If your thinking was right Harold, why are only a subset of TM users ie those in trade, the only ones being subjected to the new mandate? Shouldn't ALL users be? I for one will not be using ping, and will be canceling my "in trade account", as i object as a seller to paying a fee that the buyer (who is the presumed protected party) should be paying in any case, and then it should be their choice to opt in or not.

I only ever use BIDBUD. Best thing since sliced bread and by using it, it cuts out all the crap that TM promotes. It is far quicker and easier to list thru BB as a seller and to quickly search TM as a buyer. Heaps of useful features too. BB is not a separate site as others have explained, it is merely viewing TM listings thru a different clear window; one without curtains, blinds, hanging dream catchers, or other items distracting from the view. 

I too have similar issues. Having been on TM for 21 years i find it hard to find any positives in being In Trade. I still use BB to do all my listings, although it is getting a bit clunky, and only use PTP for shipping as it is reasoably priced and simple to do. I will ONLY be offering cash payments and the buyer can choose to pay either in folding money or by requesting a bank account to pay into. Will just have to see how it goes. Im not really selling "in trade" any more however and am in the process of winding down. With this in mind i have been disposing of remaining items (collectab...

Dont sweat the small stuff. Its just another window on the things you are selling. EVERYTHING still sells on TM and with two clicks you can go from BB to TM anyways. I ONLY ever list and buy with BB and it is such a breeze to use, TM still clicks the ticket for their profit and BB doesnt charge a cent to use.

The complaint to the Commerce Commission has been passed on to the next level. A copy of their communication that i posted here is pending.

Re having to use Ping. A communication received from Comcom this morning: The Commission has conducted an initial assessment of your concern regarding Trade Me Limited. We have now passed your concern on to our Competition, Fair Trading, and Credit branch for further consideration. We aim to notify you of any updates as soon as we can. We may contact you in the future to gather additional information from you regarding your concern. Please note, you should not wait for our outcome to take independent action, as the Commission is unable to act on behalf of individuals or give legal advice.

Interestingly, since the ping thing was announced, there have been 24,842 new active members listed on the TM stats page (a total of 6,015,057 active members at 14 Nov.). I wonder how many of these are In Trade Sellers that have quit being in trade and have opened new casual accounts due to their dissatisfaction with this?

So in other words, PING is being mandated merely as a money grab by TM so they can click the ticket again. But WHY is it only being forced on In Trade Sellers? I believe it is due to ITS needing TM more than casual sellers and therefore the majority will roll over and acceptvthe extra fees. If it applied to casual sellers too, they would just move to sell on FB.

Actually using bidbud to find a users name takes about 2 sec. Much easier tham TM or Google ;)

Yes interesting :) Whether its a good or bad thing im not sure yet lol. It does makes it easier to confirm the account of those commenting though.