Trader -EXCELLENT PLUS in all ways! Thanks again – invaluable to me!!
gokiwi1 21 Mar 2007
Hi thanks for the trade!!! The info in yr book is everything I wanted know abt and so much more!! An excellent trader all round. Definately thumbs up :):)
moanuikid 13 Feb 2007
Without a doubt this would be the best I have read. The author really did his homework. Excellent service and rapid delivery. Thanks MK
jjgirls 19 Nov 2006
Great trade, cant put the book down. Would recommend to all serious traders to buy this book.
maddy81 18 Sep 2006
I highly recommend this book. It has motivated me to sell more – good to learn all the tricks of the trade-me. Thanks for the great service also. All the best:)
jemmadoggiedog 28 Aug 2006
STOP THE PRESS!!! This BOOK is Fantastic!!! I read it in two days, and now I am totally re-motivated! A book to keep on hand at all Times! Love the sense of humour too! Makes reading even more fun!! If I make a million, you will get a Huge box of choccies! 🙂
prydain 9 Apr 2006
Fast and friendly trader. Just love this book & love the humour…..I haven’t been able to put it down. If you want to make some serious money on Trade Me then this book is invaluable!!!
ebkiwi 25 Mar 2006
WOW! got the book a day after my payment….thanks so much for the autographed copy Michael and for writing a superb book about the business of TradeMe. You deserve your success for completing such a great and comprehensive reference loaded with insider secrets and tips…. top book with a super and original layout…. this trader is superb… AAAAA+
alman56 23 Mar 2006
A TRUELY DELIGHTFUL TRADER!!! SUPERB BOOK!! EASY TO READ AND EXTREMELY INFORMATIVE. THIS BOOK IS A DEFINATE ASSET TO HAVE AND COVERS EVERYTHING THAT YOU COULD EVER POSSILY NEED TO KNOW RE: TRADEME. I WOULD HAPPILY RECOMMEND MICHAEL’S BOOK TO EVERYONE. I THINK IT’S MOST DEFINATELY A “MUST READ” FOR EVERYONE USING TRADEME IN ANY WAY. AAAAA+++++++
lucky_12 29 Jan 2006
Awesome trade, awesome trader. Exceptionally fast contact. Trade arrived promptly, well-wrapped and in excellent condition. Book precisely as described/pictured and signed by the author as promised. Content comprehensive, brilliantly written in a humorous easy to read style. Love the format – chapter summary, icons and cheat sheets. Have learnt heaps. Excellent trader, great communication all the way. Highly efficient, fast smooth, easy trade. Highly recommended. Many thanks. A++++
jeanjeany 11 Dec 2005
Exellent book,many great ideas have been put into action already , a real investment for Trademe users! Thanks for the great trade.A++++++
smokinguns 11 Nov 2005
Im very impressed with this book, had to force myself to put it down and get on with selling stuff, probably my best buy this year, thank you so muchAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA+++++++++++++++++++++++++
meghan7 8 Nov 2005
Excellent book. Have spent the weekend reading and get loads of tips. Wish I had got this book before I started trading. Would definitely recommend this book to novices and serious traders of trademe. Thank you