Service Fee Added ... Again

What a load of Rubbish. Trademe will be causing less trades by making the buyer pay fees on ping. Please what a scam. If it looks like a duck quacks like a duck then its a duck. Stop immediately.

Yes it's going to be an interesting week on here for the regulars. 

It's the age old question isn't it. Who should pay the fee when an item is sold? The buyer, or the seller?

Or it could be like a traditional auction house where both the buyer AND the seller pay a premium on top of the final price for using the service. But lets not give Trade Me too many ideas ;) 

For that promotion, there will be unhappy sellers, having Ping forced on them, and unhappy buyers,  having a Service Fee forced on them when they pay by Ping.

IMO, Trade Me has gone way downhill and too greedy for fees. Sales are severely down on both my accounts, money is tight out there. As a buyer, I'll move on from a listing that has a "Service Fee" - interesting name, "Service" - love to know what service is being provided ...

As a seller, if I happen to be one forced to have a "test experiment" loaded onto my listings, I won't be listing anything in the two categories out of protest.

I feel there is enough revenue for TM without adding another fee - "no success fee" but are creaming it other ways.

Rant over.

Hi bonniebooks - just another mess like PayWave. Most target traders already incorporate additional charge into product prices. There should not be an additional fee at all from TM and if anything it should be the buyer who opts to use it who is paying the 2.19%. Why is it the seller who pays for the potential of the buyer deciding?

Yes trademe screwing both parties. Can't be good.

Also worth noting success fee applies to item sale price. Ping service fee applies to item sale price and the shipping charge.
TM data should enable them to tidy up this, after all it would appear many sellers just increase prices which again comes back to increased percentage revenue. Welcome to unaffordable….and somewhat dubious. Next someone will ask the govt to address it.

Oh my goodness that is ridiculous. Double dipping much. What a rip off. Totally wrong.

Nothing more than a money grab. As both a buyer and seller i expect a fee/commission for selling my items but to pay 99c to trademe to purchase an item is a ridiculous. If purchasing 20 items thats $20 extra. Buyers will head back to FB marketplace.

Just tested this on my private account, no mention of the actual service fee on my listing until you hit the highlighted "Service Fee?". Have withdrawn the listing and won't be listing any items in the two categories until after 22 Feb.

Sneaky... buyers will not be aware of the fee until they either hit the button, like who does???, or get stung with it when paying by Ping.

I think everyone should not buy or sell on trademe until 22nd February and see their earnings plummet.

And I bet there are some buyers who aren't aware of this service fee and as first point of contact go to the seller and ask why they did that to them! And maybe give bad feedback on it which wouldn't surprise me. It's all a bit messy.

Just re-read - the buyer paying the Ping fee is more fair as they are choosing to use it. The mess is the indication the seller incorporates the potential of Ping % into the item charge. The Ping is item and shipping so important to clarify that.

Good point. Tademe advertised specifically no fees on the group of items but you have to have PING as a payment option. But no mention in advertising oh when you do that the fee you would pay will be paid by the buyer. Just stay away from trademe until they reverse it back to how it was. They will miss the business.

Funny how chairs can be quite comfortable until they are not…drawing attention to the chairs faults is an interesting move. Stitching can loosen quite quickly, cushions can go missing…

austinv8 - casual sellers are not ‘core business’ for TM. It is no longer as it was originally created…and more a combined store search platform.

Yes i agree but if they forget bread and butter customers then they will stray. I gave up on mightyape when they became a shadow of their former self and eventually it will happen here.

Hi austinv8 - our family also left there. Family…extended.