Trade Me has been going downhill for sometime now, unfortunately it is as simple as that. Hard to believe that Trade Me managed to make such a mess of a successful & loved site but they have done so.  

Aloha Michelle, great to hear that Trade Me is so concerned about buyer protection & for it to be a safe site to buy/sell on. Hopefully Trade Me looks into removing members with terrible feedback ratings, other than letting them to continue on their merry way & waste further peoples time. & if Trade Me was so concerned about keeping things safe, then surely there'd be no international sellers. I'd love to see Trade Me tidy up customer complaints from wares bought out of China. Ping = revenue. No more, no less. You don't really believe that members believe your Luxon spin, do you?

AJ does have a really good point & that is why unfortunately so many buyers have already left. 

100%. I'd love to see TM attempt to apply the Ping-only method of payment to their casual sellers. Maybe if we are good boys & girls they'll reward us with an annual Ping-free day.  

Callum. The bug pertains to items not remaining on members watchlists and promptly disappearing post-auction. But you already know this, as have Trade Me for a good year plus. It'd be common sense if Trade Me did something about fixing their various mounting problems before the rot set in any further. Must be time for a fee increase, albeit only for in-trade NZ sellers.  

No, they do not care. It is one of the many problems that has dogged Trade Me for some while now & it's basic stuff. Saving an item to your watchlist no longer guarantees that it will stay there & you are able to find the outcome of the auction. If Trade Me wishes to continue to increase their fees, & force Ping on sellers, then it would be nice if they could at least provide a service that functions semi-smoothly, which it no longer does. 

I reckon they'll do hard labour &/or be forced to accept Ping as a method of payment.

There should be no overseas sellers full-stop on Trade Me. Aussie bidders are fine in the main but even then there's always going to be more than the occasional problem with posting overseas/receiving payment etc. The rubbish being sold out of China is an embarrassment to Trade Me, why on earth would you open the floodgates to that mass-produced disposable junk. Solely for more money regardless of the aggravation that goes with it & the inability to police it.  

Thanks Callum for the explanation, much appreciated.