Wheedle boss asks - is TradeMe behind Whedle.co.nz? No, it's this guy
This morning, Wheedle general manager Carl Rees pointed out to NBR a site called Whedle.co.nz,
Whedle's home page states: Click here to visit New Zealand's premier Online Auction site which redirects visitors to Trade Me.
According to Whedle's site counter, it has had 21,212 views.
"If Trade Me are behind this they are doing us a huge favour," Mr Rees said.
The truth lies further south.
Domain Name Commission records show the mischievous Whedle.co.nz was registered by Dunedin man Ryan Priemus.
Mr Priemus told NBR he had no link whatsoever to Trade Me. He works outside the tech industry.
A message on Whedle.co.nz says "This site is available for advertising, redirection, or outright sale."
NBR asked if Mr Priemus was making a financial play.
He said he had "not particular motivation" for registering Whedle.co.nz and launching the site. But if Wheedle wanted to make him an offer for the domain, he would be willing to consider it. He had no particular price in mind.
"I do register a lot of domains," Mr Priemus added.
When told Whedle.co.nz was potentially on offer, GM Carl Rees told NBR the site would not make an offer.
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Comments and questions8
This is a risk for businesses starting up on the internet so I don't really understand why you wouldn't identify as many possible variations as possible and close them off very early.
According to the domain register 'whedle' was registered on 26/9. On the same day a business also registered another variation which redirects to a fruit seller. I thought they had planned the launch for two years?
Personally this should be made illegal to do without a valid reason and Ryan should be sent to jail for 10 years at least
Wheedle are trying to make are buck and perhaps so is this guy. Same objective in my mind. I see no malice, Wheedle should have been on the ball to start with.
Perhaps Wheedle should hire Ryan so simple oversights like this won't happen again. Rookie error for an apparent big spend business venture.
If Mr Priemus really wants to sell the domain perhaps he should list it on an internet based auction site such as _________.
The guys at Wheedle sounds like they should have used a real security company to test their website before going live.
Privacy and user security aside I would have thought they would have tested for reliability and stability as well as other names currently in use.
lol had to laugh, www.whedle.co.nz is nothing spelt like www.wheedle.co.nz and i am sure the real mccoy has that domain.
TradeMe have an unrivaled hand and is becoming a monster out of control! We should be all helping Wheedle to get going, not play silly childish games, just to show how clever we are. We should all rally around them and help create a more fair and healthy trading environment by allowing competition to level the playing field. Have you listed anything on TM lately? Talk about greed .... all I will say, is, "make it while you can TM, because it won't last forever, your bubble has to burst, your own sharp teeth will do it and ensure your own demise!"