A new New Zealand-owned website has been launched to rival Trade Me, billed as a new Kiwi buy, sell and swap online platform.
However, onoffer.co.nz claims it is “not an auction site like Trade Me, “rather a traditional Kiwi buy, sell and exchange platform.”
“Auctions are more of an American concept, whereas Kiwis like hunting out a bargain and haggling for a deal then and there,” says Jason Gibb, Founder and CEO, onoffer.co.nz.
“We grew up with the concept of ‘ONO - or nearest offer’ and that’s the concept behind this site. We made a site that allows Kiwis to get a deal by making an offer.”
Gibb says that Onoffer.co.nz enables sellers to post an item with a price and stipulate for how long the offer is on the table.
Buyers make their best offer based on what they think the item they want is actually worth and the seller can see all those offers.
“There’s no waiting around for an auction to close,” he adds. “The nearest offer wins. It will be cheaper than Trade Me for users and there are no percentage success fees.”
Gibb says that charities will be able to list items on the site for free while photos and YouTube video clips can be posted for free and every listing gets some Homepage listing exposure for free.
As well as buy and sell functions, onoffer.co.nz features a swap function, allowing users to post items to the site that they want to give away.
“One man’s junk is another’s treasure and this function will save many trips to the tip,” adds Gibb, who developed the OnOffer concept seven years ago.
At present, Gibb says the site contains over 8,000,000 lines of heavily customised code.