Warning all trademe users.

**inlinefour** · 9th June 2005, 11:46

Why I ever bothered with this site now is beyond me and I now look at it as a learning experience.
I joined TM quite some time ago, run a couple of auctions and brought several items from different traders. Each time I would make a purchase from what the auction had stated, however about half the time what I recieved was much worse. I was advised by TM admin to leave negative feedback, which I did (generally saying "another piece of junk purchased that does not match auction description") and usually recieving nasty FB in return with several untruths thrown into it for good measure.
Now I could live with the Fb thing, I had about 28, with 5 neg FBs. However, I recieved a email at the beginning of the week, stating that I had what was considered "consideral excessive negative feedback" and without an explaination, the disabled my membership. That in its self does not bother me, as I don't wish to partake in junk gathering any more, but my account had money in it and TM have taken it upon themselves to keep it.
My experience, along with what I have viewed on Fair Go has left me without doubt to leave TM and never retuen. KBers, consider yourselves warned, don't fall into the trap that I did and be carefull when buying stuff off TM as my experience has been buying expensive pieces of crap...

**Quasievil** · 9th June 2005, 11:50

I got me 120 positive feedbacks and buy stuff all the time, never a problem, bloody love it mate

**bugjuice** · 9th June 2005, 11:51

they can't keep your money if you want it back.. It's your money. What did they say when you asked for it back?
I got 59+ feedback over the past couple of years, and generally not really had any problems..

**Ixion** · 9th June 2005, 11:54

I've bought quite a lot of things there. No problems, and things have been pretty much as described . Obviously a seller is going to put the best light on his goods, so you just need to make a mental and dollar allowance for that .

**inlinefour** · 9th June 2005, 11:55

and got no answer. I have brought some really good stuff there, just ruined my the crap that I also have been sold. I'm not concerned about the money, just want to warn everyone here

**Ixion** · 9th June 2005, 11:56

Having said that, the TradeMe feedback system is badly flawed, because if you DO feel that negative feedback is justified you can't really do it, ot it becomes a slanging match with the results described by mr FourInLine. A lot of people have commented on this problem in the messages area

**inlinefour** · 9th June 2005, 12:03

Originally Posted by Ixion

Having said that, the TradeMe feedback system is badly flawed, because if you DO feel that negative feedback is justified you can't really do it, ot it becomes a slanging match with the results described by mr FourInLine. A lot of people have commented on this problem in the messages area

I have been threatened and ponce even had a bribe attempt to change my FB after the seller originally told me "to go f#@k myself". I know of people who only dish out smileys as they are scared of recieving reddies. Personally I didn't give a toss, however the TM admin did. They even changed a FB that I had placed on another trader, which was polite and to the point. My guess was because he was a big TM user and was making them $$$, which I guess is all the TM admin are concerned about. Reckon it will be their undoing if they continue this way...

**ManDownUnder** · 9th June 2005, 12:04

I'd read the fine print - i.e. if we choose to disable your account we keep your mnoey.

Have them explain it to you - and quote the relevant section. If they can't do it ask them to send a cheque - AND contact Fair Go.

MDU

**marty** · 9th June 2005, 12:11

pretty simple really - RTFT&CS

FEES AND ACCOUNTS

5.1 Trade Me Listing Fees and Success Fees

Trade Me charges fees for the use of the web site as a venue.

Trade Me's current fees are listed on our fees page in the help section.

Any non-commission listing fees are charged at the time of listing and are not refundable. Trade Me may (at our sole discretion) refund a commission or success fee charged on completed auctions if the sale is not successfully completed, provided that a member follows our defined refund process. Trade Me will only issue refunds in the form of credit to the Trade Me account of the member. Cash refunds will not be issued. Credits on accounts with Trade Me are not transferable between members.

Trade Me reserves the right to change the fees charged for any of our services at any time. In the event that we introduce a new service, the fees for that service are effective at the launch of the service, unless otherwise stated.

If you are a New Zealand resident, then all fees are inclusive of GST and in New Zealand dollars unless otherwise stated. If you are not a New Zealand resident, then all fees are, unless otherwise stated, in New Zealand dollars and do not include GST. Unless otherwise stated in these terms and conditions, no interest or other financial charges will be applied to Trade Me account balances.

Trade Me reserves the right to investigate queries regarding the refund of success fees with bidders, other members, Internet Service Providers, and any other relevant party.

Before listing an item, you should review Trade Me's fees to ensure you are aware of the fees that you will incur.

You must pay the fees immediately upon demand by Trade Me.

**inlinefour** · 9th June 2005, 15:59

From my experience, TM reserves the right to be a total wanker...

**Ixion** · 9th June 2005, 16:06

It does seem to be universally agreed that the Trademe adminstrators are not very receptive to the wishes of the users.

An example is want ads. Trademe won't have a bar of them, even though vast numbers of people want them

**Eurodave** · 9th June 2005, 16:15

Ive done over 170 trades on TradeMe & have only had about 2 bum deals, overall l Im glad to have joined & will continue to trade for the forseeable future

**vifferman** · 9th June 2005, 16:26

Yes, the feedback system sux. If you don't put "Great Trader!! AAAAAAA++++++" then you get slagged. It therefore becomes meaningless for ascertaining the honesty/integrity of the trader.

I've given bad feedback twice: the first time was the first purchase I made (notebook computer) that was demo'd to me by the seller, and it went, but had a flat battery "Oh - that'll charge up - hasn't been used for a while." In fact, the battery was dodgy, and the battery controller thingo (tech term) was in CloudCuckooLand. So, I posted that "The goods were not as represented", and got slagged for it.

Second case: Bought some leathers for the vifferbabe, which were OK. But the trader took FOREVER to get back to me, even though I was very punctual with email, banking the money, etc. The crowning achievement was charging me $25 for postage which I thought was for secure, overnight courier. The parcel took nearly a week to arrive, was abandoned in a corner of our front deck, and had a label for $10 on it. So, being honest and truthful, I politely mentioned these things, and gave the trader bad rep (because he was an annoyingly slow trader, and ripped me off for postage.) Of course, I got bad rep back. Why?!? I did everything right, so I was a good trader. The one bad rep they'd had out of many good ones didn't sully their reputation, especially if anyone read what it was for.

That sort of thing just begggars belief.

**vifferman** · 9th June 2005, 16:27

Originally Posted by Ixion

It does seem to be universally agreed that the Trademe adminstrators are not very receptive to the wishes of the users.

An example is want ads. Trademe won't have a bar of them, even though vast numbers of people want them

They used to have them, but dropped them, probably because they were too numerous and didn't generate revenue??