Sensis' Trading Post to take on eBay in online auctions

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 27 May 2008 05:34

IT Industry - Strategy

President of Australia’s Professional eBay Sellers Alliance, Phil Leahy, said he was pleased Trading Post is providing a new platform that includes auctions and offers Australian sellers a viable alternative.

“Our members are in the business of trading online and anything Trading Post can do to help competition by providing a more flexible environment and more affordable alternative, we support,” he said.

Mr Akhurst said to successfully compete in the online auction market, Trading Post needed to offer something different.

“As well as providing sellers with a choice of payment options, one of Trading Post’s main points of difference is it is free to list your items for sale. This means you only pay a fee if you sell your item.”

Mr Akhurst said Trading Post was also focussed on providing personalised customer support by phone and email and a security program to verify the identity of online traders.

“Buying and selling online should be easy, fast and efficient and so should getting answers to any questions you may have along the way. That’s why Trading Post has a dedicated Australian-based customer support team to help buyers and sellers with queries seven days a week.

“Through our research, we know security is important for many people trading online. Trading Post supports this by requiring people to supply an Australian address to register on our site.  Furthermore, our Verified Trader program provides buyers and sellers the opportunity to verify themselves through a free 100-point identity check with Australia Post. That way we can provide people with more confidence they are buying or selling with someone based in Australia,” said Mr Akhurst.

In developing the new website and its auction capability, Mr Akhurst said the business closely studied markets around the world and looked carefully for the right technology partners.

“We scoured the globe conducting research, market analysis and talking to the best technology providers. The end result is our partnership with Intershop and FAST to deliver best-in-breed technology for tradingpost.com.au,” Mr Akhurst said.

Australia and the rest of the world will now be watching to see how eBay Australia responds to the Sensis announcement. The online auction site now finds itself up against some of the heaviest of the corporate heavyweights in Australia, all of whom are playing on the fact that there is much vocal opposition to its clumsy attempt to force PayPal down the throats of Australian online traders.