Ping, AfterPay and Cash now only options from November

2,1% is too much surcharge. They should make it free, then everyone takes it...

Just another money grab from TM!! I have had no problems with bank deposits for the last 20plus years and now Im expected to take another 2.5% fee hit for no obvious reason. Clean up all the bad sellers would be a better plan!!!

Although I prefer to use Ping when I am buying and selling, isn't is rather high-handed of Trade Me to stop bank transfers? For whatever reason, some traders prefer to use bank transfer and I don't think they're going to be totally happy with having to use Ping. There are also some sellers who do not offer Ping because of the associated costs. Trade Me will be rubbing their hands yet again as they charge commission on Ping transactions, so I guess we know who is getting the most benefit out of the changes.

I don't really see how deleting Internet banking but still leaving cash is better protecting buyers and sellers? I sell to a lot of businesses and they often don't have Ping setup so prefer internet banking. At least internet banking has a trail where cash does not.

In general I think this is a good move. I would say that most in-trade sellers already offer ping so probably won't affect too many. It will add security for buyers. After many years on here you get used to hearing stories of people who have been ripped off. Then it comes to the age old question "How did you pay? "Oh I deposited money into their bank account......" Trade Me can't claw that back like they can with Ping.

My question is how is this going to work with traders who don't have shipping costs?

In my opinion all in-trade sellers need to be forced to include shipping costs. I'd even go as far as making it obligatory on all casual sellers who also offer Ping.

The other thing it will do is encourage the "in-trade dodgers" who have failed to declare their status. I'd like to see a fresh sweep from Trade Me to identify traders who are not declaring they are in-trade, when they should be. 

So few of my sales are internet banking, and so many of those are non-payIng time-wasters, that it really won't make much difference. 

That said, so few of my sales are trade me these days, I could stop listing entirely and it wouldn't make much difference!

I hope enough Professional sellers like myself downvote this change. Having the option of bank 2 bank removed for us is a bold move TradeMe. 90% of my payments are Internet Banking. Having PING forced upon us, thereby increasing every sales commission to TM by over 2% will have a large impact. Sellers will have to increase their base costs and shipping costs, which may decrease sales across the platform as a whole. I note that TM has not allowed commenting on their official post about this. I personally hope that this back pedals soon.

Do not like this change. Do not want this change. I'm "In Trade" and most of my auctions offer Ping as, despite the additional fee, it's convenient for many. However on my auctions that involve precious metals (some jewellery, sterling silver items, some antique items etc) I don't offer it as the extra fees make it uneconomical for me, I'd be better off just melting down the items.

You're making a change that punishes the majority for a very small minority who cause problems. If it's such an issue, back it up with verifiable stats/figures so we can judge it on its merits.

RECONSIDER, TM. This both sucks AND blows, which is an accomplishment in itself. Did you think about maybe removing the Ping fee for In Trade sellers, who provide the most sales through your site, in order to encourage them to stay?

TM have made it very clear that they do not value in-trade sellers.

the fees are already high enough and this is purely just a way to take more money from us. afterpay and ping are only a bonus for the buyer so they should be paying the fees. trademe wont back down on this just like when they started charging fees on shipping costs...think how much more money they will get from it. shame they dont invest the money into more staff to monitor cw so people dont get ripped off by scammers after hours  

In the current economic climate, it's quite unreasonable to impose this change. Many users simply don't want to use Ping, and forcing it on everyone feels heavy-handed. It comes across as yet another attempt by TradeMe to boost its profits—at the direct expense of sellers. I've offered Ping as an option for years, but I still firmly believe it should remain a choice, not a mandate. This move undermines seller autonomy and deserves strong pushback. Downvoted!

Kane. TM will no doubt argue that the Ping fee pays for Buyer Protection. After-all the money has to come from somewhere when Trade Me needs to refund a buyer if the seller has vanished after taking the money. 

Yes, you could pile the fee on the buyer instead. Trade Me are trialling this. Their 99c trial for purchases made with bank deposits and Buyer Protection has just ended, and they are now doing a $2.99 (variable) service fee trial for buyers. 

The question is which way will encourage or discourage sales. Should the buyer pay for protection, or should it be on the seller?

this is a total money grab by trademe and a kick in the teeth for intrade sellers,especially the smaller ones that are struggling to survive in the current econony,,as a intrade seller i pay a success fee based on the sale value whicjh i dont mind  as i use the site to sell,but im also forced into paying a fee on my shipping cost which is totally uncalled for as trademe is not involved in my packing and shipping process at all and now  we are being forced to accept ping payments so now trademe feels justified in charging in trade sellers 3 sets of fees,trademe should be supporting its intrade sellers who choose to use the site to sell,but no as intrade sellers we get extra fees with nothing in return for it,all this is going to do is turn sellers away from trademe  and towards other areas to sell their stuff e.g facebook marketplace

Gary.  I get and agree to what you are saying about business purchases. Community Groups as well often don't have anyway to make payments except via internet banking. That way they can have 2 or 3 signatories to approve a purchase. Credit and Debit cards are too risky for them to hold.  

I think they might have had to leave cash because of the value limits on Ping and Afterpay.

You can't add or use Ping for items over $10,000. I think Afterpay is variable depending on the buyer. I've had newbs not able to purchase a $1500 item with Afterpay. 

So for buyers making large value purchases cash might still be the safest option. Especially when items in this range tend to be pick-up.

Trade Me have only removed the bank transfer option to increase their profits, pure & simple. Charging Ping fees on postage is another grab also. Why not let the seller also have the option of bank transfer as a method of payment? Oh & have Trade Me fixed the software bugs that have dogged the site for the last year plus yet or are we just given to accept that now? Over to you Callum.

I don't have a problem with Ping, in and of itself - as I said, I use it on some/most of my auctions already, have done for years. But as so many others have said, why remove it as an option? What problem is it trying to fix? "Oh noes, poor TM have to cover some sellers after they were ripped off." Okay - figures to back this up, please, as to actually how much of a problem it  really is. Guessing that is just a rounding error on the profits they're already getting on success fees, Ping fees etc.

Not to mention as Halem and others have said about having success/ping fees that INCLUDE the postage cost as part of the amount the fees are charged on.

I want the CHOICE. I'm a low volume, modest, in trade seller compared with many others, so my income is much more affected by this. With the silver/gold items I sometimes sell, I'd be better off just scrapping them rather than selling them if I'm forced to offer Ping on them, after the fees are subtracted. And some of them are lovely pieces that make the site more attractive and interesting for buyers. I want to offer items at a reasonable, fair cost to collectors/buyers (I do dollar reserves on pretty much most things) - yes, that's at my own risk, obviously, but by doing this, TM just ends up hurting me more.

So... yeah. Thanks, TM, I guess. I appreciate your predatory pricing and customer hostile policy. Yay.

Trademe state "a safer and more streamlined experience for you and your buyers".  This is just self-serving bollocks. How is it unsafe for my buyers to pay via bank transfer? Some of them DO NOT want to go via PING! I send out the item when I have the money in my account, so how is that unsafe for the buyer or me?

This is either an additional 2.9% money grab by TM or an additional 2.9% money grab by TM!

This penalises traders who are the ones supporting TM, it takes money out of our pockets and transfers it to TM. More fees, more costs.

Hi John. Buyers won't be able to buy (a buynow) item without using Ping or Afterpay. You have to confirm the payment before the item is sold and goes from the website. 

I guess technically a buyer could email the seller of an auction they won by bidding and request bank details be sent manually. So perhaps there is a loophole there. I don't know if it would be possible for Trade Me to stop that occurring somehow. There are already sellers that only have Ping. So it would be a risky move to buy something from a seller and request bank details when they don't have it stated as an option. They might refuse. 

Stephen. The safety is around Buyer Protection. Yes, you might be a good seller. But there are some that aren't. There are many many tales on here of buyers that have been ripped off.

If a buyer pays into an unscrupulous sellers bank account Trade Me are generally not able to assist the buyer in recovering the money. 

If the buyer pays with Ping, their purchase is protected. 

Very bad move, I for one am not happy, everyone sells different items at different costs, I sell lots of low cost parts, and want to offer them at fair low prices, a lot are single $1 reserve, buy Now?, these will no longer be viable with ping fees, the Intrade 9.9% fees & on shipping now are killing us in Category I sell in, 

Ping is good if you are just selling one off Items, But not for all of us that have consistent Multi buyers as offer a large range of items / Parts,

We already have the option to use it, but choose not to for personal reasons, What part of that do Trade Me not understand, If we do not use it, it is for a reason, and after being forced on us during lock down, yes been there done that, not for me, It was a nightmare for those multi buyers that do not read, It just wasted so much more of my time, refunding shipping's and having to ask more to be paid via bank deposit,

I have a buyer just use buy now on 29 items this morning, this is where it becomes a nightmare, when they select shipping on multiple items, so have to work out difference to refund, refund on many, this wastes our time,

I put my Sold's in a excel worksheet (for Tax Purpose), and after packing confirm 1 total to pay with combine shipping, one bank deposit matching all their wins, Simple & can keep track of where the trade is at shipped with tracking numbers, feedback to be placed, Trade Completed etc.now have to muck around refunding shipping if they do not use the combine shipping option  & still give out my Banking details to pay extra shipping via Internet Banking, where they have chosen the cheapest option but will cost a lot more,

This Nana has many Grandma's, Nana's and others who buy my small toys for grandchildren etc. they do not all have Credit cards & just use Internet banking, They are out there, I will lose Customers, and so will others,

You are not only penalizing / punishing the sellers you are penalizing the buyers too, how are they going to buy when a lot do not offer pick up?, how can they pay cash?, oh yeah Internet banking, so why remove it?, when we will still be giving out our Bank details too them?,

The buyers should have a choice how they pay, how is one suppose to buy a surprise present on a joint credit card account without partner seeing?, That is a FAIL!!,

AFTERPAY: I for one will not use it, just another headache, I disapprove off it, simple if you cannot afford to pay low cost non essential items up front you should not be buying, as why so many in debt, they need to go back to old school save first before you buy, Only debt I have ever had in my life was my Mortgage, everything else I saved up for first before buying, I have had buyers now unable to pay no money in account, had I had Afterpay, it would have added to their Debt, sorry but it is the truth, I will not be part of aiding someone get into more debt, NO TO AFTERPAY !!!, same with offering Ping, 

Sorry Trade Me, but not enough thought was put in to this decision, some of us have great feedback, using only Bank deposits, Never had a Problem, some of us cannot always abide by Ping Conditions, items must be sent within 3 days, another reason I do not use it, as can end up in hospital on a whim, (Something the stress of using ping could do, don't need extra stress that comes with Ping) Some out there can only ship weekends via post shop as rural etc.

This decision is going to kill a lot of sellers & Trade Me for a lot, I am a casual Intrade seller just trying to put food on the table as my only Income, and only sell a few weeks at a time here and there, not a constant seller, now you are going to be taking food out of my mouth with fees, Come on,we are not all big Professional sellers who can afford the fees, we are just scraping by making an honest living, Yes, my feedback reflects I am honest, never had any disputes against me etc. well only a false one but the truth came out & buyer admitted it, as caught out,

How about go and chase up those casual sellers who should be showing the Intrade Banner but don't & sell a lot more than me and others earning serious big money, and are they declaring tax too?, Get them to pay the correct Intrade Fees, instead of taking more fees off us that already pay the correct Intrade fees, and Intrade sellers who avoid shipping fees who have shipping in the text not in shipping, others who have to be arrange, but can flick off shipping within a minute of using buy Now's, Yes they know the shipping but avoiding fees,

Why add Ping on all of us, just add it to the high value Item sellers whose feedback reflects they are not all above board, 

This decision needs to go back to the Drawing board, too many Pros and Cons, some do not see the bigger picture outside the box,

How about asking sellers first on their thoughts first before throwing it in our face, Just Rude!!.

This is an example & with Ping E-Mails too, going to flood my Inbox, with too many E-Mails, this is just one Buyer, but had another earlier this morning too who brought Multiple items, Imagine if they selected shipping on every item, how much time wasted making refunds on 28 of them?, then they get spammed with 28 E-Mails with refunds, hmm they may then learn to read? as in past I have had buyers doing just that, 

it's just another attempt from Trademe to WAGE WAR on sellers. It's bad enough, no, CRIMINAL to take fees from shipping costs, and now this? this place is a dying platform. 

In these harsh economic times how stupid it is to make payment more difficult.

Someone there needs to think radically. By lowering listing and payment fees inevitably it will lead to an

increase in sales and a corresponding increase in success fees.

I used to always have about 100 items listed but now that sales are slow and listing/re-listing fees too high I list only 50 items 

at time and alternate the listing of each 50. Hasn't affected sales and saves about $30.00/week.

Please don’t do this Trade Me…..KEEP INTERNET BANKING…..My customers,who are mainly elderly deserve the right to pay the way they want!

I also received an email today and was shocked that Trademe wiuld be that bolt to force Ping & Afterpay on Seller & Customer to follow suit!!! I do have some buyers who dont like ping and taking the option of bank transfers away will reduce sales plus and cause frustrations!! I hope many of you will complain the more the better!! The excuse that its safer is so incorrect - now with banks having the safety feature where account names have to match .... its a money making ploy - as if TMs fees arent high enough already!!

I am on the chat now raising an official complaint about this. Please feel free to do the same. 

I don’t mind paying the additional 2.1% if my customers pay via Ping. For me, it saves so much work and streamlines the whole process.
But what I do object to is losing sales in an already tough market because customers are suspicious of Ping and either don’t know how to set up Ping or simply don’t want to. I have a lot of elderly customers who like to pay via Internet banking and will no longer be able to.

Andrea

Like you, I have a lot of elderly Customers who want to pay via Internet Banking, and there are a lot out there who do not have credit cards, 

I am looking at it like this, that the good sellers are now being punished to cover the bad sellers, where Trade Me have to refund buyers that have paid Via Ping because of Faulty goods, no goods received etc. It is unfair & wrong, they are literally going to steal from us against our will? It is not right at all, Yet, look at some of those bad sellers about time some were removed, shocking feedback from buyers not receiving their items, 3 strikes block the sellers account, Simple. don't punish the rest of us because of the bad eggs on the site, 

Stealing from some us who are just trying to make an honest living just to survive and put food on the table, as have not got to the pension yet, and do not want a government hand out?, 

They should round up the casual sellers that obviously show they are in trade and Force INTRADE on them so they pay the correct Intrade fees, There are a lot of them out there, how many thousands are Trade Me losing a day in fees?, it is sickening to see them day after day, month after Month, Year after Year, and trade me does not do anything, 

Why should Trade Me take a percentage off in-trade sellers shipping/postage charges? Is there any reason for this, other than they can? Ping on top of that is getting a bit rich. Are we supposed to pass this expense onto the buyer when NZ Post's charges are already up there? If Trade Me care so much about buyer protection/reputable members etc, then why do they continue to allow members with gross numbers of negative feedback to continue to trade? 

Halem - Ebay do it, so Trademe thinks they can do it too. I've had it up with them SO many times, but in typical Trademe fashion, I am responded to with pure script. I really hope this place dies, to be honest. And fast.