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The rules around selling on multiple platforms

Why Trade Me is not keen on you listing things that you're also selling elsewhere

By Trade Me 5 February 2021

You might have noticed a few websites pop up recently (and one or two pop off!) that encourage members to list items for sale.

We’ve got no problem with a bit of competition, that’s a healthy thing to have in the market place.

We have seen a few instances however where members have been listing a single item across multiple websites to try and increase their chances of making a sale.

As per our Terms and Conditions, when you list an item for auction on Trade Me, you should do so with the intention of selling this item through the site. Therefore you should not advertise your item through another forum.

Why does Trade Me have this rule?

Let's be up front, Trade Me wants the sale but there’s another pretty important reason for it and it’s to ensure a great user experience on the site.

Say some one wins an auction for a ‘speed racer’ and by doing so they have entered into a binding legal contract with the seller.

What happens if the seller sold the speed racer the day before and is no longer the owner?

What if the buyer immediately sent the money for the speed racer? 

They’ve paid for something that they can no longer take possession of, despite having a contract of sale. 

There’s a clear opportunity for things to turn ugly pretty quickly hence the rule.

With classified advertising things are simpler.  We ask that if you’ve sold the item, you amend or withdraw the listing as appropriate. We may do this for you if we figure it out ourselves. 

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Trade Me
Trade Me

Written by one of Trade Me motoring experts - giving you advice on used cars, new cars, boats, motorbikes, dirt bikes, caravans, trucks, trailers and more.