I am considering reporting the situation to the Commerce Commission and Fair Trade people. Ping is a trap that you apparently can't get out of and none of this is explained when you open a Ping account.

I tried that on my last auctions.  It doesn't matter if you deselect Ping as a payment auction.  Trade Me automatically uses Ping no matter what.  It really is a rip, especially as they say you can't just close your Ping account without closing your whole Trade Me account. And a fee on a fee as somebody else said.