Closing your account
We hate to see you go, but understand if you wish to close your Trade Me account – just get in touch and let us know.
We’ll refund your remaining balance, less a $5 processing fee to the credit card you used for payments.
If you prefer to talk to us directly please call our payments line on (04) 803 2698.
What happens after my account is closed?
- you can’t log in or use Trade Me anymore
- feedback you’ve received is no longer visible
- your member profile becomes invisible to other members.
Is my site history deleted?
We retain your history of using the site, as under the Tax Administration Act we need to retain financial information for at least seven years, meaning we can’t just delete your transactional history straight away.
The Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act also requires certain details of any person offering secondhand items for sale to be retained for 12 months. For business purposes, we need to retain details of our own agreements with members who have registered with us and accepted our terms and conditions.
We also need to be able to use information for security purposes. For example, a person who's been sell-banned for not delivering an iPhone may ask for their account to be closed, with the intention of creating a new account and getting around our systems. We need to be able to see their previous activity on the site to help resolve any issues that may arise, and help prevent them from being a mischief-maker in the future.
What if I want personal information deleted?
Despite us generally keeping your site history, there are instances where we’ll consider deleting personal information. These are looked at on a case-by-case basis, taking into account any security considerations and our legal obligations to retain certain information. Please contact us to discuss.