How do you get justice for a small item that is rubbish when the only option is Disputes Tribunal?

I'm curious. If you paid by ping and the seller is "in-trade" then you are fully covered by the Trade Me buyer protection policy. Even if the seller is unresponsive Trade Me can refund you.

You should have opened a dispute for the item.

The only things I can think of are that you paid via bank deposit and not ping, or that you waited too long to open a dispute. I get that can happen when an item is shipping from China and TM only allows you 30 days to open a dispute. It's something TM need to fix. I would contact Trade Me again. Point out their buyer protection policy is broken when you can't possibly open a dispute if the item hasn't even arrived yet.......

If you have filed a dispute then all good. You just have to have a lot of patience while it winds through the system. The auto-emails can get frustrating but eventually the claim will progress and a real human will review it. It can take a LOT of time. Especially if the seller is being deliberately difficult. My last one took 2 months with a difficult seller. With a better seller it was over in 1 week and refund secured.

Great news Claire you're well on your way to resolve - Merry Christmas & Safe Holiday Travels to you & yours 👍🤶🎄🎅

Terrence I think Gary-NZStocked has been through it recently. I've done it a couple of times but many years ago now. All was painless for me. The respondent didn't show up, so the claim was pretty much automatically accepted. After that happens there can be still work to do, chasing up your payment. For me, that was more difficult than the DT process itself. 

Yes Terrence. Trademe has a step by step guide in their Help pages as below.

Making a Disputes Tribunal claim as a buyer – Help - Trade Me

I'm going through one at the moment, and was due a hearing last month but on the day of the hearing the court postponed it  and I am yet to get a new date for hearing. They said  Referee is not able to do Face to Face hearing and missing contact details of respondent. Trademe did advise when they released contact details of the seller to me ..."I've taken a look into the seller's account and unfortunately, it does appear to be one of a string of linked accounts that have been shut down by our fraud team, some with differing personal details on them, so I can't guarantee any of the details we hold are accurate."

No I gave them plenty of time to respond. My email to them was in response to previous communication regarding shipping times so we had an established link. I warned them that I would be placing feedback if I didn't hear from them by a specific time and date.

Kia Ora Peter, sorry to hear of your experience, I know the feeling well myself. Reporting to Trade me not only initiates them to contact the Seller on your behalf they contact them a 2nd time if still no resolve plus they note the Seller's membership account, monitoring future concerns and applying possible restrictions as required. Between placing feedback & Trade me contacting the Seller I often find this triggers the Seller to respond however if not, I find although the pocket is still empty a form of justice has been served. - All the Best - Cheers.

Hi Callum. How do you contact TradeMe exactly? Everywhere I looked I get FAQ's (was this helpful?). Like I said they operate at arm's length there's no personal service just like trying to contact Google (Alphabet) if you have a Gmail issue - it's all automated workflow crap now. TradeMe itself does not protect its customers, it offers some options that's all as far as I can see.

Open a Dispute literally means opening a case with the Disputes Tribunal. Have you ever done that? It's not trivial. If more money was involved maybe I would consider it but part of the process is having a document witnessed at a courthouse! Seriously I'll take the loss I don't have time to go through a convoluted process to chase down $20. I'm sure the Disputes Tribunal (and I have been through the process) has better things to do with its time.

Yes Callum, the previous NZ TM owners used to top your membership account up with funds lost in crooked deals - I note they don't do this under the new owners though - we are left high n dry - Cheers.

Kia Ora Peter, it is worth going through the Dispute Resolution on your Won items page - this is what initiates Trade me to contact the Seller in the first instance - as above doing this and placing feedback I often find triggers the Seller to respond. TM do contact the Seller a 2nd time if you have no resolve within the first week of reporting it. This doesn't initiate Disputes Tribunal at all - that comes after all avenues are exhausted between feedback placed & Trade me attempting to contact the Seller twice - Well worth reporting so the Seller's membership can be noted also - All the Best - Cheers.

Hi Peter. No I don't mean a DT case. I mean opening a Dispute direct with Trade Me for the item you purchased. This is the Buyer Protection Policy. There is a grey "Dispute Resolution" button on the right hand side of your items I won page. However you can only do this within 30 days of purchase. Which is arguably pretty strict. Especially if you are buying from an offshore vendor.

Yes, I have been through 2 or 3 Disputes Tribunal cases. Luckily for me all pretty straightforward. Easy enough to get a win there. It's the followup and getting the money from the other party that can be tricky. DT will say yes you should be compensated then pretty much leave you to chase that. They can rule on the case but you often have to take things further to secure your payment.

You contact TradeMe by hitting the Contact Us button at the bottom of any page (including this one) The blue live chat bubble will then appear at the bottom right. Click it and go from there.

Peter, clicking the dispute resolution button is the best option, like others have said.

To contact Trademe directly, best way is via live chat, ie you go to the Contact us page (link at the bottom of any page on here), then click the Chat bubble that flashes up, like this screenshot moments ago.

A seller sent me a faulty item that I paid just over $350 for.
A phone that was not ‘unlocked’ when stated it was.
When I contacted him first, he said it had never happened before.
In a subsequent conversation, he intimated it had which thereafter I had no trust in him whatsoever.
I was quite angry with him - mainly due to his lying - and let him know I was which he didn’t like at all; he got very defensive and said I was being mean to him, for crying out loud; there was no abuse.
I returned the item immediately, on the 8/12.
He contacted me on the 14th asking what the passcode was, I couldn’t remember it then but did the next day and sent it to him.
On the 16th he emailed me to say he had sent the phone to a technician to have the passcode removed.
I have sent him emails asking for a refund , with no reply.
I have contacted Trademe several times but all I get is the stock email reply.
I have done the live chat but no joy there either.
This seller is being spiteful and petty by drawing this out , and Trademe are complicit as they have done nothing obviously.
It is as someone said earlier; you can go to the disputes tribunal, but getting your money if you win is something else.
As far as I’m concerned, this is out and out theft; this seller should not be allowed to do this.

Hi Claire. How are you contacting Trade Me? If you haven't already it seems you need to open a dispute for this item rather than contact Trade Me in another way.

I tend to agree with your idea he is just stalling or just "being a dick" Especially when you say he has "sent it to a technician to remove the passcode" If you are talking about an iphone passcodes can't be removed by technicians or anyone except the person who set it. It would be pointless having them otherwise. I know less about Android, but I still find it very unlikely a passcode can be removed without input from the person who set it. 

Hi Callum
Thanks for your reply.
Yes I’ve been contacting Trademe through the disputes resolution, but just getting the stock emails in reply.
And yes; the passcode on the iPhone he sent me; I got part way in setting it up when I received it but couldn’t go any further because it was locked.
I forgot all about the passcode but I did send it to him when he asked; I don’t know much about these things.

He is being a dick, and Trademe don’t seem to be doing anything to help with my refund.
As far as I’m concerned it’s outright theft; sellers like this need to be taken to task.

Kia Ora Claire, did you pay by Ping or Afterpay? If Yes you are well n Truly covered by TM - Bank transfer or cash is a harder grind to get refund unfortunately - the waiting game in itself is hard enough - All the Best for a positive resolve - Cheers.

Good morning S
I paid by Ping; but Trademe don’t appear to be interested in the whole thing.
Thanks for your good wishes.

To be clear, @Callum, I have not as yet gone to the disputes tribunal, just notified Trademe several times through the dispute resolution page from my won page.
I am very disappointed with Trademe; but it just proves that ‘big business’ are not interested in the ‘little feller’; as long as they’ve got the bucks rolling in, that’s all that matters.

I certainly won’t be using Trademe much anymore; which won’t worry them at all I guess.

Big lesson learned.

Yes, I meant the Trade Me disputes system. Your problem might be that you are doing it repeatably. This can "reset the clock" and start it all over again.

But yes, as you have paid via ping, you are covered. Just need patience.

Hi Callum
I did wonder about the ‘resetting the clock’ thing, just extremely frustrated with the lack of action, this nasty piece of work being able to get away with his rubbish.

Morena Claire,

Yes there is way too many of these issues happening which is such a shame as TradeMe used to be a very comfortable place for us all to Trade - Your sentiments are shared by many and it has been sad to see the site stats decline.

On a brighter tone, I'm pleased to hear you have backed yourself by using Ping & you have filed this Dispute Report well within the time frame to be covered by TM's Buyer Protection Policy - Nice 1 TM has contacted you this morning also - Well Done for making your Comment. 👍

Patience is a virtue & required while the process is now worked through - Cheers😊

Thank you for your input too S; appears to be the way of the world this ‘care less’ attitude.

I use Ping always unless the seller doesn’t facilitate it, which is not very often.

Yes, patience; not always easy when you’re dealing with people who don’t do the ‘proper’ thing.
Lying/dishonesty gets my goat no end; however, as it’s pretty rife in business these days I’ll have to learn not to let it and do my business with those you can trust; who have been seen to be trustworthy.

:).

Cheers Claire, That lesson I have learnt well, as many alongside us and there are many trustworthy reliable sellers within TradeMe still who I return business with frequently - it's a matter of noting & hanging onto the good honest ones 😊

For sure; I’ve had the odd minor setback with a couple of sellers, and I must say, Trademe were quite helpful those two times.
But as I say, minor, with minor amounts of money.
And the sellers weren’t dropkicks like this one now.

The amount of money involved in this debacle is significant to me, if not to the dropkick and Trademe.

Yes, 99.9% of the sellers I’ve dealt with here are fantastic :).
So i shouldn’t grizzle; if the percentage was reversed, then id be entitled to :).

All Good Claire - I would be beside myself at that value of $ also, it's great you have shared so others are aware and to have sourced some reassurance for yourself atmo' also 😊

All good; us ‘peons’ have to stick to together 👍😁

Received this email overnight; of course I clicked on the no resolution

Hi Claire,

** You can’t reply directly to this email **

Recently you contacted us about the listing Apple iPhone SE 2020 64GB Black New Battery (Grade 1 - As New) *Free Case, Sc... (reference P219274641). We have reviewed the seller's membership and directed them to resolve this trade.

Please confirm whether the trade has been sorted out, or not, by clicking here: http://www.trademe.co.nz/complaints?report_id=324643

If you are having any issues clicking on the link, please copy and paste it into your browser.

Regards,

Trade Me Disputes

Not long afterwards I received this one below.

Within four weeks indeed.
This is not right and I feel Trademe are in collusion with this nasty piece of work (call me paranoid 😬🙂)- or else they don’t like being criticised and so are drawing it out as well.

It’s just not good enough.

‘Hi Claire,

** You can’t reply directly to this email but we will get in touch with you as soon as we can **

I'm sorry to hear that your dispute for the Apple iPhone SE 2020 64GB Black New Battery (Grade 1 - As New) *Free Case, Sc... (reference P219274641) is still not resolved.

As you paid through the Pay Now, Ping or Afterpay system you may be eligible under our ‘Buyer Protection’ programme:

https://www.trademe.co.nz/help/896/buyer-protection-policy?h=896

We’ve again contacted this seller with your concerns and encouraged them to come to an agreement with you directly and from here we’ll assess your case and will be in touch with you within four weeks regarding this matter and your eligibility under Buyer Protection. We’re experiencing higher volumes of work than normal, but rest assured a Disputes Officer will pick your case up in due course.

Regards

Trade Me Disputes
https://www.trademe.co.nz’

Oh, and Merry Christmas to you and yours as well.
Thank you 😊

Is there a paint by numbers for going through the Dispute Tribunal? I have someone that hasn't sent an item I paid for and although it was only $100 it's more the principal that irks me.

A friend of mine was ripped off by a trader who sold the item then said that the item was at a "different address" and they provided a phone number. When she rang that person, he was an old man who knew nothing about the table that was purchased. The trader already had a lot of negative feedback (96% after many trades is not brilliant). This person is still allowed to trade to this day. Once someone has done that they should be removed.  Like someone said before the SC is not effective really. On top of the fact that a ruling cannot easily be enforced, no one has the time and so SC Tribunal is outmoded and outdated as a solution, its long overdue for an overhaul and its pretty pathetic that no one from TM could have called the trader and in fact the old man who had no idea what was going on to corroborate my friends story and then basically end the sellers membership. It cannot have been random with all the bad feedback after all.