Discounted item promotion policy

Discounted, or was/now, pricing is only available to Trade Me Stores.

Learn how to set up Was/Now pricing in our Professional Seller Learning Hub.

Items must be:

• in new condition, 
• available via Buy Now only.

If you’re using discounted pricing you must:

• Not mislead with pricing – the price should be accurate and unambiguous.
• Only use discount pricing for amounts that reflect real value for consumers.
• Make sure the original price reflects the normal price – taking into account your own sales while on Trade Me.
• Make sure discounted pricing doesn’t apply for more than 28 days.
• Follow our was/now pricing guidelines.

Only listings with discounts of 5% or more will display '% off'.

Information for sellers

The guiding principle for was/now pricing is that sellers need to ensure consumers aren't misled or deceived. The Fair Trading Act covers all aspects of the promotion and sale of goods and services, including pricing.

Your listing must be in line with Commerce Commission guidelines. If you don’t use discount pricing responsibly, we may remove your access to it.

If was/now pricing is removed, or a sale ends, listings will relist as standard listings in most cases. If you want to discount them again, you'll need to ensure the item is further discounted, or wait until your item has been listed at the regular price for a reasonable period.

Guidelines

1. The 'was' price must have previously been offered on Trade Me by the member advertising the discount. It cannot be an RRP or valuation, unless the member has previously offered the goods on Trade Me at that price.
2. The 'was' price must have been offered on Trade Me for a minimum of 28 days before a discounted 'now' price can be advertised.
3. A sale is an opportunity to buy goods at reduced prices for a limited time. Discount prices should therefore only be offered for a short period of time. Sellers must be reasonable when setting their sales periods, and we suggest that these be no more than 28 days. 
4. Members can only offer consecutive discounts on the same item if they are further discounting the price. The previous "now" or sale price must be used as the new "was" or original price. Members can't regularly offer the same discount on an item.
5. New members may not have 'was/now' pricing enabled until at least 28 days have passed since their registration.
6. An allowance of 3% will be permitted for international marketplace sellers using 'was/now' pricing to account for currency fluctuation.
   
   

Percentage discounts

• If you're advertising a percentage discount (e.g. up to 15% off all women's perfume), enough of your sale stock must be discounted at the advertised percentage discount to justify the offer.
• If you're advertising a range of discounts (e.g. '5 to 15% off whiteware'), enough of your 'on sale' stock must be discounted at the highest value to justify the offer.
  
  

Special conditions

• If Trade Me find that your sale offers change considerably from what was initially promised (i.e. stock levels drop, more conditions/exclusions apply), we will stop you from being able to offer was/now pricing.
  
  

Clearance labelling

• All Trade Me Stores can advertise items as on 'clearance' in search results.
• Ensure you don’t use clearance labelling in a way that could mislead or deceive buyers.