Online Auction Site Sells New Car For Charity

MEDIACOM-RELEASE-TRADE-ME-LTD

Online Auction Site Sells New Car For Charity

In just one week, the online auction site Trade Me has sold a new Daewoo car, and raised $3,500 to help save the country's maritime history.

Trade Me hosted the online charity auction on behalf of the Toroa Preservation Society which works to restore the world's only double- ended, coal-fired steam ferry.

The auction organiser, Mike Dimond, is rapt with the response to the online auction. "It's been a winner as far as we're concerned. Going through Trade Me gave us a much wider audience than we could ever have got with a conventional auction."

Over two and a half thousand people viewed the internet auction, with over one hundred people placing bids totalling nearly $650,000. Over half the items were sold, including the car, flights to Sydney, signed copies of sporting books including one by Sir Edmund Hilary, a golf trundler, fishing gear, and family passes to Auckland attractions.

Most of the items up for auction had to meet a reserve before they would sell because they'd been pre-purchased by the charity, not donated to it.

In a typical week, Trade Me hosts over 1,600 auctions and over 6,000 bids are placed. "There's growing evidence that people are becoming hooked on auctions," says Trade Me's founder, Sam Morgan. "I know of several people who've missed out on something they wanted in an auction and so now set their alarm on the final day of the auction so they don't forget to go in and check the bidding."

Trade Me now attracts over 30,000 people a week who stay on the site for at least 15 minutes at a time. Recent additions to the site include e-cards, a photo-hosting service, a message board and chat room which have all contributed to the growth of the trading community.

ENDS

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