Sharemarket analyst Morningstar is tipping a big rise in Trade Me’s vehicle and property listing fees.
However, Trade Me chief executive Jon Macdonald has brushed Morningstar’s forecast aside, telling AutoTalk: “We regularly review our pricing but there’s nothing new to share here – we’re just doing what we normally do.”
Macdonald adds: “We generally don’t comment on on analysts’ reports – there are about a dozen of them that cover TradeMe and that means a dozen different opinions, so we’re loath to zero in on one commentator’s view.
“With property agents and car dealers we have a mix of tiered volume plans and franchise agreements, and we review these on a rolling basis around once every 12 months.
“In terms of TradeMe Motors, we ran a price change for dealers in September 2012 which was our first dealer price increase for 2 years.
“We’re focused on delivering great value to everyone who uses Trade Me and that is the #1 consideration when we look at what we’re charging for the product we’re providing and the results we’re getting for advertisers.”
Trade Me faced a backlash from some traders when it increased the fees for selling most general items through its online marketplace by between 5.3 and 8.1% in September. It also raised its fees for private sales of motor vehicles by 15% in April, reports Stuff.co.nz
But Morningstar says it still sees a good opportunity for TradeMe to raise its property and vehicle listing fees – and in particular for a “significant increase” in fees charged to agents and professional sellers, who enjoy large discounts compared with private sellers.
The analyst upped its valuation of Trade Me shares by 40 cents to $4.40, although that remains below the stock’s current price of $4.98.
