Michelle, Ping might be owned by Trademe, but it appears to be only setup to circumvent gst issues, as a financial institution (PING), gst is not applicable. So 2.19% for both buyer and seller = 4.38% on each transaction, not much difference to the seller fee of 7% which included gst. Trademe needs to be upfront and post the survey results proving their statement that they canvassed both buyers and sellers. And the statement about not knowing our bank card details is ridiculous...
It should not be up to the buyer, the seller needs the ability to make the decision that affects the seller. I would support having the option for ping and/or bank transfer details. BUT the seller needs to be able to select what works best for them. Trademe has forced this decision onto buyers but taking away the ability to opt out of the ping decision. TradeMe is obviously making more fees by using ping and that is the driver for this decision. There was no canvassing the options over longtime buyers and sellers it was a TradeMe decision as to what is best for them. Very annoyed!
It sucks, Ive been buying and selling on trademe for years and this is awful. I dont want a ping account, I dont want bank details held on ping, I dont have a credit card. Looks like facebook marketplace has a much better system.