Trade Me: Strange "questions" from a (dodgy?) looking trader. What would you do?

Forums › Off topic › Trade Me: Strange "questions" from a (dodgy?) looking trader. What would you do?

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1937 posts

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#857775 16-Jul-2013 23:36

To be honest if you let him/her pickup, based on the posted comments s/he will be bloody fussy, make comments about dust/dirt/grime on the machine, ask why you haven't checked out the mobo and PSU capacitors, ask for a lower price, and refuse to pay what was bid.

YMMV but I'd tread pretty cautiously based on the history of PC component pickups.

sidefx

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#857778 16-Jul-2013 23:38

That or take it home, then half the components will mysteriously get fried\stop working and he'll get abusive and demand refund, etc. That the impression I get from comments. Hmm.

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johnr

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#857779 16-Jul-2013 23:38

I would avoid this trader like the plague I have blacklisted them so I never have to deal with them,

Thanks for the heads up

ahmad

1937 posts

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#857780 16-Jul-2013 23:39

I'm also glad to have this trader on my blacklist. Thanks again.

DarthKermit

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#857813 17-Jul-2013 03:15

I get the impression that this guy lives in his mother's basement, and only ventures out to pick up PCs and other computer parts that he's purchased.

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

Hammerer

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#857814 17-Jul-2013 03:15

This is one of those trades that should work fine despite the warning signs. I'm not so negative about this trader given that there are a lot worse. I've had similar issues with bidders and they worked out OK so I'd be inclined to let it run.

There's a half chance he won't win. But you shouldn't underestimate the role that you play in creating a successful trade. From seeing your posts here, you seem to be an honest and reasonable person. That counts for a lot.

On the positive side, the trader complete his trades, his feedback stats are not too bad for the number of trades he's completed, he doesn't seem to do retaliatory feedback as he often gives positive feedback even when he gets neutral/negative feedback, he's been dealing with some unreasonable/dishonest people, and he appears responsive to reasonable people. He's also address verified and allowed pickups while he was selling, which is over a year ago.

Another positive is seen in the bidding he's made an early commitment to win this auction: trader 1 placed an autobid for $110 on a $1 reserve so first bid was $1, trader 2 bid $21.55 which trader 1 met with his autobid so trader 2 then placed a higher autobid.

On the negative side, he complains A LOT in his feedback and he could be difficult to deal with. But I don't see any evidence that he will try to screw you or pay less than was bid at pickup.

You have two main options if you don't want to let him win the auction. Both require you to blacklist him so he can't bid on the auction or ask any questions:
- withdraw the auction and pay the withdrawal fee which is a minimum of $3 and maximum of the selling fee.
- remove his bid which you are able to do yourself as you have feedback above 10. Officially TM only allow this at the bidder's request. In this case, the bidder seems likely to complain so it may come back to bite you. Worst case is that they reinstate his bid but blacklisting him makes sure he can't add another.

SaltyNZ

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2degrees

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#857849 17-Jul-2013 08:26

trader responded:

(: GODlike :)

So much WTF.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

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nate

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#857862 17-Jul-2013 08:36

Same guy that posts videos on @telecomnz's twitter feed maybe?

Klipspringer

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#857865 17-Jul-2013 08:42

I must have been living under a rock..
First time I have heard that you can black list members on trademe.

sidefx

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#857871 17-Jul-2013 08:51

Hammerer: This is one of those trades that should work fine despite the warning signs. I'm not so negative about this trader given that there are a lot worse. I've had similar issues with bidders and they worked out OK so I'd be inclined to let it run.

There's a half chance he won't win. But you shouldn't underestimate the role that you play in creating a successful trade. From seeing your posts here, you seem to be an honest and reasonable person. That counts for a lot.

On the positive side, the trader complete his trades, his feedback stats are not too bad for the number of trades he's completed, he doesn't seem to do retaliatory feedback as he often gives positive feedback even when he gets neutral/negative feedback, he's been dealing with some unreasonable/dishonest people, and he appears responsive to reasonable people. He's also address verified and allowed pickups while he was selling, which is over a year ago.

Another positive is seen in the bidding he's made an early commitment to win this auction: trader 1 placed an autobid for $110 on a $1 reserve so first bid was $1, trader 2 bid $21.55 which trader 1 met with his autobid so trader 2 then placed a higher autobid.

On the negative side, he complains A LOT in his feedback and he could be difficult to deal with. But I don't see any evidence that he will try to screw you or pay less than was bid at pickup.

You have two main options if you don't want to let him win the auction. Both require you to blacklist him so he can't bid on the auction or ask any questions:
- withdraw the auction and pay the withdrawal fee which is a minimum of $3 and maximum of the selling fee.
- remove his bid which you are able to do yourself as you have feedback above 10. Officially TM only allow this at the bidder's request. In this case, the bidder seems likely to complain so it may come back to bite you. Worst case is that they reinstate his bid but blacklisting him makes sure he can't add another.

Most of his positive feedback seem to be for what look like low value items and some like they may have been negative originally changed to positive later... It's his history on buying computers that also worries me, especially the number of feedbacks he gets around getting abusive when things go wrong... Not that I'd be to bothered by that and i certainly would try and make it right if something did go wrong with the computer after sale. But, he just comes across as a bit of a fruit loop, and he would have my address after pickup, yeah i just don't need hassles from this if it goes wrong.

Trademe also allows removal of bids if you don't believe they're genuine so i asked them if i could do that in this case and they said yes. So... outcome is I've blacklisted and removed his bid.

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

JamesL

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#857938 17-Jul-2013 10:38

Preemptively blacklisted this user, list is growing slowly

it-pro has a habit of buying used computer parts then selling them "as new" at a much higher price, good on him for exploiting idiots but I'd rather not deal with him

jonherries

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#857994 17-Jul-2013 12:39

Klipspringer: I must have been living under a rock..
First time I have heard that you can black list members on trademe.

I have just sold 40 items on trademe, I wish I had also realised this. Between the "can you tell me how much for shipping" and the buy now requests, and the "can I do laybuy"s, man my blacklist would have been full.

I wonder if Trademe trawls the blacklists to find people to ban? Ie. 50 people have blacklisted this account, maybe we should ban them.

Jon

Edit: apologies for the typos.

nate

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#857996 17-Jul-2013 12:44

jonherries: I have just sold 40 items on trademe, I wish I had also realised this. Between the "can you tell me how much for shipping" and the biuy now requests, and the "can I do laybuy"s, man my blacklist would have been full.

I'd happily pay extra to TradeMe to block questions. Maybe something along the lines of, "everything you need to know is in this auction, if you need more info, please don't bid"

johnr

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#858010 17-Jul-2013 13:15

On my last trademe auction I made it very clear where pick-up was from during business hours and after hours and the first question was

Where is pick-up?

mattwnz

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#858023 17-Jul-2013 13:25

Klipspringer: I must have been living under a rock..
First time I have heard that you can black list members on trademe.

It is because it isn't particularly easy to find. Their website needs a lot of work in terms of usability.

When i contacted trademe about a question I received which was inappropriate, and was essentially telling me to fix my price to what others were charging (dodgy as possibily illegal) they told me to blacklist them, and they also removed the question, so it didn't appear after the auction ended. I don't think blacklisting someone stops their question appearing after an auction has ended, or does it?

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