Telstra is set to sell the once-iconic Trading Post brand just over a decade after it bought the classifieds rag for more than half a billion dollars.

Fairfax Media understands Unique Websites, which currently licenses the Trading Post brand from Telstra, is negotiating its outright purchase and that a deal could be signed within the next six months.

Big drop: The final price for Trading Post could be less than $10 million. Credit:AFR

But the deal is expected to reap Telstra a far smaller amount than the $636 million it paid Dutch company Trader Classified Media NV during a hotly-contested sale in 2004 where it beat other contenders. Sources said the final price could be less than $10 million but added negotiations were ongoing.

The sale would be a final nail in the coffin for Telstra's local classifieds and directories businesses, which were once collectively valued at almost $16 billion.