Trademe really has gone downhill

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Wheelbarrow01

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#309421 17-Oct-2023 23:38

Bit of a rant, so I will try to be concise...

I listed a set of alloy wheels for sale on Trademe. When choosing payment options I selected Ping as an option because hey, according to Trademe it's the "instant, safe & secure way to get paid". Wrong!

The eventual buyer did pay by Ping, I confirmed the funds showing in my Ping account, and he picked up the wheels the same day. A few hours later I followed the instructions to transfer the Ping funds over to my bank account. The funds instantly disappeared from my Ping account as expected, and I knew it may take up to 2 days for them to appear in my bank account.

Fast forward a couple of days and there is a 1c credit from Trademe in my bank account, but not the full funds. Wait another day and I receive an email from Trademe Trust & Safety asking me to confirm my date of birth and to provide them a list of any old delivery addresses that might be listed on my account. It also said the reason for the security check is because either:

- Your Trade Me or Ping registration details appear to be inaccurate or incomplete (no I don't think so)

- We have concerns regarding the security of your Trade Me or Ping accounts (not sure why, I have a strong password that I change regularly)

- A general breach of Trade Me's Terms and Conditions involving your membership (cool, but no mention of a specific problem or breach).

After I provided the requested details, there was no acknowledgement or reply, and another few days later still no funds. I then sent a follow-up reply on the same email trail that again went unanswered. A day later I used the contact us form on their help centre - no response other than an automated reply.

Finally I contacted them via the chat function and asked how much longer I would have to wait to see my money, and was advised that they need to refer me to a 'special' team who will email me back. At this point I somewhat politely cracked the shits but was assured I would be contacted this time.

Another few more days of crickets and then the guy from Trust & Safety who originally emailed me sent me a message saying the fund transfer is sitting in the batch for processing - but no explanation or 'sorry for the delay'. And then 2 days after that I finally got my money.

Total delay - 11 days. And in the intervening time they had the cheek to let me know my seller account is in debit and can I pay the success fees asap. Yea nah I don't think so - Trademe had the use of my money for 11 days completely unnecessarily so they can wait for their success fee. I'm going overseas for two weeks in a few days and bugger me, I just don't think I'll get time to do it before I depart. I even removed my saved credit card details so they can't just take it in the meantime.

Along the way I found plenty of online posts from others who have the same or similar Ping experiences. But I for one will not be pinged by Ping again...

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#3148610 18-Oct-2023 07:33

I think you're quite right in your observations - the biggest decline across the board in their product seems to be in the last 3-4 years, coincidentally about the same time the current CEO came in.

The website is aweful to use. It's slow, buggy, the search is riddled with errors and frequent page load problems too. They used to have a site that was responsive, easy to use, consistent user interface with good search, but they chucked it away for improvements.

As with your experiance, customer service is pretty dire - canned bot responses that are unrelated to the issue and big delays. They used to be responive at taking action on dodgy listings, but that now seems to take days, if it even happens at all, leaving a myriad of dodgy listings on the site. The hoops you have to jump through to report a dodgy listing is pretty unbelievable too - do their job for them and action still doesn't get taken in a timely fashion.

Having said all that, in regards to Ping, I think that's something they got right. Never had a problem with it, works as advertised. Payment comes in, sits on your TM account until overnight some time, then transfers out to your bank account (if you set it up like that). Before it transfers, you can use it to pay for other things or book a courier for something you've sold. But like all things TM, I'd imagine getting stuck in the customer service merry-go-round if there was a problem to be sorted.

xpd

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#3148623 18-Oct-2023 08:21

With Ping, what happens if the buyer wants to dispute the payment... can they easily do this ?

XPD / Gavin

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CYaBro

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#3148846 18-Oct-2023 14:02

Can't be as bad as Facebook Marketplace can it?!

I haven't used it in a while and listed the in-law's dryer on there the other day.

Had 5 people make contact about it so far and they've all been scammers. 🙄

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Rushmere

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#3148861 18-Oct-2023 14:37

They cut a lot of staff a couple of years back, and the customer service is now close to non-existent.

The website is riddled with problems that they simply won't or can't fix. They started to redevelop it before all the cuts, but seem to have given in, so now it's stuck with half a new site and half the old one.

The current owners (a private equity firm) want to sell the business off, so it's a case of slashing costs and increasing fees to give the appearance of profitability, and hope to find a new buyer before their customers have all fled and the business disappears completely down the toilet.

It's not pretty.

mattwnz

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#3148868 18-Oct-2023 14:57

Just don't use ping. I doubt it makes that much difference to selling things, if someone really wants something they will put it in your bank account or pay cash. I have found trademe is fine, although I did have a scammer buy something recently, but TM contacted me when that occurred to warn me.

ANglEAUT

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#3148907 18-Oct-2023 16:25

Rushmere: ...their customers have all fled and the business disappears completely down the toilet. ...

Maybe that's what is required here. Open up the space for competitors that can succeed.

Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

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richms

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#3148911 18-Oct-2023 16:48

xpd:

With Ping, what happens if the buyer wants to dispute the payment... can they easily do this ?

Yes, they can. And like paypal they just side with the buyer.

I hate ping, and get pissed off when sellers only accept it because I know that I am giving even more money to the incompetent mess that is trademe by using it.

Richard rich.ms

mattwnz

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#3148918 18-Oct-2023 17:03

Although that could also apply with any store that uses credit cards such as supermarkets without a CC surcharge. eg If you pay cash you are still often paying the same price someone pays if they use a credit card, unless they charge a credit card surcharge.

richms

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#3148931 18-Oct-2023 17:36

mattwnz:

Although that could also apply with any store that uses credit cards such as supermarkets without a CC surcharge. eg If you pay cash you are still often paying the same price someone pays if they use a credit card, unless they charge a credit card surcharge.

There is a huge void between the incompetency of card companies, and that of trademe.

Richard rich.ms

Mehrts

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#3148935 18-Oct-2023 17:56

I will buy with Ping, but no way in hell am I selling with Ping.

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#3148950 18-Oct-2023 19:08

mattwnz:

Just don't use ping. I doubt it makes that much difference to selling things, if someone really wants something they will put it in your bank account or pay cash. I have found trademe is fine, although I did have a scammer buy something recently, but TM contacted me when that occurred to warn me.

I love ping - cheapest merchant facility for the layman.

I find it does increase sales - most of my buyers pay via ping and immediately. The ones that pay by direct credit are often slow and take days (usually after a reminder) . I've had buyers buy something early in the morning, pay by ping, and I've got it on the courier before I got to work.

Partial refunds are easier too (in the rare occasion I've overcharged for delivery)

As a buyer I prefer to buy from a seller that accepts ping - faster, some protection, and I can put it on my credit card.

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Wheelbarrow01

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#3149968 19-Oct-2023 00:29

mattwnz:

Just don't use ping. I doubt it makes that much difference to selling things, if someone really wants something they will put it in your bank account or pay cash. I have found trademe is fine, although I did have a scammer buy something recently, but TM contacted me when that occurred to warn me.

Yea in this case I added it as a payment option for my auction on a whim. And it cost me an extra $10 for the privilege of waiting almost 2 weeks for my money. As I said in my post, never again!

gehenna

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#3149976 19-Oct-2023 06:54

CYaBro:
Can't be as bad as Facebook Marketplace can it?!

I haven't used it in a while and listed the in-law's dryer on there the other day.

Had 5 people make contact about it so far and they've all been scammers. 🙄

False equivalency. They are completely different with different rules of engagement, in that trade me actually has some.

quickymart

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#3149978 19-Oct-2023 07:16

ANglEAUT:

Rushmere: ...their customers have all fled and the business disappears completely down the toilet. ...

Maybe that's what is required here. Open up the space for competitors that can succeed.

Many have tried and failed, some in a really big way - remember Wheedle about 10 years ago? Backed with huge amounts of money and barely failed to make a dent.

As to the site design, I don't know what was wrong with the old one.

The current bs, has been there for years now, but you can still find hints of the older, functional site if you follow the right (or wrong) pathway.

As to the owner, I thought it was Sam Morgan, then he sold it to Stuff, then bought it back - or has it changed since then?

I rarely use it these days as it's just so slow. I also note they removed their message boards a while ago, not sure if they couldn't moderate them anymore or if they were just an unnecessary overhead?

floydbloke

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#3149979 19-Oct-2023 07:21

gehenna:
CYaBro:

Can't be as bad as Facebook Marketplace can it?!

I haven't used it in a while and listed the in-law's dryer on there the other day.

Had 5 people make contact about it so far and they've all been scammers. 🙄

False equivalency. They are completely different with different rules of engagement, in that trade me actually has some.

Personally I've had most success and satisfaction trading on a free platform run on a site (although that's not its core function) that starts with a G and ends in an E. No scams and you're dealing with grown-ups.

Sometimes I use big words I don't always fully understand in an effort to make myself sound more photosynthesis.

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