Reporting abuse or inappropriate behaviour
Here at Trade Me we're dedicated to providing a safe trading environment for our community. This extends to communications that occur as a result of a trade, even if this communication is occurring off site.
We expect our members to treat each other with respect and act in good faith at all times. Inappropriate correspondence will not be tolerated among the community, and traders who breach this policy may have their trading privileges removed.
We expect all members to refrain from any of the following behaviours when communicating with other members:
- Swearing
- Trolling (sending messages with the sole purpose of causing trouble or inciting an emotional response from others)
- Abuse
- Personal attacks
- Discrimination
- Threats
- Harassment
If a trade has gotten a bit out of hand and the other party has been sending emails you feel are inappropriate, it’s important to not respond in kind yourself. Instead, we ask that you contact us directly and escalate serious concerns to appropriate authorities as needed. We will not accept any justification for resorting to abuse of another member.
In situations where you feel at risk, we recommend taking complaints to the police. In addition to this, Netsafe are the approved agency for looking into these kinds of complaints and we would absolutely recommend contacting them so they can do their own investigation.
When investigating a complaint made regarding inappropriate correspondence we will take an evidence-based approach. As such it's important to keep hold of any such communications in case we need copies of these to help with our investigations.
Any members who experience the above behaviours can make a complaint to our Disputes team by making a report.