trade me

[davsri]

A month ago we bought a grinder off trade me. While paying for it my husband paid the amount twice by mistake. The next day the trader sent us an e-mail saying we had paid $168 twice and she would return the money to us. A week later she said that the bank had taken the amount as an over draft and she would send the money in 2 weeks. Then it was anzac day and something about the bank not doing a transaction on the day so it was to be last friday. We have not heard from her since. In the meantime we had to keep chasing her up to send the goods. We had a story about her car breaking down and not being able to get to the post office. We got the goods 3 weeks after we had paid for it. Trademe says we have to go though the dispute tribunal to get our money back. I know it was our mistake having paid her twice. Any one else had such an experience? Any advice on how we can recover our money are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[GrantK]

The Disputes Tribunal will be your best bet. Last time I checked, the fee was $30 to lodge a claim, so it would be well worth it in your case. Often just the letter from the Disputes Tribunal is enough to make some people pay up.

Good Luck!

[witheze]

And make sure you tell the whole story on T/M in the comments.....and give the .....she won't like that.......or have you done that already?

[tonic]

i was ripped off by a trader on tm. made contact with tm and they looked into it for me, contacted trader etc. they had not luck so advised that i go to the police and gave me a contact at tm for the police to use. the person was taken to court and i got my money paid back over time.

basically tm was very helpful and i doubt i would have had any money back without them so make sure you let them know what has happened.

[arnie.m]

Name & shame as usual, let us all know, so we can watch out for the name.

[davsri]

Thanks all. The trader was a first timer and trade me says they have black listed her and she will not be allowed to trade again. The name was n. Kenealy.

[Organix]

Originally Posted by davsri

Thanks all. The trader was a first timer and trade me says they have black listed her and she will not be allowed to trade again. The name was n. Kenealy.

Only 10 Kenealys listed for all of NZ in the White Pages. With a town/locality it wouldn't be too hard to track her down

[judes]

TM is not very good at protecting the traders, buying or selling. This is an indication of their ability to sort these type of problems. Be very careful, in times to come when they have international traders. Unless they get A LOT smarter and tougher on bad traders we will be at the mercy of the trader we deal with, and any come back will have to be via an international legal system.

[KiplingAngel]

I don't want to buy and sell on TM anymore - things went downhill when Fairfax media bought them out, and once it's open slather??... No way Jose!!!

I'll remove my account because the first thing that'll happen is bank accounts will be hacked from chechnia, yunan or nigeria...

[Organix]

Originally Posted by judes

TM is not very good at protecting the traders, buying or selling. This is an indication of their ability to sort these type of problems. Be very careful, in times to come when they have international traders. Unless they get A LOT smarter and tougher on bad traders we will be at the mercy of the trader we deal with, and any come back will have to be via an international legal system.

Have to agree with that. Trade Me are nowhere near as sophisticated as eBay in most respects including trader protection. The eBay link with PayPal makes for a seamless transaction with facility to address payment issues via the credit card linking of PayPal accounts. Also the ability to communicate buyer-to-seller via the eBay platform with the numerous features this offers makes the resolution of disputes far more straightforward and manageable.

Trade Me's plans to invite international sellers onboard will put them in direct competition with eBay and if they move into that league they will have to improve their systems mightily because at the moment it is a 'no contest'

We sell on both sites and Trade Me is by far the most difficult and time consuming to administer, especially considering Trade Me has a total potential customer base of just 4 million (NZ) whereas eBay (.com.au) has 26 million plus intermittent sales worldwide

[muri]

I earn my living off trade me and dont really have any major problems.
I have had the odd trader who doesnt pay the full freight, i just bump up some prices somewhere else to cover it.
I think you have to be careful trading with total newbies without a record. Its really worthwhile checking feedback before you buy.
Its a pity you cant just go thru and check negative feedback only however, as that would be really useful.
I just think you have to use it with caution.
There are too many people out there selling stuff thats rubbish as well as too many buying without doing their research.
You can buy a lot of stuff on trade me second hand and more expensive than you can buy new at your local shop

[davsri]

Organix- I do have her address as she had it on the parcel sent. Do not know if it really is hers. She is not listed in the white pages.

[GGZ]

Sorry I don't have any helpful advice to get the money back.
I was wanting to know why Sella which, as far as I can see is the same as TM only free is not as popular?

[Organix]

Originally Posted by GGZ

.....
I was wanting to know why Sella which, as far as I can see is the same as TM only free is not as popular?

Simply lack of market exposure. If Sella wasn't owned by the NZ Herald group it would have folded long ago.
We maintain listings on Sella but sales are few and far between, compared to our Trade Me, eBay and webstore throughputs.

[GGZ]

Originally Posted by Organix

Simply lack of market exposure. If Sella wasn't owned by the NZ Herald group it would have folded long ago.
We maintain listings on Sella but sales are few and far between, compared to our Trade Me, eBay and webstore throughputs.

Ah, I had wondered how they managed to keep going financially!