AJ, the small fee that was paid by the sellers was not the end of the world either. Having Ping as an option is fine but forcing sellers to use it is not.

As I was never selling anything that expensive it was not a problem for me.  It is however possible to fix the success fee without forcing Ping on us.

Yes, sellers are not paying because the charge has now been switched to the buyer, who is now worse off.

Oh rumplestilstkin, I do like your way of thinking. 

It is Trade Me's site but as I have said several times, Ping failed me badly and I feel that after 20 years of being a member, it is unfair that I am being refused the option of not using Ping.

Okay AJ, so I read wrong?... You are telling me that there is no charge to the buyer who wins an auction, the only charge is when Ping is used?  And yes, after twenty loyal years with Trade Me I shall be leaving.

Let us not forget that you will be charged when you win an item and then you are charged again when you use Ping to pay for you item - a double charge is just wrong.

Ping is apparently all in house, if these changes come from Apax Partners (UK) who now own Trade Me, is an interesting question waiting to be answered.

It will be interesting to see what answers you receive. Ping has been around for a while, most people I have chatted with don't want to use it.  So this master plan of forcing Ping on us is not something the majority of TM users want, or this would not be necessary.