Trade Me’s top 10 listings for 2018 revealed

Trade Me’s top 10 listings for 2018 revealed

A piece of sandpaper, a wedding dress worn once by mistake and an XL condom have been named the most popular Trade Me Marketplace listings of 2018.

Trade Me’s Millie Silvester said millions of items sell on the site every year but it’s the weird wonders or ordinary items with extraordinary back stories that always take out the most viewed listings of the year.

“Some listings have that certain X factor. They capture the imaginations of the country, and sometimes even the world, because they’re weird, topical or because the seller writes a great description and commits to being creative and entertaining in the Q&A.”

Miss Silvester said the most popular Trade Me listing in 2018 was a piece of yellow sandpaper titled ‘Australian Sports Tape’ after the Aussie cricket team came under fire for ball tampering in March.

“The little piece of sandpaper which was ‘perfect for cheating’ made headlines around the world and fetched 260,000 views before it sold for $58 to a Papatoetoe buyer.

“A Masterton woman listed her wedding dress for sale in January which was ‘worn once by mistake’ and ‘in excellent condition unlike my marriage.’ The listing’s amazing description had 106,000 views from Kiwis around the country and came second.

Miss Silvester said an XL condom listed by Lisa Lewis during the nationwide condom shortage in June took bronze in the most viewed of the year. The auction’s tongue-in-cheek description said ‘don’t let a mate use glad-wrap’ and had an appropriate 69,000 views.

“Lisa has form on Trade Me, with her famous streaker bikini clocking up almost 200,000 views onsite way back in June 2006.”

One brave Auckland member named Nicki auctioned off a ticket to Ed Sheeran’s concert in March. “This was under the proviso that the winner took her to the show,” Miss Silvester said “The listing saw 33,700 views and Nicki ended up finding a date. We’ve checked in with her recently and have it on good authority that her quest for true love continues so we wish her all the best with that.”

Miss Silvester said all the sellers didn’t take themselves too seriously and were prepared to have a bit of fun with their listing.

Honourable mentions included the first-ever bottles of Lewis Road Creamery’s mint chocolate milk, David Seymour’s twerking outfit from Dancing With the Stars, Jacinda Ardern’s doodle for charity and the last Girl Guide biscuit.

In addition to being a home for weird, wonderful and fun listings Miss Silvester said Trade Me continued to reflect the concerns and popular culture references of Kiwis.

“When big news lands or something goes viral in New Zealand, we often see our members getting inspired, getting involved, grabbing memorabilia and jumping onsite.

“This year we’ve seen searches for reusable items double after the plastic bag ban, searches for electric vehicles zoom up 42 per cent year-on-year and after the untimely death of artist Kate Spade we saw searches for her work leap 795 per cent.”

The top ten Trade Me listings of the year
1. Australian Sports Tape - 260,000 views
2. Wedding dress - worn once by mistake - 106,600 views
3. XL condom - because there is a shortage - 69,000 views
4. First ever bottles of Lewis Road Creamery Mint Chocolate Milk - 66,288
5. Portal gun for Rick & Morty dress up - 36,000 views
6. Ed Sheeran ticket and a date - 33,700 views
7. Wedding for $1 reserve - 34,400 views
8. David Seymour’s twerking outfit - 33,500 views
9. The last Girl Guide biscuit - 26,400 views
10. Jacinda Ardern’s doodle - 25,700 views

Interesting facts from the year
• Searches for ‘reusable’ jumped 100% this year following the decision to ban plastic bags
• Searches for electric vehicles jumped 42% following petrol price increases
• After the iconic shot of Jacinda Ardern, Clarke Gayford and Neve outside the hospital we had over 21,500 searches for ‘men’s cardigans’ and nearly 9000 searches for ‘flexible’ jobs
• After a man in Wellington broke the Len Lye sculpture on Wellington’s waterfront, 15 ‘idiot’ cards were bought to be handed out to “bored public gymnasts”
• Since Lime scooters were introduced into Auckland, we’ve seen 94 first aid sets sold in the city

ENDS

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