Share your most "memorable" TradeMe buyer/seller stories...

Forums › Off topic › Share your most "memorable" TradeMe buyer/seller stories...

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#603475 1-Apr-2012 20:47

blakamin: I had a "parts wanted" ad.
Guy rang me up, I paid, never recieved the item.... he went to jail over xmas.
He scammed me and 15 other people to the tune of $8k
He was 17..

Was on Stuff.co.nz when he got sentenced to a year inside

edit. TM sent me an email warning me that someone had looked at my ad that was a scammer.
I emailed and told them, yeah, I know, he scammed me and I reported it to you... Only then did I get a reply.

The New Plymouth police were good tho.

One year for scamming 8k? I wish career crims would get harsh sentences like that!

blakamin

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#603477 1-Apr-2012 20:50

Wasn't his first offence...

freitasm

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#603478 1-Apr-2012 20:55

heavenlywild: Well done TradeMe though. Gave them a call and voila, negative feedback removed. Very professional customer service rep on the line too.

Lucky you. Five or six years ago we sold a vacuum cleaner on Trade Me. The buyer said "I've deposited money, please send the goods". I obviously waited, and no money. I then said "sorry, no money here", so she said it was problem on the transfer, she would pay now. No money in the account. A week later she asks if she can pay it in five installments.

I replied with no, and for the last time she said she had pad, which didn't happen.

I cancelled the sale, and posted a negative feedback for the run around. She then posted a negative feedback on my account.

The whole system is crap. You can't post an actual negative feedback because you risk getting a false negative back...

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eracode

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#603481 1-Apr-2012 21:04

There's someone currently selling "Ipad Connection Kit USB/SD 5 in 1 with AV-OUT", which is worth about $100, for $999. It's being sold as "new" but the seller openly advises that one of the two cables in the set, the main AV cable, is missing because he "opened the pack and took it out because he wanted to use it for something else".

Completely nuts.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=461857396

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

NonprayingMantis

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#603488 1-Apr-2012 21:11

I sold a gamecube on trademe quite a few years ago.

price to buy them new(at the time) was around $200

mine was second hand (obviously) but in good condition and on the auction I had put a $100 reserve and written something like

"these sell for $200 brand new, so if you get it for the $100 reserve you have a bargain!"

It sold for $300 - $100 more than they could be purchased brand new. I was sure it would turn out to be a scam, but the guy turned up, paid cash, and seemed very happy.

DrCheese

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#603492 1-Apr-2012 21:20

Bought some perfume for my wife to replace an almost empty identical bottle. The item purchased was obviously a fake, was the wrong colour, smelt like poison, and had a toxic-looking green sediment. The bottle also fell apart. I complained, so of course the seller posted a nasty rant about me on TradeMe. Thought it best to withdraw my feedback, but in hindsight, I should have pursued this issue person further and brought it up with TradeMe. I threw the bottle out before it killed someone.

David.

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toyonut

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#603510 1-Apr-2012 22:09

I just get really tired of people not posting feedback on auctions of mine they have won. I always make sure to give feedback and it seems others just don't.

Good story was a seller selling a flexible camera tripod (fake gorillapod), I paid for it and then sent off my details by email. half an hour later I got a knock on the door and there was the seller with my tripod. He said he lived round the corner and so he took a walk and dropped it off to me.

Weird was a guy who paid really promptly, but then never sent me his address. I emailed him and tried his cell for a couple of weeks before getting an email asking where his goods were. Thankfully he emailed back that time with his address when asked.

Had an awesome one when buying a fishing rod. Went to pick it up and the guy asked if I had any use for a tackle box too, I said sure how much? He gave me a fully loaded large tackle box with the rod for free.

Had some shockers too especially once when buying a cheap car. Don't ever skip the pre purchase check when buying from trademe is all I can say. Still have the POS though, not worth it to sell it and it still runs well. Just needed a go an a chassis straightener after I bought it. Last time I trust a panel shop out west to sell a good car.

Try Vultr using this link and get us both some credit:

http://www.vultr.com/?ref=7033587-3B

davide

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#603513 1-Apr-2012 22:20

Purchased a firewire soundcard on TM a few years ago. Paid via bank transfer, gave seller my work address (working at DSE at the time) for delivery. Seller turns up with my win at work in person. :)

Also tried to sell a bike helmet, after numerous texts and emails back and forth, buyer never collected... but no feedback ever posted... I think she forgot :)

------------------------------------------------------
David Elsbury
Freelance Lighting, Sound and AV Technician
"Technician like ninja... live in shadow, move in silence"

Damager

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#603516 1-Apr-2012 22:33

The one time i didn't trust my instincts and paid for a Sanyo 900 flip phone about 5 years ago? $300..

Got text from seller.. he's couriered my phone..i ask for the track and trace number.. he says got it sorted.. already i'm like..crap.. i hope...

Text again the day after.. still no courier.. he text back.. says he'll check again.. next thing.. i see a whole bunch of negative feedbacks saying the same.. paid and no goods.. the punk had 10 auctions closing on the same day..

Trademe says cant help and we should go to scambusters..all us buyers go there and form a thread.. meanwhile one of the buyers contacts me on scambusters and say he's got the sellers details/address and if i want to go to mangakino to get our money.. i said umm ill think about it!

Meanwhile the rest of the buyers are falling for the seller's bs excuses and settle for a $10 a week payment plan??????? I go back to the buyer and ask what's his plans.. he says he will go to the seller and get our money (he is a registered security guard or something) which is $600.00 in total.

Security dude finds this guy.. total loser.. he gives the guy exactly one week to get $600 for us.. otherwise he will seize goods..Security guy goes back a week later.. and receives $600.. including about $50 in coins..

So.. if it looks too good to be true.. it is!!!

- Telstra HTC Touch Pro2 - Energy ROM WM6.5.5 20 Oct/Cyanogen Mod Froyo 2.2 - R.I.P
- AT&T Galaxy S Captivate 16GB on XT (now with brother)
- Samsung Galaxy S2 on XT- Runs ICS 4.0.3 Resurrection Remix 9.2
- Business Hours - Work In The Electricity Industry, After Hours - DJ/Turntablist - Will Scratch Vinyl For Free'
- What's next??? S3?

Predated

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#603525 1-Apr-2012 22:50

I once bought some "Oakley" sunglasses from trade-me. The seller had been selling a few and had good feedback so I put a bid on a couple of auctions and ended up winning 2 for around $25-$30. I figured even if they were knock offs for that price it wouldn't be too bad.

When they turned up they were the worst glasses ever, even the $2 shop would be ashamed to sell them. They were kids size, the "hinges" were just a single screw thru the plastic arms, they had a sticker that said oklys on them and the overhang from the plastic moulds was still on them.

I email the seller and ask if this was a joke and he tells me that he got them directly from the factory in the US. I told him I wanted my money back and after a bit of hassle he agreed.

As I had won 2 auctions from him at the start he only charged me one lot of freight but he refunded me two lots of freight.

I kept the $5 for my wasted time.

networkn

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#603530 2-Apr-2012 00:12

The whole feedback system on trademe is wrong.

Example.. I have transacted 1000 times or so, I have a 99.5% rating, but my average transaction would likely be $50. My wife has 500, she sells household items second hand with a very low value and has 99.8% rating. Ultimately I believe that people should trust people like me over low value transactors. They perhaps should not allow feedback for items under $20, or better still apply a weighting to your $value of transactions or something similar.

I have on multiple occasions been held to ransom over feedback, allowing a person to behave or get something they wouldn't otherwise be entitled to because I have been threatened with bad feedback. Also the whole retaliatory feedback scenario means people often don't given completely honest feedback.

A few times I have complained and been blown off, with TM saying they can't interfere, but occasionally they say they can't interfere but have removed old bad feedback so my "rating" remains the same.

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nickd

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#603532 2-Apr-2012 01:00

I don't mind negative feedback on people I'm buying off, what annoys me is TM not letting me sort the feedback on the seller by type. I'd love to just be able to see the negative feedbacks so I can form my own conclusion, but instead I have to trawl through pages of positive ones to track them down.

eracode

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#603535 2-Apr-2012 03:39

nickd: I don't mind negative feedback on people I'm buying off, what annoys me is TM not letting me sort the feedback on the seller by type. I'd love to just be able to see the negative feedbacks so I can form my own conclusion, but instead I have to trawl through pages of positive ones to track them down.

+ 1. I put this to them as a suggestion ages ago - to make neutral and negative symbols clickable so you see them all at once.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

heavenlywild

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#603546 2-Apr-2012 07:30

networkn:

I have on multiple occasions been held to ransom over feedback, allowing a person to behave or get something they wouldn't otherwise be entitled to because I have been threatened with bad feedback. Also the whole retaliatory feedback scenario means people often don't given completely honest feedback.

Yep, totally agree. This is where the system breaks down. I would say there's tens of thousands of negative feedback that aren't posted because of that very reason. It just means the next person may not be as well informed about a member as he/she should be.

heavenlywild

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#603548 2-Apr-2012 07:32

NonprayingMantis:

It sold for $300 - $100 more than they could be purchased brand new. I was sure it would turn out to be a scam, but the guy turned up, paid cash, and seemed very happy.

Haha, classic stuff.

People get too caught up in wanting to win an auction that they forget about how much they are paying over RRP

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