Trade Me launches new policy to restrict price of items related to Covid-19

Trade Me’s Head of Trust & Safety George Hiotakis said the new policy is aimed at making items Kiwis want and need during events such as the Covid-19 pandemic available at reasonable prices and limiting profiteering.

Trade Me has today announced a new natural disaster and civil emergency policy that aims to restrict the price of items related to a disaster or emergency on the site.

Trade Me's Head of Trust & Safety George Hiotakis said the new policy is aimed at making items Kiwis want and need during events such as the Covid-19 pandemic available at reasonable prices and limiting profiteering.

"We are introducing these new measures to protect our users from exploitative pricing during the Covid-19 outbreak and future unforeseen events."

Mr. Hiotakis said the company will begin assessing the pricing of items currently on its site from today. "Items such as face masks and hand sanitizers that have been listed for much more than their normal retail price will be removed and sellers will be asked to list these items at prices consistent with their standard price.

"We have not got involved in the prices of items on Trade Me before but given the special circumstances New Zealand finds itself in with the Covid-19 pandemic, we felt we needed to make a change."

Mr. Hiotakis said the company worked hard to consider every option. "This new policy is tricky for us to execute. We have over 8 million items onsite at any one time so finding all examples of this behavior is going to be hard but we'll be working through it.

"We think this option is better than banning these items altogether and Kiwis not being able to buy them at all.

"Our teams are working hard to review any items currently onsite and are hoping to have this completed in the next few days.

"If you do come across anything on Trade Me that doesn't look right, please use the Community Watch button at the bottom of every listing and one of our team will take a look," he added.