Saturday, October 07, 2006
Case 001: ANovelMillion vs Trademe
For those of you not in the know, Trademe is a pathetic New Zealand version of Ebay. It is actually something of a local success story in this country with mega-company Fairfax recently buying the website for $700million!!
Anyway, Trademe has it's wires crossed in so many ways....they are a true picture of disorganization and hypocrisy. Why am I angry? They have pulled about 4 of my auctions selling "50 words"- 3 of these being pulled in the last week.
Yes, that's right a supposed success story in New Zealand actually fails to embrace similar local entrepreneurial ideas.... and for reasons that are hypocritical, non-consistent and non-existent. I actually don't think they even know why they are canceling my auctions, they just have a "vague" feeling that they are inappropriate. They are not inappropriate and have actually been running on Ebay at the same time. In fact, Trademe are so disorganized that the email letters I receive to tell me that my auctions have been cancelled actually derive from a defunct email address. What this means is that when I reply to these letters to state my case and ask why my auction was cancelled I get the following:
The support@trademe.co.nz e-mail address is no longer used.
What a joke! Yes, you are entitled to sell a potato crisp shaped like a love-heart on this bullshit site, but not 50 words. The first reason it was pulled was apparently because I was promoting my website:
Your listing for 50 WORDS FOR SALE Listing no. 72715863 has been withdrawn.You may not be aware of this, but it is a breach of our terms and conditions to use a listing purely to promote your business, products, or services on the site. You need to have specific items for sale in your listing.
This reason was given to me and is in total contradiction to the fact that real estate companies use this website to sell their houses on, and also numerous other listings that give reference to "check out our website to see the rest of our catalogue".
Anyway, I toned back the auction description and made it more of a novelty auction selling "50 words". Basically whoever wins the auction is buying 50 words... simple. The next time my auction was pulled was apparently because I was selling something downloadable (let's try out another reason to cancel one of his auctions!)
Your listing for 50 WORDS FOR SALE Listing no. 72715027 has been withdrawn. I am sorry but we do not allow the sale of eBooks or downloadable media on the site. We classify an eBook to be any item or product that can be delivered electronically. This includes but is not limited to:
* Backup or copied software, CDRs or DVDRs
* Copies of software or programs that the buyer downloads or has acces to download from a website.
* Music and video files that you can deliver through file sharing software.
* Downloadable or electronically delivered eBooks.
* The sale of a URL or web address where are member can download or obtain copies of information.
* Electronic books (ebooks), or other information sourced from the Internet,produced in a printed version that is sold outside distribution or copyright laws.
* Electronic invites
To this bullshit reason I found my way through a maze of processes to be able to respond to them. I not-so-happily stated that I was not selling anything downloadable and I didn't think that this was a valid reason to pull my auctions. The last email I have received states that the "new real reason" that my auctions are pulled is because:
As the final product will be web based we will not allow the sale of your 'words'.
So the latest new reason is that Trademe doesn't allow sale of anything that they vaguely describe as "web based". Again, what a joke! They have a specific section selling website domain names, another with website businesses for sale, and then auctions I found with people selling internet orientated products. Trademe truly has no consistency or reason for canceling my auctions, and are a pathetic attempt at an internet auction site.
¶ 8:49 PM
What a bunch of absolute incredible wankers!
For those of you not in the know, Trademe is a pathetic New Zealand version of Ebay. It is actually something of a local success story in this country with mega-company Fairfax recently buying the website for $700million!!
Anyway, Trademe has it's wires crossed in so many ways....they are a true picture of disorganization and hypocrisy. Why am I angry? They have pulled about 4 of my auctions selling "50 words"- 3 of these being pulled in the last week.
Yes, that's right a supposed success story in New Zealand actually fails to embrace similar local entrepreneurial ideas.... and for reasons that are hypocritical, non-consistent and non-existent. I actually don't think they even know why they are canceling my auctions, they just have a "vague" feeling that they are inappropriate. They are not inappropriate and have actually been running on Ebay at the same time. In fact, Trademe are so disorganized that the email letters I receive to tell me that my auctions have been cancelled actually derive from a defunct email address. What this means is that when I reply to these letters to state my case and ask why my auction was cancelled I get the following:
The support@trademe.co.nz e-mail address is no longer used.
What a joke! Yes, you are entitled to sell a potato crisp shaped like a love-heart on this bullshit site, but not 50 words. The first reason it was pulled was apparently because I was promoting my website:
Your listing for 50 WORDS FOR SALE Listing no. 72715863 has been withdrawn.You may not be aware of this, but it is a breach of our terms and conditions to use a listing purely to promote your business, products, or services on the site. You need to have specific items for sale in your listing.
This reason was given to me and is in total contradiction to the fact that real estate companies use this website to sell their houses on, and also numerous other listings that give reference to "check out our website to see the rest of our catalogue".
Anyway, I toned back the auction description and made it more of a novelty auction selling "50 words". Basically whoever wins the auction is buying 50 words... simple. The next time my auction was pulled was apparently because I was selling something downloadable (let's try out another reason to cancel one of his auctions!)
Your listing for 50 WORDS FOR SALE Listing no. 72715027 has been withdrawn. I am sorry but we do not allow the sale of eBooks or downloadable media on the site. We classify an eBook to be any item or product that can be delivered electronically. This includes but is not limited to:
* Backup or copied software, CDRs or DVDRs
* Copies of software or programs that the buyer downloads or has acces to download from a website.
* Music and video files that you can deliver through file sharing software.
* Downloadable or electronically delivered eBooks.
* The sale of a URL or web address where are member can download or obtain copies of information.
* Electronic books (ebooks), or other information sourced from the Internet,produced in a printed version that is sold outside distribution or copyright laws.
* Electronic invites
To this bullshit reason I found my way through a maze of processes to be able to respond to them. I not-so-happily stated that I was not selling anything downloadable and I didn't think that this was a valid reason to pull my auctions. The last email I have received states that the "new real reason" that my auctions are pulled is because:
As the final product will be web based we will not allow the sale of your 'words'.
So the latest new reason is that Trademe doesn't allow sale of anything that they vaguely describe as "web based". Again, what a joke! They have a specific section selling website domain names, another with website businesses for sale, and then auctions I found with people selling internet orientated products. Trademe truly has no consistency or reason for canceling my auctions, and are a pathetic attempt at an internet auction site.
¶ 8:49 PM
