Seller disabled

Hi Dean. Members can either close their accounts themselves, or be banned by Trade Me. Unfortunately there is no way for us to tell which has happened, the error message is the same. Trade Me will know.

Am I understanding you correctly that you purchased something that had an issue. You returned it to the seller but didn't get a refund? Did you pay for this item via Ping or afterpay? You would be covered by the Buyer Protection Policy. Even if you didn't use these methods you can still open a dispute for the item to get Trade Me involved.

The Police interest would probably be nil. At the most it could be a civil matter rather than criminal. In that case you would need to pursue through the Disputes Tribunal if Trade Me can't help.

Nothing stops the process faster than threatening sellers with Police action, it is viewed as an intimidation tactic, and instead of making getting a refund faster, it slows things down.

Have they said to you in an email that they are refusing to refund you? Have the acknowledged that you have returned the item? How long has this been going on for? (When was sale completed, when was Item found faulty, when was Item returned, what was the item? Could it be argued that you had reasonable use from it?  ...) Have you got an email from them admitting that the item is faulty and offering you a refund.

Potentially because it's holiday season, they may not have the staff, or time, or internet access to sort this out right now, they could also have done the refund, but the banks have not processed it yet (depends on what banking product and provider they/you use).

Thank you both. Think its a civil matter now through your information. The holiday break took me well over the 45day deadline.
Paid for item 7th Nov took too long
Asked for a refund 3 times after trying to sort out for 30days. Filed distribute and sent all corresponding emails to Trademe. They sent the item instead of the refund. I sent it back as we had to buy another before Christmas. It was signed by reception as being received after checking tracking.
No reply of emails or refund.
Have 6months to file a report to police but looks like I'm heading for the Disbutes Tribunal.

Thanks for your help.
Very much appreciated.

Hi there - For sure this sounds like you are making all the right moves here, kept the emails, supplied T-Me with all the info, T-Me did make a comment on another thread some time ago, almost admitting that they are behind on processioning disputes, that situation would also have been made worse by the holiday season.

Thanks for the background info, it makes things a lot clearer, I like to give sellers the benefit of the doubt, but this really does look like they are a bit useless, it is hard work being a seller, and some people just start selling without understanding the work involved and get over their heads very quickly, your situation is starting to smell like another one of these - not that's any comfort you, sadly you have been left out of pocket with no product or coin.

My advice is to just keep on it with T-Me, but don't harass them to the point you become a pest, and yes you should be angry, but just double check the language you use in your emails before hitting the send button, keep it professional sounding and friendly, ultimately you have been diddled, so you have the moral high ground, just make sure you keep that high ground.

You will be fine, good luck to you! Hope you get a win here soon.