Published on the 10/03/2011 | Written by Newsdesk

Auction and trading website Sella has promised to remain commission free after a major boost in activity…

The company’s announcement in February followed its an increase in success fees by its competitor Trade Me.

Sella co-founder Shane Bradley says his site had a record 160 percent rise in registrations.

He says this is likely due to people hurting across the board from ongoing price hikes and the current economic climate.

“With their announcement we saw an incredible increase in registrations and activity throughout the Sella site,” Bradley says.

“Bids on Sella have increased by 120 percent since the broadcast of TradeMe’s fee increase and we have seen a 300 percent increase in Sella message board activity.”

He says it also highlighted the need to amp up the marketing of his company’s commission free policy.

“We realise what we haven’t pushed enough over the past three years of operation is the fact that it’s free to sell with us.”

Sella has promised never to charge New Zealanders for listing on Sella and promises to keep all sales commission free.

“We’re about giving New Zealanders choice,” he says.

“They can choose to pay to list their stuff with the competition or they can list with us for nothing.”

Bradley started Sella in 2008 and also founded GrabOne and Finda. Sella has over 330,000 registered members.