Scavenger hunt becomes e-commerce venture

Philip Sola, a building manager, has started the 'supaganic' website to list free goods that have been left behind at the apartment complex he manages. Photo / Sahar Lone.

An Auckland building manager, constantly on a scavenger hunt, has set up a trading website that helps people trade free goods online.

Philip Sola is a building manager at a Queen Street apartment complex and has started the website Supaganic as an online equivalent of the inorganic rubbish collection.

The site allows its users to list items they wish to give away in a bid to prolong the life of household goods.

"I want to recycle stuff instead of it getting buried in the ground," he said. "Also our streets will be much cleaner if the council didn't have to collect it once a year as part of the inorganics," says Sola.

Sola began using a removal company to dispose of the goods left behind by tenants, such as laptops and appliances, but the cost of the removal - sometimes $300-$400 - was excessive.

He says the link with the tenants is crucial to him building up the international scope of the website.

"I'm going to sign them up. I'll collect their emails and start them off in the countries they go home to."

Despite Sola's monitoring, the website relies on people 'paying it forward'.

He says the system will rely on a credit arrangement to encourage new users. When someone offers an item they will also generate points.

"Right now anyone could grab ten items and be greedy. This way you'll get fifty credits each week which can go towards grabbing items."

Users who 'grab' the goods then arrange their collection by email. The Supaganic depot in Manurewa houses the items dropped off by Supaganic users and other things stored by Sola in the interim.

The website relies on people offering goods which are sometimes in need of repair.

"If your TV doesn't work there are people who can fix it and put it back on the market. If you're an electrician and can fix it and sell it, you might make a profit, and it's going back into someone's home," says Sola.

He says he has been wary of promoting the site too heavily to employ staff if the website generates more traffic. He will be looking for investors in the website once the re-development is complete this August.

"I haven't even stuck up 10000 items yet. I've got books and mountain bikes, I've got all sorts. When people go on [the website] in the future they'll go 'wow there's heaps of stuff'.

"I know that if I start advertising it's just gonna boom. And we're not ready for that yet."

Sola has a staff of one -himself- to monitor transactions taking place and, to email users when there is a problem, which he says usually results from miscommunication.

By August, he also hopes to develop feedback opportunity, a credit system and a search engine for the website as it branches out and takes on more established international brands.

"Why would you go to TradeMe and buy a TV when you could get it for free on Supaganic?" Sola says he will also apply for environmental funding through the government to help the website grow.