Sponsor's Message

There have been many small businesses that were so very successful they never reached the status of a "big" business.

It sounds paradoxical, but one of the biggest killers of small businesses is rapid growth -- or should I say overly-rapid growth.

When growth gets out of hand, its very easy to lose control of key aspects of a business. Thinks like customer service, support and good basic business management.

Now I'm not suggesting that local auction site Trademe is at risk of failure through overly rapid growth, but it's sure showing some dangerous signs.

As the writer of this column, I've been receiving an increasing number of emails complaining about the way Trademe has been treating its customers.

I have to admit that I'd put many of these complaints down to a simple case of the noisy minority -- but, after some personal experience, I'm not so sure.

As regular readers will know, I've been selling my jetkart and I figured there'd probably be no better place than on NZ's largest auction site.

Now have your say Got something to say about today's column, or want to see what others think?  Visit The Forums While you're here, why not visit the Aardvark Hall of Shame and perhaps make your own nomination.

Having used eBay before, I figured Trademe wouldn't be too much different -- and it isn't, until you get down to the detail.

I listed the kart a week ago and included as much information as I felt relevant.

Within a very short space of time a number of questions were posed by potential bidders. Unlike eBay, Trademe offers no way to directly answer these questions, other than posting a very limited 5-6 line reply on the auction page itself.

Indeed, Trademe's paranoia about buyers and sellers exchanging any words outside of the auction page is ridiculous. Ebay offers a very simple way for both parties to communicate so that any questions or issues can be discussed and resolved. And, despite providing this sensible mechanism, eBay still makes huge profits.

The lack of such a facility on Trademe is a real pain in the backside.

Being forced to use the tiny reply space on the auction page was a real hassle -- since some of the questions required more information than could be fitted in the available space. In the end I figured the best option would be to simply include link to the relevant pages on my own website -- something that is acceptable under the section 4.2.f of TradeMe's T&C.

All was going okay until the day the auction was due to close (yesterday).

Suddenly I got a "warning" email from Trademe accusing me of trying to conduct the sale outside of Trademe's auction system (which I most certainly wasn't) and of posting my contact details (which I hadn't).

Naturally I (a customer who should be treated as a valuable component of TradeMe's business model) felt pretty pee'd off that such unsubstantiated charges should be leveled at me. When I emailed Trademe asking for their proof -- none was forthcoming. It seems that summary justice the Trademe way is swift and without appeal, regardless of the merits of the case.

What's more, they deleted a number of the replies I'd written to questions from potential bidders -- before even determining the veracity of their mistaken accusations. That's not only unprofessional but it actually has the potential to compromise the final selling price of the item being auctioned.

It seems that Trademe really do have a "shoot first, ask questions later" attitude to dealing with any hint of possible infringement of their T&C.

And here's the crazy thing -- the Trademe Motors section of the auction site actually requests that you provide a contact phone number that is automatically included in the auction webpage anyway -- so how could they possibly bitch that I might have provided additional contact details??

Eventually I got an email from Sam Morgan, Trademe's head-honcho, in which he explained that it was all a terrible mistake and in which, to his credit, he offered an apology.

Whether I'd have received this personal response and apology if I were just Joe Blow average-punter and not Aardvark is probably a moot point.

The damage was already done however.

Suddenly all those letters I'd received, complaining about Trademe's unreasonable attitudes and high-handed manner when dealing with its customers, seemed a lot less like a vocal minority and lot more like genuine grievances.

I would have been prepared to write off my own experience as a simple bit of bad luck and a cock-up on the part of Trademe if it weren't for the fact that I am clearly far from alone in my experiences. They say there's no smoke without fire and I felt the flames of Trademe's ridiculous high-handed attitude towards its customers.

Unfortunately, it seems that Trademe's growth is outpacing its ability to maintain a reliable, effective and positive relationship with a number of its existing (and in my case, new) customers.

As I mentioned in this column a while ago, there is now a website called Scambusters which has been formed in response to Trademe's outlandish policies and attitudes, I suspect there will be more appearing in the future.

The ultimate test is: will I be using Trademe again?

I very much doubt it, nor will I be recommending the site to others.

It looks as if I'll just have to flog off that cruise missile in the Trade & Exchange instead :-)

As they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression and Trademe blew their's big-time. Like most people, I much prefer being treated as a valued customer than being falsely accused of cheating by a company that is more than happy to take my money but simply too lazy to check the facts before leveling such insulting accusations.

I also prefer not to have the effectiveness of "my bought and paid for" auction listing compromised by the arbitrary removal of non-infringing material which is pertinent to the sale.

From what I've been told, the jetkart auction now holds the TradeMe record for the most visited and, at the time their accusations were leveled, it had already been seen more than 10,000 times. You think they might have paid a little more attention to details when dealing with it then don't you?

To be fair, it's a bloody hard job coping with the growth that Trademe is clearly enjoying and they're certainly not alone in their problems -- but I'm afraid I don't think they're doing a very good job at all right now.

Perhaps Trademe needs a little serious competition to remind them just what the word "service" means and how important it is to ensure that their current rapid growth continues into the future. There's more to a successful business than just hiking the fees and collecting the money.

If you feel that this is a good thing and/or you hold a "geniune affection" for yours truly -- then you are welcome to gift me some money using the buttons provided. In gifting this money you accept that no goods, service or other consideration is offered, provided, accepted or anticipated in return. Just click on the button to gift whatever you can afford. NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally gift more than what you were intending :-)

Contacting Aardvark
I'm always happy to hear from readers, whether they're delivering brickbats, bouquets or news tip-offs. If you'd like to contact me directly, please this form. If you're happy for me to republish your comments then please be sure and select For Publication.

Other media organisations seeking more information or republication rights are also invited to contact me.

Just add a couple of lines of JavaScript to your pages and you can get a free summary of Aardvark's daily commentary -- automatically updated each and every week-day.

Aardvark also makes a summary of this daily column available via XML using the RSS format. More details can be found here.

Contact me if you decide to use either of these feeds and have any problems.

Linking Policy
Want to link to this site? Check out Aardvark's Linking Policy.

Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it now!