Tradera

Tradera was founded in 1999 with Daniel Kaplan as CEO. The objective was to create a service to decrease the distance between collectors in Europe who wanted to trade various types of exclusive jewelry. It was originally intended to be a small project but investors became interested and invested in the company, which led to rapidly increasing expansion plans. However, after about a year in a luxurious office at Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm the company ran out of money as a result of the IT bubble bursting.[2]

In 2003, the company had regained its strong position and in 2004 it had about 400 000 members. In April 2006 the company was acquired by eBay Inc. for 365 million SEK, and in 2011 the member count was up to 2,5 million.

Thousands of items are listed on Tradera, in categories such as collectibles, clothing, music, electronics and art. From having previously focused on private consumer-to-consumer auctions, the service now accommodates both private and commercial sellers. Swedish visitors are able to use the service. International buyers are permitted to use Tradera with a registered PayPal account. Although the service is commonly referred to as an online auction service, it is also possible to buy and sell items for fixed prices. The company has previously collaborated with various organisations, and in October 2011 original photographs of the band Army of Lovers was sold through the service as a promotional campaign. As opposed to the major competing service in the Swedish market, the majority of items sold are delivered to the buyer through postal or delivery services.

• Tradera