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We have been Trade Me members since November 2001.

During this time we have learnt by trial and error the best ways to present an auction, to pay for a purchase, to deal with postage and much more.

We have had the privilege of trading with wonderful people up and down this beautiful country also the profound privilege of trading with overseas buyers too.

The items that we buy and sell range widely from Computer Software, Hardware and Website Services to China, Pottery and other collectables. We started by finding things at home that we did not want any more and

listing them for sale. This never bought a great deal of money but the things that other people wanted often surprised us. We potted along for a couple of years buying a little and selling a little and really gaining more and more confidence with this form of trading. For sometime I had prowled the local second-hand shops for a bargain as we had long since run out of things to get rid of at home.

In April 2004 I started keeping track of the things that we were selling and the costs involved in the transactions….it was after a month of trading like this that my husband started to take an interest in what I was doing, I think initially because it looked like I was spending more than I was bringing in and I was quite determined to keep feeding my habit….I love china, the smell of Antique Shops and the thrill of a bargain that I could turn into rent paying cash. At this point it was not a business but it sure was one of the best hobbies I have ever had. So on a personal level, I used Trade Me as the vehicle to reach many people with the items that I had found and loved…hoping that someone out there would love them as much as me and maybe even pay a bit more than what I had for them.

From there a business idea began to form…I would walk into an antique shop and look at what they had good prices on then I would find the bargain bin and check out the items that the shop owner considered of little value. This varied so much from shop to shop as each owner had his or her own area of expertise and the rest was considered wasted space. Here I discovered one of the great sources for allsorts of China. The other source was Trade Me itself as other sellers did not employ the research methods or the interest that I had in selling things…..oh yes, and the $1 auctions.