Trade Me: The Inside Story

Few companies have captured the hearts and minds of New Zealanders like Trade Me.

Originally built by university drop-out Sam Morgan on a borrowed laptop, Trade Me was to change the face of retailing in New Zealand, destroying newspapers’ classifieds businesses and going on to become part of the vernacular as some 2.5 million Kiwis became members.

Now for the first time the story of Trade Me is told, the first 10 years of this remarkable company. Author Mike O’Donnell is Head of Operations at Trade Me and tells of its fragile beginnings, to being laughed out of the room by Telecom, through to it becoming the number one force on the New Zealand internet, and being sold for a staggering $750 million.

Featuring a foreword by Trade Me founder Sam Morgan and numerous interviews with all members of the original Trade Me team, this is the first ever history of arguably New Zealand’s most loved company, and has the added benefit of the story being told from the inside.