Whether it's handbags, clothing, gadgets, smartphones or tablets - we’re all about making sure Trade Me is a safe and trusted place where members can be confident in their purchases.

It is illegal to sell counterfeits in New Zealand and one of Trade Me’s central listing policies is that goods must be genuine.

No counterfeits, of any kind, may be listed on the site. Our Intellectual Property Rights Liaison team works bloody hard to make sure that the Trade Me buying experience is a satisfying one and not ruined by fakes being sold.

This means Trade Me does not allow the sale of counterfeit goods, even that cheeky "iPhone" you picked up on holiday in Thailand. It’s that simple.

If you have a product which isn’t the genuine article, but a copy, replica, counterfeit, fake, pirated version or knock off of the real deal, then you can’t sell it on the site. It doesn’t matter how honest you are when it comes to describing how fake the goods are, the goods themselves are the issue.

You cannot copy images from Google to use in your listings

We all want to make our listings look pretty and professional but if you ’borrow' an image off Google without permission or authorisation, you could be breaching someone’s copyright.

This is why we recommend using your own images and writing your own text as the safest course of action.

Also, using your own photos is a great way to avoid disputes with buyers as it shows them exactly what the item looks like and helps them to make an informed buying decision.

The brands are watching you…

At Trade Me we do a huge amount of work behind the scenes to ensure the site is free from counterfeits, this includes asking members to provide proof that products they are selling are genuine and working with brands like the Beige Brigade to identify potential infringements.

Selling parallel imports is totally legit

Parallel imported goods are authentic, genuine whizzbang products - the real deal.

The reason they are more easily affordable is that they can be sourced directly through legitimate supply chains overseas. By not being subject to local licensees or agents, goods are often more competitively priced than they may be locally.

Trade Me supports this kind of competition but be careful how you sell third party products.

You can help!

As you can see, intellectual property is big deal for Trade Me, however we don’t check every listing. We can act if something is drawn to our attention.

If you spy some dodgy product, let us know via the Community Watch button located at the bottom of every listing.

Give us a heads up as to how you’ve identified it as not legit, and what you can spot about the product that is a dead giveaway for a fake. We’ll get an eyeball over that listing pretty quickly.

If you’ve read this far, nice job. Now about that iphone from Thailand you were going to list…

Before you list your that knock-off bag or iphone...