Reporting inappropriate listings

You can report suspicious listings or sellers who are breaching our terms and conditions by clicking the 'Community Watch' link at the bottom of every listing. 

Some reasons to get in touch:

• Suspicious bidding patterns, like members bidding on their own auctions. We call this 'shill bidding' – it’s illegal and uncool.
• Members who've placed contact details on their auctions. This will help stop approaches from scammers.
• People trying to complete the deal outside the auction process.
• The seller withdrew your bid without good reason.
• Approaches from members not located in NZ or Australia – this is to help ensure scammers stay off the site.
• An item is listed in the wrong category. We like a tidy site!
• Possible copyright infringement such as fake or pirated goods. Check out our intellectual property rights section for more advice.
• An item is on our banned and restricted items list. If it’s unsafe or illegal to sell, let us know – we’ll remove it.
• The listing is otherwise suspicious.

You can also let us know if you think an item listed is your stolen property.

When you report a listing, it really helps if you can give as much detail as possible using the details box. The more you add, the more we can understand your concern.

I reported a listing – what have you done?

Due to the Privacy Act, we can't disclose the action taken on another member’s account – it would be breaching their privacy. However, that doesn’t mean we aren’t taking action.

We send emails, update files, refer to specialists, edit listings and call members – we promise that each and every listing reported through the Community Watch function is read by an actual human being, who researches matters and takes action in line with our site policies. Auctions are not removed automatically. 

If you have reported the listing and it is removed, you will be sent an email. If the listing is not removed, you won't be notified. 

If you are the copyright and/or intellectual property right holder, then identify yourself as such when making the complaint and provide your contact details. You will then be contacted directly by a Liaison Officer.

Why do you need my help?

Roughly 10 listings to go live on Trade Me every second. Even if we had a fleet of battleships filled to the brink with staff on laptops looking at new listings, we wouldn’t be able to check each new listing before it went live on our site.

Because of this, we really appreciate members who care about our community and get in touch to let us know when they think something might be wrong – it helps us, it helps others, and most of all, it helps Trade Me remain that great, safe place to buy and sell.