Nigel Jeffries, Head of Property at Trade Me, joins us in the latest episode of the Inman Show. Trade Me is one of the world’s biggest brands when it comes to online marketing so Nigel has a lot of insight into the property market, especially in New Zealand.

The portal has around 35,000 properties on their site, with 92% coming in from agents. The remaining 8% comes from sellers, rental stock, and flatmate stock.

Agents don’t just sell houses, they sell their professional services and their negotiation skills to help both parties get the best price. Careful relationship management is where the agent comes into their own.  The other thing is speed on the market. An agent would, almost all of the time, achieve a higher price and a faster sale compared to direct.

It's a bit like doing your own plumbing around electrical work. An electrician or plumber will do so much more effectively because they’re qualified.

Nigel also explains in the interview how the data they get in Trade Me will be valuable for agents to know the behaviors of their clients, potential and otherwise. But Trade Me doesn’t just deal in property, they also delve in the marketplace, jobs, and motor industries, so they need to be extremely careful with their members privacy.

Trade Me makes sure that the data their customers can access is relevant to them and their privacy settings are easy to understand. 

Watch the interview for the complete story.