About us
OUR WHY
We believe it should be easy and safe for Kiwis to trade second hand goods.
What makes us different from previous attempts of market disruption?
Since 2023 we have invested significant time to to understand the ‘recommerce’ (C2C secondhand goods trading) landscape. This has involved talking to over 100 people who fit our key segments, accompanied by surveys and other third party research to get a sound understanding of the pain points for trading.
We’ve also spent many hours learning from previous attempts.
- We're not using the same model, which we know doesn't work
- We're adding value and solving problems, as opposed to just being 'cheaper'
- We're a seller aggregator first, and a marketplace second
- AI will allow us to build a fit-for purpose app-based platform
- Open banking is coming to NZ, opening up additional opportunities
How we started
It all started when I had to many sell second hand items during a shift in houses. I had to choose a tedious listing process on a major platform that came with substantial fees or dedicating hours to weeding through “Is this still available?” items through a large social media platform.
I was cornered.
The marketplace listing process which consisted of time-consuming uploading of every item, navigating multiple listing categories and then getting items to the post shop or being available and various times for pick up. It was hard work, and that’s before I mention the forever negative balance on my account due to success fees draining it on an ongoing basis.
I then tried the alternative and was met with an overflow of messages on the social media platform of automated messages and people offering prices that weren’t worth a reply.
I’ve had bad experiences on the other side as a buyer also. The word scam comes to mind fairly quickly and without much diving into research, it wasn’t hard to find that other Kiwis were having the same problems too.
From here, I thought there has to be a better way and that’s how SellWise was started.
BEHIND SELLWISE
The founder and team behind SellWise
Tom Filmer
Founder
