Trade Me has today announced its Marketplace will be back up and running as normal from 11:59pm on Monday 27 April in
line with the Government’s COVID-19 alert level 3 guidelines.
Trade Me’s Head of Marketplace Lisa Stewart said from this Friday Kiwis will be able to buy and sell items onsite again,
with normal trading resuming from Tuesday. “Following the Government’s announcement that we will be moving to alert
level 3, we are getting ready to reopen all categories for our members.
“While members will be able to resume trading from Friday they must follow the Government’s guidelines and wait until we
are at alert level 3 to send non-essential items.”
Ms Stewart said the safety of its members remained Trade Me’s top priority. “All members must follow the Government’s
alert level 3 restrictions and our COVID-19 safe trading guidelines.”
The company has also put measures in place to ensure all trades remain contactless. “Trades must be contactless and cash
is not permitted. Instead, payments can be made via Ping, bank transfer or Afterpay.
“We recommend using our ‘Book a courier’ service, which means sellers can have their item picked up from their front
door – they don’t even have to leave the house. If items cannot be sent via courier, buyers and sellers must follow our safe trading guidelines and maintain a 2-metre distance from one another at all times.”
This comes after Trade Me announced earlier this month that under COVID-19 alert level 4, only essential items would be
permitted to be sold onsite.
Ms Stewart said they expect a flurry of activity on the site. “We’re interested to see what people will be searching for
after four weeks of limited shopping. During the lockdown we’ve seen a lot of searches for bikes and gaming consoles
like PS4s so we expect to see plenty of these snapped up once the alert level changes.
“We think a lot of clothing, homeware and electronics will be listed for sale onsite after many Kiwis spent their
lockdown cleaning out wardrobes, cupboards and garages around the country.”