The profit will be made using the flow of money going through the ping system.

It is not about potentially being better off in 'most cases'. It is about being forced to have my payment be diverted through a system that I don't want to use, instead of coming directly from the buyer to me. If you think Apax Partners are doing this for the good of the average Trademe user, then see my listing for the Harbour Bridge that I am selling....

I am not interested in being forced to use their ping payment system. So will just shift all my ads over to facebook marketplace. Trademe could have a little slice of a lot of sales, but they have got too greedy, so they can have 100% of no sales.

Look at it this way. Based on any number of factors that are applicable to you, you can choose which bank you wish to bank with, choose who handles your Kiwisaver, or your investments, choose a credit card company or finance company. But you can't choose to not use ping. Try and not use ping by offering bank deposits in the text of the listing and you'll be banned. Just smells off to me. But each to their own.

I can't speak for others, but I just want a site where I can advertise an item I don't want, and be put in touch with someone who wants it. That's it, nothing else. The buyer and seller can sort the details from there. All the other fluff that has been added to Trademe over the years, is of zero interest to me and is just clutter as far as I am concerned. I certainly don't want my money going through a third party system, that I have no control, or say in. Trademe is following a well trodden path of small family businesses, being sold and resold to various cooperates, who just try and extra...

Its not designed to benefit the average Trademe buyer/seller, its to get the flow of money through the hands of the owners, who are money traders. If they go bust, the funds trapped in the system will be gone.

Who owns Stuff I wonder.....?

Callum. I use the same laptop for my TradeMe account and don't use any other devices. I have to log in using the six digit code every time I log in, often multiple times a day if I log out and back in again. Trade Me aren't interested in helping me fix the problem and at the last attempt, basically said "it does this from time to time, one day it will just stop dig it". It is broken, I know it, they know it, but no fix is forthcoming. I have no faith that the ping system will be any better and as it involves money, my money, I have serious concerns about it being forced onto users.

I have never used any of TradeMe's postage options. Which is why I think them clipping the freight ticket is wrong. I have never liked 'one stop shops', because once everyone is locked in, the costs go up and the service goes down.

I don't have a scammer problem, I have a buyer problem, as they seem to have deserted TradeMe over the last 6 months. Yet other sales platforms seem to be doing okay.