Zillion – New Zealand’s New Online Auction Site

The online auction market is heating up with yesterday’s (Friday July 29th) launch of Zillion ( http://www.zillion.co.nz), the creation of successful entrepreneurs Dylan Bland and Simon Barton.

Dylan and Simon are among the few New Zealander’s to have built successful and profitable internet business. Dylan is the founder of NZ Flatmates (www.nzflatmates.co.nz), while Simon is the driving force behind Gameplanet (www.gameplanet.co.nz) and GP Store (www.gpstore.co.nz), winner of Best E-commerce Site in the 2004 Netguide Awards.

Dylan and Simon have created Zillion to deliver a new level of service and to generate competition in the online auction market.

“We've created Zillion in response to both buyers and sellers requesting a strong second player in the local online auction space”, says Dylan, “Competition is good for the market, and we believe both buyers and sellers deserve a viable choice.”

Previous and existing competitors to Trade Me have struggled to generate the numbers of buyers and sellers necessary to create a vibrant and effective marketplace. With close to 100,000 loyal members across their existing websites to tell about Zillion, Dylan and Simon are confident that they will not suffer from this problem.

Visitors to Zillion will find a site designed to provide both buyers and sellers with smoother transactions. In particular, automation of the process after auctions close will save time for all traders and be particularly appreciated by high volume sellers for whom trading is a business and time is money!

Zillion’s traders will also be pleased to find lower fees than those charged by Trade Me. “In any market without genuine competition, prices tend to stabilize at quite high levels,” says Dylan, “Zillion’s minimum success fees are set at $0.20, versus $0.45 on Trade Me, and our fees for upgrading listings are also substantially lower across the board.”.

Security has been a strong focus for Zillion’s founders. While no process will prevent all forms of unscrupulous behaviour, Simon and Dylan believe that Zillion’s approach will allow the general public to trade online more confidently.

“The New Zealand media has quite rightly highlighted fraud as a major concern of those trading online,” says Simon. “Zillion will offer the opportunity for all sellers to verify their physical address for no charge and overseas-based sellers are required to have a New Zealand bank account for buyers to deposit money into.”

With over 10,000 items already listed on the site and month’s of testing involving many of New Zealand’s largest online traders under their belt, Dylan and Simon are nervous but confident about Zillion’s launch.

“We’re incredibly grateful to the New Zealand online community for the enthusiasm and commitment that they have shown to Zillion already,” says Dylan, “And we are committed to meeting and exceeding their expectations in the months and years ahead!”

Visit www.zillion.co.nz