Community Watch - How to Make a Great Report
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We want to make sure everyone using Trade Me has a great experience when they buy or sell. Community Watch is the best way to notify us if a listing isn’t quite right. We have a specialist team who review the reports, and will take appropriate action behind the scenes. It's best to file one report per seller with all of the info in one report - if there are listings from different sellers, they can be reported separately. If you file multiple complaints on a listing, or on multiple listings from one seller, this can slow down our team from getting to your complaint.
In order for us to make the most of your complaint, we need as much information as possible. It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!
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Choosing the right complaint subject
It’s important to let us know exactly what the issue is with the listing you’re reporting, so we know what to keep an eye out for. You can let us know if:
- It shouldn’t be listed (or the listing should be withdrawn)
- The way it's listed is incorrect
- Someone’s using the Q&A inappropriately
- The seller is trying to avoid paying the right fees
- There are intellectual property concerns (counterfeit items, breach of trademark, etc.)
- It’s a face mask that’s not in line with our mask policy
If your complaint doesn’t neatly fit into the above, you can choose the ‘something else’ option. When you do this, it’s particularly important to include as much information as possible.
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Give us all the details!
Because we can’t all be industry experts about the 8 million listings on the site at any given time, we appreciate a helping hand from those who are. It’s important for us that you point out exactly where the issue is and why it’s a problem. Don’t be afraid to spell it out for us!
For example, if a listing is in the wrong category, it’s really helpful to let us know which category it should be in.
Or, if you think an item is a counterfeit product, don’t forget to add why you think that. Providing us with your source of information is a great way to do that. -
Attach any supporting evidence
Our team can only take action based on the evidence they can see. That’s why we need as much info from you as possible, regardless of which complaint subject you’ve chosen.
Most of the time, the evidence will be in the listing itself. Sometimes though, it’s not.
For example, if a car is listed on the site, and the seller has told you it’s been sold already. From our end, we have no way of telling the item isn’t up for grabs anymore – unless the seller mentions this in the description or Q&A themselves. If you’ve emailed or texted them, include a screenshot of your conversation with them so we can see if they’ve said it’s no longer available.
Here are some examples of great reports
Example 1
This report has the right options selected, and gives further detail about what specifically isn’t right about the listing. Nice!
Example 2
This report specifies why this isn’t the right category for the item that’s listed. Ka pai!
Here are some examples of not so great reports
Example 1
This one needs a bit of love. This report doesn’t give any information about what’s wrong with the listing or seller. We can’t do anything with this one.
Example 2
This is a well-detailed report, but the seller has no links to contact them, it is listed in the right spot, and is selling their parts through the site. All is good!
Example 3
Without any information or reasons why the item listed could be counterfeit, we don't have a lot to go on with this report.
So with these points in mind...
Go forth, make some great reports, and help us to help you!
If you have any questions, post them below
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Gary-NZStocked Community SuperuserWayne, if you need to contact Trademe, use the Contact Us page at the bottom of any page. If you don't get an email form after choosing the appropriate topic as not all topics have a contact form, use the Live Chat/Help button (bottom right) which gives you a box to write a message in that then get's given an enquiry number copied by email to you and is responded to by Trademe.
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A seller has cut and pasted large parts of my listing description to his/her own listing for an almost identical item. I lodged a complaint on Sunday 12 March with Trade Me but the listing hasn't been changed. It's obviously copied - the other seller included a detail from my listing that doesn't apply to hers/his and the first line of my sale conditions!
Trade Me used to be prompt at dealing with these small issues but my last experience was very frustrating as the Trade Me person couldn't see the obvious copying - think "The jug is an iridescent blue colour" changed to "The vase is an iridescent blue colour" and paragraphs of the same.
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LucyTrade Me staff - Community team
Hi K, I've asked for an update on your complaints. You should be hearing back via email. 🙂
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no 4085538203 was advertised as deregistered last week wont enter into sales and purchase agrement for greatcamoavan for it to be re registered vtnz need a paper trail they wont do this i fell they need to tell woodby buyers this
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Hi.
I have just hit buynow on a couple of items from a company which offered afterpay. I am a bit concerned as as soon as I filled out all my details then the afterpay details which was approved and first payment taken, the post advertising the tv stand completely disappeared. Normally it would go into my win folder but no there’s nothing. On the confirmation of payment from afterpay it says trademe as the seller and the item number is for something else. If this was some how some kind of scam I’d love to know how that’s possible. I need someone to tell me what’s going on.
p.s. It’s really not user friendly trying to get help from someone at trademe me. You really need to put systems in place where the public can get to contact someone.
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S Community SuperuserKia Ora Dave,
That is a Huge concern - To speak with a TradeMe staff member via 'Live Chat' you can select 'Contact us' at the very bottom of any TM page, you come to a drop down menu however you will want to Select the 'Live Chat' Tab in blue at the bottom right of your screen - you may have to give the page a count of 15+ seconds before the tab appears, there is a slight delay in this "Chat" Pop up coming through.
The 'Live Chat' manned hrs Monday - Friday are 8:am - 6:30pm & Saturday - Sunday 8:30am - 4:pm.
- All the Best - Cheers.0 -
This listing i was bidding he put the price up n remove the bid last minute
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The seller use someone to bid on his auctions
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Last minute bid was removed by the seller n let me win
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S Community Superuser
Kia Ora Shiraz,
Congratulations! 😊
There can be several reasons a Seller may need to remove a bid from their listings which are all above board there - as you have won at your bid price that's Great to hear. - If you are ever concerned with bidding practices you can select the Community Watch link at the bottom of any listing to report suspicious behaviour.
TradeMe Ruling...
The seller unexpectedly removed my bid
- Sellers can remove bids from their own auction.
- There are legitimate reasons they might need or want to do this.
- Auctions can't be edited once bids have been placed.
- Cheers.
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Gary-NZStocked Community Superuser
Kent, you need to edit your post to remove your contact details from it as that breaches the Community guidelines here on Trademe. A link to the rules are just under the box where you write your post. If you need to alert Trademe to a specific listing, use the Community Watch Report this listing link on the listing itself, as below, as again, you are not allowed to do it here. It might pay when using that link to direct Trademe to your lawyers and you'll need to contact your lawyers and alert them to the listing too as contact from them to Trademe will be beneficial for you.
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I have dealt with a person commenting on my listing, low ball offering me and being persistent asking silly questions. After selling the item to a different person i have noticed this person is a family member of the person commenting on my page. they have won the auction and refused to send me the money after me sending multiple photos confirming the condition of the item.
I have requested a refund from trade me, but i want these people to stay away from my profile as they are time wasting and not intending on buying.
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Gary-NZStocked Community Superuser
Jaco, you need to edit your post to remove the references to other members as it's not allowed to do that. See the Community Guidelines link just under where you post your message for the rule and regs.
Next time this happens, at the first sign of a silly question, add the member to your blacklist and they won't be able to ask Qs again or bid or buy.
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Hi we won an auction, confirmed by Trade Me emial.
The seller has decided not to proceed ... because they believe it's worth more.
My understanding is that both seller and buyer are obliged to honour the process.
How do we get Trade Me assistance to convey this to the seller and ensure the seller proceeds?
regards
Paul
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Gary-NZStocked Community Superuser
Yes you are correct Paul, however, forcing someone to do the right thing is not easy. Best to use the Dispute resolution link on the closed listing, or read this page which has a link to contact Trademe for their help.
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I bought and paid for a laptop from a person with confirmed identity by TradeMe. The seller postponed courier for a few days and now has stopped replying to my email. I looked their name up online and made contact to be told that their identity had been stolen and had been used for around 6 TradeMe scams. The actual Paul Stieller reported this identity theft to TradeMe and NZ police several times but TradeMe have done nothing. I made the trade through TradeMe to avoid this kind of scam, with identity supposedly verified. I can’t afford to lose $4,000 and don’t know what to do.
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S Community SuperuserEdited
Kia Ora Jim,
I'm sorry to read that has happened to you,
How did you pay for the laptop? - As stolen id this would indicate perhaps by internet or cash banking. - unfortunately your next steps would be to contact your Bank to see if this payment can be reversed - report this to NZ Police & report this to TradeMe.
Be on the lookout for any further phishing emails - Don't open any from an address you don't know &/or aren't expecting - if the email appears to come from a known source like your bank but you are not expecting to hear from them safely move the email to your spam folder, hover over the sending address to confirm if it is your bank, or a known source before opening it - you can always contact your bank or known source to confirm if the email is legitimate if you can't tell - Most importantly Don't click on any links within these emails until you confirm they are legitimate.
Lucy, TM Customer Experience Team has requested these emails be forward directly through to their Trust & Safety Team using the abuse@trademe.co.nz email address - Cheers.
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What is the story with a Buy Now Listing and a prospective purchaser makes an offer and a telephone number is posted and the Buy Now listing is removed - very soon after: -
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Gary-NZStocked Community SuperuserEdited
Richard, the story is that the seller has asked the buyer to contact them directly to discuss their offer, which is against Trademe T & C., although I don't see any phone numbers in the Q & A. The seller has several classifieds that have their contact details, which is allowed, so this would be one way to contact them and ask them what the story was, or simply google them for their full contact details.
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S Community Superuser
Kia Ora Richard,
As the Seller has withdrawn the Listing it looks like this is a breach of TradeMe Terms & Conditions Your general commitments 3.3 Keep it onsite - Contact numbers also are not permitted to be posted through the Q&A section - TM will be interested in hearing this info' enabling them to investigate the accounts - Cheers.
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S Community Superuser
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Hi There, somebody has used my profile account to sell product I neither listed or sold. Funds totalling $58.46 have been debited out of my trade me account. Please refund accordingly. The details of the sale using my profile name appears to be a scam.
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S Community SuperuserKia Ora Helen, this is the community forum you are on here, we are members of TM just like yourself - we are not TradeMe staff. This community forum is in place for all members to help each other where we can.You need to change your TradeMe account Password Now's Good and your email address if possible. Then you need to contact TM asap.To get through to staff on "Live Chat" - Once you've selected the Contact us Chat Tab you need to give the landing page a count of 15+ seconds for the Chat Tab to Pop up in blue with a black speech bubble at the bottom right of your screen, there is a slight delay in this appearing.The manned hours weekdays are 9:30:am - 5:00pm and weekends 9:30am - 4:pmYou can leave a message for them Afterhours now as well though you will want to contact staff also, they will have further info' to collect from you and may have further advice for you.Keep your eye on your emails for further phishing coming through. These can be sent to TM at their abuse@trademe.co.nz address. - Cheers.0
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S Community SuperuserEdited
Helen,
Use the cog wheel to remove the Email address from this Forum - you have made that Member vulnerable to further scams leaving it there and contact info' is prohibited in the Forum. - Cheers.
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How can i report a community watch when the listing has closed and has no option to select that? I have filed a dispute report about feedback and reported inappropriate behaviour but i want to conplain so that community watch will look into these guys
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S Community Superuser
Kia Ora Tayla,
Sorry to read of your trouble with that Trade,
If you have filed a report through here Reporting abuse or inappropriate behaviour - you won't need to file a second report - any actions warranted will be processed on the Member and their account accordingly. - Otherwise you can file a report by selecting the Contact us Link at the very bottom of any TradeMe page - Community watch reports can only be filed on Live Listings.
All the Best for future Trades - Cheers.
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Gary-NZStocked Community Superuser
Hi TM team, I wonder if it's time to change the way you guys handle your Community Watch reports as they seem to go nowhere. 4 months of reporting via CW and direct to Lucy, a Trademe Store that has over 65,000 listings with their phone number in them and they do the same every week. Likewise, another TM store that has their email address and online shop url in all of their auctions, 5 months and no change. Maybe the system could be made a bit smarter so effective action is taken, rather than repeated CWs with no action. These are just 2 examples of the many.
As I mention in my CWs, many members look up to Trademe Stores as the way things should be done, and this is also what you used to say in your Store T & C. Letting these TM Stores flagrantly flout your T & C sends the wrong message to all other members when they see this going on.
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S Community Superuser
Nice Gary,
Imagine all the Trade Sales which are going ahead outside of TM too given the URL's & Contact info' which has been allowed. - Cheers.
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Lucy
Thanks Gary. As always, I'll ensure that your feedback here is passed on. This is something for several of our teams to be looking into, including Trust & Safety, and the Stores team.
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Gary-NZStocked Community Superuser
Very annoying when using Community Watch. There has a been a rash of new members with similar membernames recently, donuts, keys etc that are selling fake Microsoft office and Windows keys. When you report them using the appropriate menu choices ie as below, when I click to the box to type further info, the whole page refreshes and blanks all my choices so I have to input them a 2nd time. This happens the first time I do it, every time so have to double entry each time.
By the way, the TM Store was talking about a couple of posts up that had 65,000 listings a few months ago with their phone number in now has 72,000 auctions all with their phone number in them. So, it's now 7 months this has been regularly reported to you via Community Watch and by direct emails, but no change.
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