I have noticed that too. I am no expert but I think that sometimes they close off their booking system when they have too many parcels. In that instance I have found that booking the preceding day or night before ensures a pick up. Just checked now and NZ Post is up and running for pick up on Monday. You could always look at booking through the NZ Post website- I’m not sure of prices but the do offer a pick up service meaning you don’t have to go to the post shop. Or you could look into Pass the Parcel. They provide their courier bags for free (no ability to print labels required) or you ca...

It sounds like there is a trust issue on both sides. I assume that for security reasons, you don’t want to give out your address until you have received payment and know that you are dealing with a genuine buyer. For their part, the buyer is reluctant to pay until they know they are dealing with a genuine seller and disclosing your address goes some way to proving that you are not a scammer. I do have some sympathy for the buyer as scammers are a dime a dozen at the moment. I think it’s a bit rough that you are expecting the buyer to trust you with their payment but aren’t willing to show ...

Oh dear. Do you know the seller’s preferred courier? If you go to https://www.addresscheck.co.nz and put in your address, it well tell you which couriers deem your address to be rural. It may well be that the courier they use does classify your address as rural and therefore a rural surcharge will apply. As for the $50 handling fee, that’s just them being ridiculous. Hope Trade Me can wade in and get this sorted for you.

Hi Cathy Just checking that you are aware of the Live Chat function where you can chat to the Trade Me Support team in real time? I can’t remember the hours of this service but you can get in touch by hitting the Contact Us link at the bottom of this page. Wait a few seconds and if they are online, a blue help button will appear on the bottom right.

Sometimes I receive insultingly low offers. At times I have been sorely tempted to reply with “Sure, if you’re happy to sell me your [listed item] for $ [discount their item by whatever discount they have applied to mine]” But I don’t really want to end up with something I don’t need so instead I just say “Thanks for your interest but I am happy to leaving the pricing as is for the time being :)”

Hi Holly As the item appears to have been damaged prior to shipping, the seller is responsible for paying the cost of return shipping. In my experience, cheapest courier option for large items is often Pass the Parcel courier. You don’t need to open an account with them to book a pick up from your home. If the seller is being difficult about covering the cost of shipping, you could offer to wrap the parcel back up for them, send them the parcel dimensions and let them book a courier from their end. Also open a dispute with Trade Me and if you haven’t already, make sure you take photos of th...

Would changing the account name help if the person has already added the OP to their favourite sellers list? I would have thought setting up a completely new account would be the way to go.

We’ve all done that or been very close to it David. It’s a rookie mistake and you generally only ever do it once!If you have plenty of time before the auction closes, you can ask the seller to remove your bid. There’s some rules or guidelines around removing bids but off the top of my head I can’t remember the details. I had the exact same situation the other day. I removed the leading bid and the chap has since placed another, much lower bid. That’s ok with me as it would be a bit unfair if I was to capitalise on someone’s mistake.  

Thanks Gary:) 

I had issues with a buyer that I placed on my Blacklist. They then bid on another item a week later using a different account. I knew it was the same person because they gave the same delivery address. I cancelled the trade and got in touch with Trade Me to let them know what had happened. I’m not sure what action they took, but they said they would handle it from there. If you are certain both buyers are one and the same person, I’d cancel the trade and contact Trade Me.