Advice on using Trade Me

[Swoop]

Did they actually let you know that yours was one of the compromised accounts?

Yes, I was emailed directly by BetradeMe.

Can you enlighten me on how you would change them Swoop?

On the "my details" page of BetradeMe (once signed in), there should be your name and address on the right hand side of the screen. Underneath is a blue hyperlink that says "update my details" or something like that. Click on this and then you will have to be creative with your details.
Don't want a list of what you have bought, your street address and phone numbers falling into the hands of criminals, do we...

[ynot slow]

And if possible put phone numbers as 000000etc.

I have a policy of if over $100 sending item track & trace.

And it really pisses me off when you say all the correct things like NZnew and get a question .Is it NZ new?

Add as much detail without bullshitting the goods,I bought some nike sunnies,said a couple of scratches plus orange lens' as well they interchange,when I paid $30 and put addreess to seller,he emailed me apologising that there were really bad scratches and if I didn't want them could return etc,seems he new they were scratched but was worse than he realised,looked at his feedback and was 99% so ok.

[Naki Rat]

For more valuable items think seriously about using Safe Trader as an intermediary - (Details on Trade Me site)

My current laptop was purchased for just under $2,000 a couple of years back. It arrived fine and the okay was given to Safe Trader for payment to be made to the vendor.

A couple of weeks later the trader was selling another laptop the same, so I thought he had landed a liquidation lot or something - no problem.

Two weeks later a question popped up on one of my auctions from the guy who had won the second auction. He had paid his $2,500 and no laptop, and no further communications from the vendor, so was requesting contact details for the vendor. I only had the same email contact email as the second buyer had been supplied but thanks to Googling details of the vendor that I found on the laptop I came up with some info on him.

Last I heard was that the police had tracked the vendor as now being in Aussie. I suspect the $60 or so commission to Safe Trader was money well spent in that case!

Also from my experience avoid dealing in items that attract the younger end of the market such as computer games, rap/metal CDs, boy racer parts, etc. I have found these buyers are far more likely to renege on auction wins, be slow payers, complain unjustly and are quick to post unwarranted negative feedback. Long story short - they are more trouble than they're worth!

[JimO]

touch wood i have had no problems on tardme and i have bought and sold over 200 items including 2 cars and 3 motorbikes