Everyone has different tastes and styles, so sometimes a dash of personalisation can go a long way.

Being able to offer buyers a few subtle options can help you stand out in the crowd, make quicker sales and attract glowing feedback.

We want you to enjoy using Trade Me, so if you’re a seller who is able to personalise an order to a buyer’s specifications, then we want to support you.

If little Stacy Sue wants named, bedazzled bracelets to pop in her birthday gift baggies, or Mum needs three “Go Jack, Go!” T-shirts screen-printed for the track and field event on Saturday, then we don’t want to get in the way of letting the good times roll.

We do have guidelines to keep things from getting hairy with made to order listings.

We think they’re pretty stress-free and easy to run with:

1) The auction must only be for one specific item. You can still add quantities to your listings, but it must be very clear exactly what is being offered for sale.

2) The seller must be in possession of all the materials required to make the item. If Spotlight runs out of glitter and the seller can’t fulfil Stacy Sue’s order, nobody wins.

3) The buyer must not need to supply anything to make the item. If the buyer needs to provide more (such as photos, measurements, and so on) – the listing should be in the Services category, not ‘General items’. There are no exceptions to this.

4) That said, the buyer should only choose one personalised element. For instance, colour or name. The personalisation should be a minor detail and not change the item altogether.

5) The item will be shipped within one week of the auction closing. Simple as that.

Our golden nuggets of advice are to always make sure your listings are crystal clear (remember, confused watchers are unlikely to bid) and make sure there’s no room for doubt about the number of days required to do the ‘made to order’ work.

Get a family member or friend to skim your listing before you send it live - if they can’t make sense of it, others won’t be able to either.

Trade Me will remove listings that do not fit with the guidelines, as experience has shown that listings that go beyond them create unnecessary risks for buyers.

Happy trading!

“Made to Order Listings: Go-er or No-er?”