Trade & Exchange site reaches 500,000 listings

Media information
For Immediate Release
Date 18 May 2009

Trade & Exchange site reaches 500,000 listings

The Trade & Exchange website, te.co.nz, this week reached half a million viewable listings for the first time. While still not as large as Trademe, this is many times more listings than on any of the other general New Zealand trading sites and in some ad categories gives TE the largest listings of any general trading site in the country.

According to Managing Director Peter Whitmore, the growth in listing numbers has been particularly strong since the free listing service was extended two years ago to include businesses as well as private advertisers.

“The increasing charges on Trademe have probably also helped us”, said Whitmore. “For example, to list a car on their site now costs $39, but we are also very strong in the car market and our listings are free.”

Unlike some other trading sites, TE does not offer auctions. “We think straight listings offer advantages in a lot of cases”, said Whitmore. “They give you the opportunity to find what you want, when you want it, without having to track auctions and without having to risk your money based on just an online description and a photo”.

He continued, “We don’t want to be a middleman, we just want to make it easy for buyers and sellers to get together so they can complete their deals.”

“We are also continuing to improve our site and make it easier to use. For example, design changes over the past two months have improved its speed, so that key pages now often load faster than their equivalents on other sites.”

The TE site, originally launched in 1998, was an outgrowth of the Trade & Exchange papers. It is owned by Cabbage Tree Press Ltd, a privately held New Zealand company. Revenue to support the site comes from various paid advertising options and related services.

www.te.co.nz

ENDS