Origins and early development
Sam Morgan founded Trade Me in 1999, constructing the site while working full-time for Deloitte as a technology consultant. Within Deloitte, Morgan worked on Internet projects and supply-chain issues.[6] During this time he witnessed the successes of online businesses like eBay and Yahoo, as well as the disasters of the dot-com bubble.
According to Trade Me legend,[7] Morgan, then 23 years old, decided to found the Trade Me site when, despite searching online, he could not find a secondhand heater for his flat in Wellington. The Trade & Exchange site had a heater for sale, but held back listings for a week before publishing them online, and by the time Morgan made contact with the heater's owner, the item in question had already sold.
Morgan describes the initial designing and building of Trade Me thus:
"Some time later we were in a backpackers in Sydney and got evicted because it was overbooked. We went up to some backwater because it was the only accommodation we could find. Anyway, there was nothing to do, so that night I started drawing a data model. So it sort of started there really. Then when I came back to Wellington I literally sat on the couch and built the site on a laptop over a five- or six-week period."[7]
The site went online in March 1999 after Morgan pulled together as much funding as he could. It gained 155 members in its first week on the Internet.[7] In its early stages Morgan humorously listed Trade Me for sale on eBay with a $1 million buy-now price. Though eBay withdrew Morgan's auction, the prank sparked some interest among New Zealanders who realised the potential of online trading.
Trade Me developed slowly initially, because its founder had little funding to pay for the costs of hosting and of expanding the site. In addition, Trade Me initially offered a completely free service for both buyers and sellers, a strategy for expanding its member base at the cost of short-term revenue. With little money and time available to work on the site, Morgan made the critical decision to sell almost half of his new company to his former Deloitte colleagues, bringing him around $75,000.
By August 1999 membership had risen to 3,500, and Morgan could dedicate most of his time and funding to the site. The early strategy for Trade Me involved simply increasing its user base and encouraging members to refer their friends to the site. Trade Me launched the Safe Trader escrow service about this time.
Growth and expansion
In its early years Trade Me continued to struggle, slowly increasing its user base, but facing financial challenges. The site initially used web banners, but falling prices for advertising made web-banner revenue insufficient to cover expenses. Trade Me then introduced fees for auction services: first for features such as bold titles; then in September 2000 it introduced "success fees". This action proved the turning point for Trade Me, saving the site from potential financial disaster. Much of the success to come was based around the 'Trade Me Manifesto', a series of ten values for keeping the site fast and the company technology focused.[8]
eBay tried to enter the New Zealand market in 2001, but had little success. Trade Me has remained the major Internet-auction site in New Zealand, with both international and smaller national competitors gaining relatively little market penetration. Morgan commented on eBay's attempt to penetrate the New Zealand market in an interview:
Morgan took time off from the stress of running the booming Trade Me site in September 2001, and went to the United Kingdom to manage an IT team in London. When he returned to his role at Trade Me the site had become profitable, with a membership of 100,000 and growing. By April 2005, this number reached one million.
In August 2003, Trade Me went live with Trade Me Motors[10]
Fairfax subsidiary, 2006–2012
On 6 March 2006, the Australian media company Fairfax acquired Trade Me in a deal worth NZ$700 million, with an additional NZ$50 million payable if the organisation met earnings targets over the next two years. (Those targets were met.) Sam Morgan and other executives remained with Trade Me.[12] Since the Fairfax purchase, Trade Me has continued to stand alone, with the former Fairfax NZ sites Jobstuff and Propertystuff being discontinued in favour of the Trade Me offerings.
In December 2012, Fairfax announced it was looking to sell off its stake in Trade Me in order to pay off debts.[13] The sale was confirmed on 17 December.[14] Its first profit report following the sale exceeded expectations, at NZ$37.4 million in the second half of 2012.[15]
Apax Partners, 2018–present
In December 2018, Trade Me accepted a NZ$2.56 billion takeover bid from the British investment company Apax Partners, marking the biggest private equity deal in New Zealand's history.[16] This acquisition deal was finalised in May 2019.[2]
On 3 June 2025, Trade Me acquired a 50 percent stake in media company Stuff's Stuff Digital division, which consists of the Stuff.co.nz website and evening news bulletin ThreeNews. In addition, Stuff's property section will be rebranded as Trade Me Property, with listings, advertisements and some content shared across both platforms.[17]
In early March 2026, Trade Me announced that it would be eliminating success fees for casual sellers in order to compete with Facebook Marketplace. Trade Me had a policy of deducting 7.9% of the final sales price for items sold on their platform. In addition, the company confirmed plans to phase out online bank transfers while offering cash payment options, its own online Ping payment service, and the
