Managed by Trade Me Ltd., the site was founded in 1999 by New Zealand entrepreneur Sam Morgan, who sold it to Fairfax in 2006 for NZ$700 million.

Member profile, bidding history and "feedback received" pages are then hidden and can be reactivated by ex-members at a later date on request.

Sam Morgan founded Trade Me in 1999, constructing the site while working full-time for Deloitte as a technology consultant.

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.

[8] 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.

[citation needed] 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.

The early strategy for Trade Me involved simply increasing its user base and encouraging members to refer their friends to the site.

[citation needed] 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.

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.

Trade Me has remained the major Internet-auction site in New Zealand, with both international and smaller national competitors gaining relatively little market penetration.

In 2007, Trade Me set up a dedicated Trust & Safety team who monitor the site seven days a week to keep its members safe.

[citation needed] To minimise payment problems and reduce fraud, Trade Me restricted membership to residents of New Zealand and Australia in 2005.

In June 2005 Fair Go,[20] a television programme devoted to consumer affairs, approached Trade Me Limited regarding this issue and featured the matter on a broadcast episode.

In response to this, Trade Me Limited sent all the users who registered their date of birth as under eighteen an e-mail asking them to check and update their details if incorrect.

[24] It was stated that Lixtor vs. Trade Me case is a good example of how the new section 92a in the New Zealand copyright law could be "misused" if passed.

The winner of the auction was kornholio, with a winning bid of $280 ($1 Reserve Price)[28] The International 574 was just a regular old tractor – bucket, back blade, red – but it did come with one rather unusual added feature: a farm, the 8.1h block in the Catlins was an added bonus for whoever wins the tractor auction.