Dispute resolution process?

1. Don't stress it.

You have done everything you should. At this early stage everything is automated. Those emails sound harsh but they are generated instantly when a buyer presses the dispute button (Sometimes by accident even!) You can pretty safely just ignore them. It will wind through the system for a few days/ weeks. TM eventually email the buyer again to ask if the issue has been resolved and they will get a yes/no tick box. If they tick yes or don't reply then that's it dispute over.

If they tick no, then there is another wait and finally it gets to a "real person" at Trade Me. They will contact you again and ask what has happened. You explain everything you have done, the lack of buyer contact, provide tracking details, willingness to refund/replace item if it's a dispute about a faulty item. TM then will return to the buyer and explain all that. From there "it depends" on what the dispute is actually about. But as you have the willingness to resolve it you have nothing at all to worry about.

TradeMe don't just dip into your account and withdraw the money unless the buyer has a genuine and proven reason for the dispute.

Great thanks. Yes, once again the communication from Trademe is a bit lacklustre. It really does make me wonder what ever happened to the team running the website, its like they all exited stage left long ago and its now just a ghost ship sailing in the wind.

I didn't find the email at all helpful, as it's an automated email you'd think it would at least inform sellers of the dispute process. I hunted high and low on the help section and there isn't anything explaining the process, just info about how to lodge a dispute.

The actual dispute lodgement page doesn't even make it clear to buyers that they should contact sellers first, you'd think that would sort of be a key feature of the Trademe page which links to the dispute form.

Thanks for your message, yes I was starting to worry that a buyer would get an automated refund, without there being any recourse for us to resolve a issue.

Yes I've had buyers hit dispute resolution first, then contact me afterwards. In a way you can't blame them. Especially if they've been burnt before from bad sellers. It's kind of like an insurance system. Do the dispute first then try to work it out with the seller. If the seller is unresponsive or being a dick then they have the dispute to fall back on down the track.

For a while I've been thinking of making some sort of graphical flow chart to explain how the disputes system works. As you say, hard information on it is pretty lacking.

Hi Polly. Your best bet would be Live Chat tomorrow morning.

I received the automated trademe message saying a dispute was raised against me. I encouraged the buyer to raise as we did not agree on whether my listing was accurate. Anyway i received two emsils from Trademe and then nothing. The buyer has now put feedback about the item against me. How long do i wait before Trademe get in touch to understand my perspective? Or should I take it as now closed?

Hi Kirsten. It should only be closed after Trade Me make a judgement call on it. It sounds like you are still at the automated email stage. However if it's a "she said this, he said that" thing they can tend to side with the buyer if an item's condition is disputed. Sometimes when that happens the only way out is to get the buyer to return it in the same condition as you sent it, you refund them, blacklist them, then relist it.

You can try Live Chat to try and prompt Trade Me along. Have the dispute reference number ready.

So 10 days with no contact is normal and they will confirm once the dispute is concluded?

Yes, these things do take a while (too long IMO) to wind through the system. In my disputes so far as both buyer and seller I have had to always nudge Trade Me along to get some action. If 10 working days have passed since you last heard from Trade Me  I would consider Live Chat to see if there is an update.