Anybody have a bad experience with trade me?

[Watna]

I bought a dress on trade me 3 weeks ago and lodged the money in to the sellers bank account (which did make me uncomfortable at the time - I'd much prefer the safety of paypal). The dress still hasn't arrived. I've contacted the seller who only sent one email saying was I sure the package wasn't at the address I gave to her (helpful!). I wrote back to explain I'm the admin in the office so all courier and other post comes to me and we definitely hadn't received anything. Could she check the track and trace number.

That was last Thursday evening and I've heard nothing since, despite emailing. I looked on trade me for some kind of procedure to follow but they only give a 0900 number which costs 2$ a minutes, plus GST! I've already lost $60. I'm not wasting any more money.

Has anyone else had a bad expereince with trade me? Did you get is resolved? I'm really annoyed, not only have a lost $60 but the dress was for a social club ball at work.... which I now have nothing to wear for. Oddly enough fancy dresses were not top of my list when packing my suitcase for NZ!

[benandclare]

Oh dera that's a bummer......

We've had nothing but good trades so far apart from a couple of weeks ago when we won a "rat cage" but the seller e-mailed us the next day as her garage had been broken into and the cage stolen

[sizzlingbadger]

What's the feedback like for this person ?

I would be leaving bad feedback if they don't come through with the dress in time.

Have to say in the 3 years we've been using it we've had nothing but positive transactions (goes and touches wood rather quickly ).

[Watna]

What's the feedback like for this person ?

I would be leaving bad feedback if they don't come through with the dress in time.

Have to say in the 3 years we've been using it we've had nothing but positive transactions (goes and touches wood rather quickly ).

Feedback is 99.4%

[mgbridges]

Not good news so far but one thought I've had is maybe they are without power and haven't been able to get on the Net? Or maybe the seller is away? I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt really given that the feedback so far is pretty positive.

Fingers crossed they contact you soon.

Anneliese

[nippa&pippa]

To be honest, at the moment, parcel by NZ posts is very slowwwww as I am still waiting for two parcel from trademe too, won it last week and week before... didn't spent very much as only one set of cloth nappy twice. Also I am still waiting for two parcels from UK posted over a month ago now.....

Ask trader for track number so you can check it yourself where is your parcel is at moment by go to NZpost's website once you got it.

[Watna]

To be honest, at the moment, parcel by NZ posts is very slowwwww as I am still waiting for two parcel from trademe too, won it last week and week before... didn't spent very much as only one set of cloth nappy twice. Also I am still waiting for two parcels from UK posted over a month ago now.....

Ask trader for track number so you can check it yourself where is your parcel is at moment by go to NZpost's website once you got it.

That makes me a feel a bit better. Thanks! Although, I bought a skirt on the same day and I got that a week or two ago.


I've asked her twice for the track and trace number but I'm not getting responses.

[Milliemoo]

That's a bummer

One think to check for with feedback (and this is for Ebay aswell), is the amount of 'feedback withdrawn' which doesn't show on the positive/negative ratings. For example: a seller my have 99% positive feedback from 100 traders but in addition to that may have mutually agreed to withdraw feedback on a further 10 transactions. All of a sudden you go from thinking "oh, 99% positive, that's OK" to "ooohhhhh what's with all those withdrawn feedbacks".

Your guess is as good as mine as to the reasons behind withdrawing feedback, but I bet 9/10 it's because they've both left negative comments.

Thankfully we've had great experiences with Trademe (touch wood) but I had a bit of a mare with Paypal and Ebay. I bout something in US $ and the seller didn't have the item to sell. they refunded the money OK, but as the refund was put through by Paypal I got a less favorable rate than my UK credit card on the exchange and lost about £5 or so. I wouldn't have minded but the seller was a right......

Milliemoo

[jubjub]

The one thing you can do on TM and not on ebay is place feedback, then edit it ...
so if you still dont get any response you can always leave a negative or even a neetral feedback asking them to get in touch, and then edit it once you get a successful outcome?

I would be tempted to do this just to get their attention.... but of course you could end up with a negative as well, but you can put a reply underneath it to explain...

[actiongirl76]

Unfortunately we have had no end of problems with Trade Me sellers, and we have only been here 3 months

Our problems have mainly been over items misdescribed, and not being in as good a condition as the ad states. A pair of skis arrived with a major repair and lots of scratches which was not mentioned on the listing (infact described as in excellent condition), two pairs of ski boots arrived (from different sellers), both different from the sizes advertised, and a tablet PC which was described as only having been used twice, had clearly been dropped and had far more use than the seller stated.

Most of the sellers refunded our monies no problem and paid for return postage, or we didn't go ahead with the transaction if we saw the item in person. The 2 sellers that decided to ignore us got negative feedback after a week stating the problems and their lack of response, I also emailed Trade Me to report them.

After a week or so, and if they are still ignoring you, you can take the seller to a disputes tribunal (about $30). Fortunately as soon as we have threatened sellers with a disputes tribunal they usually spring to life and get the matter sorted out - although begrudgingly.

Hopefully this is a one off for you and you won't have any other problems, as I think we have just been unlucky!

My real bug bear with Trade Me though is the lack of a cheap and secure payment method such as paypal to help safeguard transactions.... as kiwis tend to just transfer monies straight into the sellers bank account!

Good luck getting things sorted.