Top ways to keep yourself safe on Trade Me

Trade Me is a great place to buy and sell but it pays for you to be cyber smart. Here’s some tips and hints to keep you safe on the internet and our site.

• Conduct your trades within the site. Avoid going off-site to make purchases as you might be being targeted by a scammer.
• Never send money overseas. This is always a scam. All Trade Me members must have a New Zealand bank account.
• That Kiwi bloke working on an oil rig who wants to buy your car and ship it to Malaysia? He doesn’t exist.
• Keep your password safe and don’t even share it with friends or family.
• Know what internet phishing is and how to not to take the bait.
• Do not leave your contact details in listings, they're a bright shiny beacon for scammers to approach you.
• Check who you are buying from. Sellers with good feedback are generally responsible traders. If the seller is not authenticated or has no feedback (or plenty of neutral or negative feedback), you may want to reconsider bidding on/buying the item.
• Ask electrical goods and gas appliance sellers for their supplier documentation of compliance, which demonstrates the safety of their products.
• If the deal is too good to be true, it probably is. If there’s something fishy about a trade, let us know via Community Watch.
• Your username should not be the same as the first part of your email address. i.e. if your email is johnsmith2001@mail.com, your user name should not be johnsmith2001 as it increases the chance of a phishing email landing in your email inbox.

These tips are just a taste of the things that you should bear in mind as you travel the online path. If you want some more advice, Netsafe is a great resource about using the internet, check them out!

If you're reading this post, chances are you love Sci Fi so why not check out our Star Wars Guide to safe trading on the site.