Another thing these analysts fail to take into account is...
.. that TradeMe stinks.
No seriously. Nobody in NZ actually *likes* it, it's just that there really is no alternative.
Well, there are alternatives (sella is a far superior site for example) but since TradeMe established itself early on as the dominant operator in this space it created a Hobson's choice... if you want to sell you have to go where the buyers are.
As I read recently, flotation of an existing, established business is often not indicative of a new dawn but rather the onset of it's twilight. Unable to grow or increase profits from the current base, selling off a chunk at a decent price before the business starts to founder and lost it's value is the best way to leverage the asset.
Rumour has it that Fairfax are talking about talking TradeMe overseas to "repeat it's success"; that notion alone tells us all we need to know about how little they understand the property they paid through the nose for those few years ago: TradeMe cannot be a success anywhere that there is even a whiff of decent competition because it simply stinks.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
