Hiran Wickramasinghe wants to make buying and selling easier for Sri Lankans. His website www.trade.lk is the realisation of this simple ambition – one that allows his users to purchase or sell almost anything from the comfort of their own homes. The website enables users to post classified ads, bid on items they might be interested in, and receive bids for their own products.
Modelled along the lines of successful sites like Gumtree and Craiglist, items for sale on the website are slotted into one of several categories on a list that includes: Real Estate, Housing and Rentals, Electronics and Home Appliances, Travel, Vehicles, Clothing, Jewellery and Accessories, Furniture and Furnishings, Pets and Pet Products, Jobs, Education & Learning, and Services.
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| Hiran Wickramasinghe |
Hiran hopes that sites like his will eventually be considered viable alternatives to placing an ad in the classified sections of newspapers. "The site is free and offers many features to meet buyers to sellers and vice-versa," he says. Currently, the paper ads reach an immeasurably larger audience, and their popularity is based, at least in part, on the ease with which we can access them.
Hiran, however, has some ideas about how he can catch up – his weapon of choice is the humble mobile phone. "I understand that in Sri Lanka not everyone has a computer," he says, "however the popularity of mobile phones is huge. Making trade.lk accessible via mobile phone (m.trade.lk.) "allows people to have access to the site while on the go, anytime, anywhere."
"Users can also search for ads based on their location," says Hiran, adding that because the site is online, it is accessible 24/7, across the world. He stresses the convenience trade.lk offers, cutting out the need to actually go to the newspaper office or sort through dozens of ads before you can find what you need.
The 26-year-old Sri Lankan is based in London and has a background in IT. He says he first envisioned the site last year, but implementation has been something of an uphill task. The actual payment is discussed between buyer and seller and the seller has a choice of whom he/ she would like to sell to. "We do, however, warn all the users not to send money without seeing the item personally," Hiran emphasises. As the site's popularity grows, Hiran hopes to fuel it with advertising revenues, and to charge for exclusive services.
Trade.lk simply connects buyer and seller, but Hiran has tweaked it so that the matches are as good as made in heaven. Explaining how it works, he says, "The variables are quite flexible. Let's say for example someone is interested in mobile phones they can then subscribe to that and be alerted when any ads are posted about any mobile phone. They can go a level deeper and be alerted only on a particular brand, say any Nokia phone. It also allows for a step deeper – for example Nokia N90. Similarly this can be done for other categories."
Hiran is not the first person to create an online market place for Sri Lanka. Sites like wow.lk, srilankasale.com and danweem.com have dedicated themselves to posting Sri Lankan classifieds, but Hiran believes he offers more in the way of services. Though the website is already up and running, Hiran isn't finished yet. "There is more work to be done," he says explaining that he "designed the website using open-source technologies." Hiran manages the site himself and intends to do the upgrades on his own – keeping overheads at a minimum. Talking about the future, he says he has plans to increase the site's accessibility. "There are many people out there looking for great deals and with this service they will be able to find them."
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