Has Trade Me had its day?

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#1432713 22-Nov-2015 16:35

langers1972: It's not the courier charges that you should worry about but the extortionate success fees, they've been gradually creeping towards 10% for a while and that is by far more of an issue to me.

Agree. The listing fees should be abolished if the success fees are going to be so high.

Aredwood

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#1432715 22-Nov-2015 16:44

Also don't know if it applies in the OPs case. But have seen threads on the trademe forums from sellers complaining about some buyers who are rural, yet lying about that to get cheaper delivery.

So the seller might just be choosing a delivery option that is the same cost for both urban and rural. Even if it is more expensive.

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#1432736 22-Nov-2015 17:03

Trade me has long passed it's prime years but still very relevant IMO. It's just about the only way to sell off anything these days aside from FB.

There is a price for rural living, and delivery services is but a small one of those.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

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#1432737 22-Nov-2015 17:03

I don't see trademe as having had its day as there is no other viable e-commerce alternative in New Zealand. If Amazon came here it would prove a viable alternative with low cost and great great service but until this happens it's much the same as when eBay was dominant in the US.

richms

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#1432746 22-Nov-2015 17:11

Rikkitic: What galls me about the rural charge is that the parcel is delivered in the exact, same identical way, i.e., the rural postie picks it up in town, brings it out with the mail, leaves it in the mailbox. There is no difference whatsoever between ordinary post and unsigned courier post, except the ridiculous surcharge. That is why I object to it so much.

As far as liability goes, I always specify at my risk when requesting ordinary post. In my experience, it has never failed and is no different than 'courier' post.

Sellers cannot contract the risk over to you. If it doesnt turn up, they are liable to resolve that.

Richard rich.ms

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#1432748 22-Nov-2015 17:12

gzt:
Rikkitic: What galls me about the rural charge is that the parcel is delivered in the exact, same identical way, i.e., the rural postie picks it up in town, brings it out with the mail, leaves it in the mailbox. There is no difference whatsoever between ordinary post and unsigned courier post, except the ridiculous surcharge. That is why I object to it so much.

As far as liability goes, I always specify at my risk when requesting ordinary post. In my experience, it has never failed and is no different than 'courier' post.

Delivered yes, but how is it collected?

Identical collection method. If it is unsigned it gets left in the box until I wander down the drive to get the post. Absolutely no difference, in any respect, at all from normal post. So what am I paying extra for?

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richms

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#1432749 22-Nov-2015 17:13

MikeB4: Trademe has changed from its original concept. There is an increasing number of dodgy declared In Trade traders and even dodgier undeclared In Trade traders that are muddying the waters a bit. However there is the odd thing that is good. I have only ever purchased a handful of stuff, I have never sold anything on there, I will just give it away to family, friends or Salvation Army.

Too many on there list in trade but are just some guy selling out of a garage.

That along with them not explaining to people what brand new actually means so people list unwanted gifts and other crap as brand new just because they bought it and did not open the box makes finding professional quick delivery on there a PITA to find.

Richard rich.ms

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#1432752 22-Nov-2015 17:14

Aredwood: Also don't know if it applies in the OPs case. But have seen threads on the trademe forums from sellers complaining about some buyers who are rural, yet lying about that to get cheaper delivery.

So the seller might just be choosing a delivery option that is the same cost for both urban and rural. Even if it is more expensive.

That may be so. I have never done it and I wouldn't. Sellers are free to do whatever they like. So are buyers. This buyer goes elsewhere.

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#1432753 22-Nov-2015 17:15

Rikkitic:
Identical collection method. If it is unsigned it gets left in the box until I wander down the drive to get the post. Absolutely no difference, in any respect, at all from normal post. So what am I paying extra for?

collected from the seller. Fastway would come and take stuff away, and I had pre-paid tickets for things.
Quick and easy.

People wanting me to mess around going to a post shop during hours I could have been visiting suppliers, or doing other things, queueing up, hassle with payment for the parcel etc and clueless staff etc. And for all that extra work charge them less than the easy way of putting a sticker on a box or putting it in a cheap bag and having it picked up. GTFO, you chose to live somewhere with poor delivery options, you can deal with it, or pay more for me to deal with the post shop.

Richard rich.ms

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#1432763 22-Nov-2015 17:21

Aredwood: Also don't know if it applies in the OPs case. But have seen threads on the trademe forums from sellers complaining about some buyers who are rural, yet lying about that to get cheaper delivery.

Lying is one thing and no doubt it is common but many users and first time users will simply not know it applies and what it is for. Trademe could easily fix that but it would preference one carrier.

richms

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#1432764 22-Nov-2015 17:23

I just put stickers on the suspect ones that said to hold it at the depot if it was rural. They would usually email me so I would then foward that to the buyer to go and collect it. Got a couple of negatives from idiots, but thats the problem with that place, the idiots.

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#1432767 22-Nov-2015 17:31

richms:
Rikkitic:
Identical collection method. If it is unsigned it gets left in the box until I wander down the drive to get the post. Absolutely no difference, in any respect, at all from normal post. So what am I paying extra for?

collected from the seller. Fastway would come and take stuff away, and I had pre-paid tickets for things.
Quick and easy.

People wanting me to mess around going to a post shop during hours I could have been visiting suppliers, or doing other things, queueing up, hassle with payment for the parcel etc and clueless staff etc. And for all that extra work charge them less than the easy way of putting a sticker on a box or putting it in a cheap bag and having it picked up. GTFO, you chose to live somewhere with poor delivery options, you can deal with it, or pay more for me to deal with the post shop.

I think this is a valid point but it is also valid for me to say that you are running a business and that involves a certain level of customer service if you want to keep running that business. You are not doing me a favour by agreeing to accept my money. If I can't get what I want on the terms that I want, but I can get that somewhere else, what do you expect me to do? Of course I will go somewhere else.

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richms

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#1432781 22-Nov-2015 17:37

Rikkitic:
I think this is a valid point but it is also valid for me to say that you are running a business and that involves a certain level of customer service if you want to keep running that business. You are not doing me a favour by agreeing to accept my money. If I can't get what I want on the terms that I want, but I can get that somewhere else, what do you expect me to do? Of course I will go somewhere else.

Yes, go somewhere else.

Difficult rural buyers are the minority and IME were the most work with many emails back and forth on each sale, rather than my preferred buy now-> pay now, I ship and never have to email you about anything sales. Emailing "perhaps you could ship to my brother here in hick town if it will be cheaper" meaning that the sale was no longer going to the address they provided via trademe and other annoying things.

With the lack of profit on cheap items, if I was spending any more than 3 minutes on a single cable or adapter being sold, it was losing money when accounting for time. And there were sellers on there getting stuff from the same place and selling at cheaper prices too, so who the hell knows what they valued their time at.

Richard rich.ms

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#1432783 22-Nov-2015 17:39

Rikkitic:
gzt:
Rikkitic: What galls me about the rural charge is that the parcel is delivered in the exact, same identical way, i.e., the rural postie picks it up in town, brings it out with the mail, leaves it in the mailbox. There is no difference whatsoever between ordinary post and unsigned courier post, except the ridiculous surcharge. That is why I object to it so much.

As far as liability goes, I always specify at my risk when requesting ordinary post. In my experience, it has never failed and is no different than 'courier' post.

Delivered yes, but how is it collected?

Identical collection method. If it is unsigned it gets left in the box until I wander down the drive to get the post. Absolutely no difference, in any respect, at all from normal post. So what am I paying extra for?

Depends on the seller but many sellers will courier service collected directly from the seller.

Hammerer

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#1432788 22-Nov-2015 17:53

Rikkitic: The relevance of Trade Me in today's e-commerce world is a subject that has been dealt with before but I feel impelled to revisit it once more. ...

The thread title is rather misleading. The common strand in the original post appears to be postal/courier delivery costs to your rural address. That is also the primary point of your second post. The secondary issue is the disagreeable methods of Trade Me traders.

Is your thread the forum equivalent of going postal on Trade Me so they feel compelled to revisit these issues?

Rikkitic: ... I live at a rural address and I often need to buy small items. I used to use Trade Me for this but increasingly the traders there insist on using only courier post, ...

Complaint about trader delivery methods.

Rikkitic: ... with ridiculous charges for delivery to rural addresses. Often the postage is more than the cost of the item.
Yes, we all have friends in town to get around that but my question is why should we have to? I have posted about this on the Trade Me forum in the past and most of the responses were along the lines of it's only a few dollars so what is your problem? ...

Complaint about postage being expensive.

Rikkitic: ... I guess my problem is that where I grew up the customer was always king. If this kind of service is what the customer wants, then it should be provided without question. Otherwise you go out of business. ...

Complaint that they won't give me what I want.

Rikkitic: ... Today I ran into the same thing again. I needed a couple of small items and looked first on Trade Me. I sent a query to the seller and the response was not only could they not send it by ordinary post at my risk, but I could only pay for it through the bank, despite Pay Now being on the listing. My response? Why bother?...

Complaint about trader.

Rikkitic: ... I went to Aliexpress and immediately found better alternatives for less money, not to mention free shipping to any address in New Zealand, rural or otherwise.

A satisfied customer.

Rikkitic: ... Is it any wonder that Trade Me is losing customers?

A salutary lesson for Trade Me perhaps. At least it could be, if they were reading this thread.

Rikkitic: What galls me about the rural charge is that the parcel is delivered in the exact, same identical way, i.e., the rural postie picks it up in town, brings it out with the mail, leaves it in the mailbox. There is no difference whatsoever between ordinary post and unsigned courier post, except the ridiculous surcharge. That is why I object to it so much.

As far as liability goes, I always specify at my risk when requesting ordinary post. In my experience, it has never failed and is no different than 'courier' post.

More detail on the complaint about postage costs with the rest of the thread on much the same topics and not much on Trade Me's e-commerce relevance.

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