Had to go through all my listings and EDIT then untick PING - make sure you do all the steps and CONFIRM.  My choices were made in my initial set up of Trademe and Im happy with them. PING is a later addition that they chose to auto tick.  Unacceptable for those who get caught in this trap.

Unimpressed that PING is automatic.  I choose not to use it as it cost me.   PLEASE remove this and allow users to make the choice for themselves.  

I agree this information should be added to the Trade Me "REFUND" pages.  I could not find this anywhere.  Hope those above have received their payments.  It should not take so long.    

I didn't have any bids on my other listings so quickly unticked all the PING boxes and checked my previous settings.  Not the best, I guess will need to watch for future listings.