Our History

From humble garage beginnings to Europe’s leading re-marketing industry brand, AVIDES has grown from strength to strength. A lot has changed since AVIDES began in 1997, but one thing has stayed the same: our passion for sales.

1997

Home

In April 1997, Ralf Hastedt began trading as Internet Media Service in Brockel, Wümme, importing English films.

2000

Change of name

In 2000, the company changed its name to AVIDES Media AG.

2001

Moving

In 2001, the business moved into new premises in Hemsbünde with three employees. In the same year AVIDES entered the DVD, music, software and games marketplace, remarketing through Amazon, eBay and its own online store.

2004

B2B beginning

In 2004, Christoph Burmester was appointed as the Managing Director and the company began selling new products direct to consumers.

2005

Power Extension

In 2005, the business strengthened its presence in Europe by positioning its B2C offering in online European sales platforms. Simultaneously, the range of customer returns increased and the process of grading and refurbishing units for resale in the B2C market began with volumes reaching up to 10,000 units per week.

2009

United Kingdom

In 2009, the business opened offices in the UK, focusing on the development of remarketing and selling services for companies looking for stock solutions, maximising grading and refurbishment operations around customer returns. To further support this and what defines our businesss as one of the premium remarketing services available today – working with the client to collaboratively select the correct selling strategy.

2010

Export Home

In 2010, the business entered the B2B sector, including the export of customer returns and surplus inventory.

2012

Focus on B2B

In 2012 and 2013, the business reduced trading activities in the B2C sector and focused its customer returns activities exclusively around the B2B channels.

2012-2013

Expansion

In this period, business extended into Poland, increasing the overall company storage and operational capacity to 25,000 square meters across three locations.

2015

Further Expansion

2015 created another 4,000 pallet spaces. Overall, the storage area of the business is now 30.000 square meters.

2018

2019