Has TM just committed suicide?

If you think the Service Fee will put buyers off you can offer to refund it on your auctions markuswinter. Apparently this is something private sellers are already doing. You will still come out better off than with the old system of a 7.99% fee, even if you pay the Service Fee and the Ping fee. 

With regard to the number of views, I never pay much attention to those. It's the SALES that you need to be looking at ;) 

I agree, i saw the seller fee gone and thought,cool i hardly sell anything on trade me,maybe i could now...then i saw the buyers fees and ping fees and i guess i wont be buying anything from trade me now, when that was my primary online shopping source.

@Callum: you are not getting it. From what I see buyers are staying away.

If your experience is different then maybe try to add facts and data instead of unhelpful comments?

I'm sure we can all learn a lot from your post markuswinter.

Sure, I've got some stats for you. 

You didn't mention where your alternative was. But I have some iPads listed on Trade Me and FB marketplace.I have the price cheaper on FB because there are no fees

Facebook $150: Clicks (views) 469. Questions "Is this available" or stupid offers: 60+ SALES:0

Trade Me $160: views 47. Questions 2. SALES: 3

I wasn’t sure if you can mention other platforms by name.

I use the same price for both.

MY statistics for the last 2 weeks are:

TM: 187 listings (listings go for 3 days, 28 repeat, others are rotated/replaced with different items) 1 sale
FBM: 8 new listings 3 sales

Notably I get a lot less views on TM than 3 weeks ago which worries me

On the other hand you get a lot more time wasters on FBM.

It is possibly location dependant. For your sales on FB, have these been pick-ups and are you in a major city?

Because Facebook is rife with scams, it is very difficult to sell anything on there in my experience that requires shipping to the buyer. If you are in a smaller town especially that makes it difficult. Yes, you might get views on your item but the protection Trade Me offers is more likely to convert to sales. For me anyway. 

Whilst a fan of trademe , there has been a relentless revenue drive at trademe, there is no reason to assume

this will change, so, the obvious next step is to decrease low/no fee listings allowance and charge for above that, or get those folk to transfer to intrade  and obtain fees that way. 

I’m in Auckland. All sales were pickup only as I don’t like sending bowls, plates, mugs, and spending lots of time safely packing low value items is not cost effective (2 buyers were from outside Auckland but have friends / family who did the pickup). As a biologist I do it to be environmentally friendly and save stuff from landfill (after seeing several houses being bowled over including contents). Occasionally you find some really interesting items, but NZ is a small market, so sales are slow. It is also a hell of a lot more work than expected, especially the selling part, and though it’s a nice hobby I would certainly not be able to live off it (I’m hoping to break even sometime this year, I’m still quite a bit in the red).

TM’s new fee structure has allowed me to put some of the more valuable items on, but you have to wait ages for a buyer … which is immensely frustrating.

I've suddenly had a pick up in views and sales since the change. Go figure. 

@L: good to hear - any changes you made or the same as before?