Partnerships, pictures and a new phone payment system are the keys to a dramatic increase in users of the Donedeal.ie web site, the company ‘s founder said recently.The Wexford-based classified ads mart had 130,500 visitors in September, representing a 177% increase in site traffic on last year. The website’s growth is a result of the high quality of its classified ads, which include photos, and key partnerships with companies such as IrishPets.ie and Student Travel Card as well as the introduction of its innovative payment system, managing director Fred Karlsson said.
The number of pages being viewed by each visitor has also increased by 137%, according to data from Google analytics, Karlsson said. Donedeal.ie’s traffic now stands at 2.3 million page impressions per month with each user viewing 19 pages on average.
“The €3 fee for placing an ad on DoneDeal.ie is now made by users calling a specific per call charge number, where the call price is fixed at €3 and the charge is applied to the user’s phone bill. This payment method couldn’t be simpler and it removes the risk of credit card fraud as a credit card is not even used,” Karlsson said.
“We have managed to build a legion of loyal followers who are really enthusiastic about the site, because they’ve had such a positive buying or selling experience,” said Swedish entrepreneur Karlsson. He set up the site in April 2005, after he and his wife had moved a number of times. The couple found it difficult to buy high quality second hand furniture, as the quality of classified ads they saw was very poor. Donedeal now has one full-time employee. It recently added Facebook integration, which means Irish Facebook users can buy and sell on DoneDeal directly through Facebook. Within the next few weeks, Donedeal also plans to integrate its car sales section with an Irish motoring magazine. www.drivemagazine.ie. Other innovations include the launch of a popular Horses for Sale category and the introduction of free advert tracking tools. Karlsson is now talking to a number of Irish horse web sites about them integrating the site’s horse section.
Karlsson’s other plans for the future include partnering with an Irish motorbike site for the motorbike section. “We are investigating the use of videos as well as photographs when people advertise their stuff. Videos could be really cool when selling your boyracer car or to show your cute puppies running around,” he explains.
Karlsson is also planning to launch stuffdaq.ie - a fun take on the stock exchange, which will give sellers an indication of the value of items before they sell them on DoneDeal.ie

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