Web Week

Traders' delight

Shopping is much more likely to be a motive for visiting TradeMe, the country's booming auction site. At any time of the day or night, tens of thousands of traders can be expected to be online. And it's not just used goods for sale. Many of the site's traders are in business. Some are reportedly concerned that when the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act 2004 comes into effect in April, they will be classed as dealers and have to pay for a licence.

Debt check

New Zealand's household debt is famously high and perhaps Nielsen//NetRatings' chart provides a glimpse of the cause: after successfully bidding for the boat on TradeMe, it's off to Westpac Bank to see if the credit card is going to withstand the pain. If the damage is more serious than the plastic can bear, there's abundant information on how to apply for any of a number of loan types, as well as interest rates and calculators to work out how long you're going to remain in hock.

Leaving on a jet plane

Could dealing with debt by fleeing the country explain Air New Zealand's prominence on this week's chart? If one wanted to do so in style, the site yesterday featured one-way business class fares to Australia for $499. For just shy of $10,000, the site will let you slip out of the country tomorrow on a first class flight to Heathrow.