Once you are authorised with Trade Me you can configure the way you want to list each product in Trade Me.

We recommend you set the organisation defaults before you start editing any of your products.

Here you can individually configure the pricing, categories, listing descriptions, photos, extras, re-listings, and payment and shipping for each product. You can override any organisational defaults and configure each product listing individually. The settings on the product will always take precedence over the organisation defaults.

Auto-Listing

You can control the auto-listing of each product by setting the Rule Auto-Listing checkbox.

Note, for the auto-listing to work, the global Trade Me auto-listing setting also needs to be on. Plus for inventoried products, there must be sufficient stock. If your product is failing to auto-list, then you should run through our check list of failure reasons.

The auto-listing on your product rule will be turned off if an error related to your product’s rule is detected when attempting to list or update your listing.

Listing rules

We use listing rules to control how each listing for a product is configured and then listed in Trade Me. This gives you the ability to customise different pricing and settings for each listing. You can activate and deactivate each listing in Trade Me with the auto-listing checkbox. Turning off the auto-listing checkbox will ensure the listing is not recreated when the current listing either closes or is purchased.

Listing rules allow you to list with different pricing strategies, photos, titles and subtitles etc.

You have the option of creating an ordinary rule for your product or a multi-variant product listing.

When listings exist you can use either of the two links to view the listing live on Trade Me or to view the listing on the Listings screen.

When adding a new rule, some of the fields like pricing may need configuring. The listing Description is defaulted from the Product Description, but can be changed. The category will be defaulted from the category assigned to the last product you viewed, unless a category has previously never been assigned.

Listing rules can be added, duplicated or deleted. Use the Rule Options button to delete or duplicate a listing rule or to also calculate listing fees.

Listing settings

You can rename the listing Rule Name from the default, just ensure each rule name is unique for a product.

The Priority is useful if you have a threshold cap on the total number of active listings and you want to ensure that products which are important are listed first. The default priority is Medium. When there are several products fighting for contention to list next, product’s with the highest priority will be chosen on a random basis, until the threshold cap has been met.

Each listing rule will display the number of active listings for that rule. You can view the listings for just that rule by selecting the link. Just above the listing rule tab(s) is the Trade Me tab, which shows the total number of listings. Selecting the number, will take you to the Listings screen and show all the listings for the product.

You can opt to create a Listing Title up to 80 characters in length which is different from your product name or any other listing rules for the product. Feel free to add a Subtitle. Be aware that Trade Me charge a small fee for subtitles.

It is also possible to flag the product as new every time it is listed by selecting the Brand new checkbox.

You can change a multitude of listing info for your product, just remember to hit that Save button each time.

Profit Calculator

The non-editable view only profit calculator provides a quick snapshot of your profit margins and markups etc.

Tradevine provides this in good faith and with the best of intentions. We cannot fully calculate the following because they are generally unknown until after the product lists or sells:

• A sale price that is different from the buy now affects the success fee.
• Listing fees for some classified categories like motorbikes.
• The Pay Now portion to be applied to the shipping option the buyer selects.
• The HVL fee may or may not be applied depending on whether the listing exceeds your HV count.

Pricing

You can set a Start, Reserve and Buy Now price. It is not mandatory to have a Start or Buy Now price. A reserve price can incur a small fee.

Trade Me has a minimum Start price of 50 cents.

Be aware that when using Buy Now without a Reserve price, the Buy Now will disappear when the first bid is made.

If you opted to sync your Buy Now prices then the pricing on the Product Info tab will be the master and you will not be able to edit the Buy Now price on the rule.

Clearance and Promotions

Only available if you have been authorised by Trade Me to do clearance items. Promotions can only be applied for a maximum of 28 days.

Promotions cannot be applied to auctions. They can be applied to MQL (multi-quantity) listings.

The Mark listing as clearance item checkbox is especially relevant if you are a Stores Extra because listings marked as clearance items will be displayed on the Clearance tab.

The Was price should be the previous price that the product was sold for. It should be higher than the Buy Now price. A Was price can only be applied to listings that are sold in multiple quantities with a buy now only price.

The Promotion code locks in the promotion discount to apply to the listing. Promotion discounts can only be applied to listing rules sold in multiple quantities and with a buy now only. The discount is applied to the buy now price.

Sell in multiple quantities

You can configure your listings to sell in multiple quantities (also known as Multiple Quantity Listings MQL or Buy Now Only BNO) instead of just one item per listing. Trade Me now cater for multiple sales from the same listing, so this means you can allocate your maximum quantity to the listing and buyers can select the quantity to purchase each time from the same listing. When a buyer only purchases a partial amount of the maximum available on the listing, then the allocated quantity on the listing will decrement each time. The listing is closed when either all the stock is sold or the listing reaches its end date.

To configure your listing to sell with more than a quantity of 1, select the Buy Now Only checkbox on the pricing dialogue, which reveals the ‘Maximum Quantity’ dialogue box, where you can allocate the maximum stock allocated:

Trade Me only allow a Buy Now Only price on multiple quantity listings. Plus, if the quantity is greater than 10, Trade Me will only display a max quantity of 10 to the buyer, even though the buyer is able to buy your max quantity. Unfortunately, this means the buyers may have to guess your maximum amount if it is greater than 10. Tradevine has no control over this.

If you track your inventory, then the listing will only be created if the Available to Sell quantity is at least one. If there is only a partial amount of stock available then the listing will be created for the partial amount. If your stock levels change and you have a live listing, then we will recalculate and update the listing quantity to the maximum available quantity.

Any FPOs will offer a maximum quantity of one. This helps to ensure the next listing offers as much allocated stock as possible.

Category, description and details

You can define the category you want to list the product in, by selecting the Select a category link. Alternatively, if a category already exists, then select the change category link.

Use the Choose a Category dialogue to either search out the category or use the browse section to drill through to the category of your choice.

To list the product in multiple categories create another listing rule.

Tradevine does not cater for the following categories:

• Property
• Jobs
• Businesses for sale
• Services

Each Description is currently limited to 2048 characters long. A counter is displayed in the bottom right corner of the description pane and this shows you how many characters to go before you hit the limit. The counter will also take into account any characters used in the global listing footer.

You can also opt to append some global footer text to the product listing description.

Attributes, classifieds and legal notices

Some categories come with attributes that need to be completed before the product can be listed. These attributes will appear when some categories are selected.

Some categories have custom attributes.

You will be able to create your own custom values.

Some categories are auction only, classified only or either. The Create listing as classified checkbox will only appear if the listing can be a classified. It will only be enabled if you have the choice between listing it as an auction or a classified.

Some categories also require a legal notice to be confirmed before a product can be listed.

DVD Catalogue

Any time you opt for the DVD or Blu-ray movie category you will have the option to search for a movie title and auto-complete many of the movie fields. Alternatively, you can manually add the details yourself.

You will need to complete the legal declaration and some of the attribute fields.

Photos

Your existing product images will all be displayed on the Photos panel. Use the Photos tab to upload or delete your product images.

After you have uploaded some photos, you can select the images to use on your Trade Me listing by selecting each images Use checkbox.

The leftmost image will be the main photo that is displayed in Trade Me. You can stop images from appearing in the Trade Me listing by deselecting the Use checkbox.You can change the order sequence that the images are displayed in by dragging and dropping the images into the leftmost sequence you want.

If you are a Top Seller you will have the option to add a YouTube video to your listing. Simply insert the video key code and not the full URL. Eg. v=6rPHrjJ1Hyo  or  6rPHrjJ1Hyo

Selecting an image will display a larger image and some summary information. Selecting an images pencil icon will display the Photo Editor where you can enhance your image.

Selecting the Edit button will gain you access to the Photo Editor.

In Trade Me (for standard listings) the image will be displayed to a maximum width of 672 pixels or a maximum height of 504 pixels, unless your image was already smaller than this. The aspect ratio (shape) of the image will not be changed. Trade Me will also put their kiwi logo watermark in the bottom corner of every image.

We cater for GIF, JPG, JPEG, BMP and PNG image types. In Trade Me PNG and GIF type images will be converted to JPGs. This means that the transparent areas in a PNG or GIF type image will be converted to white. In Tradevine and Shopify the transparent areas will be retained.

We restrict image sizes to a maximum of 10.24Mb. Images greater than 2048 pixels high or wide will be resized with a maximum side of 2048 pixels.

Extras selections

Here you have the option of customising your preferences for how you want to promote the listings for each product. You need to select the Override default settings button to customise the settings specifically for each product.

To set all your products to use the same settings, then just ensure the Override default settings button is set to OFF for each product. This way all your products will use the defaults configured on the Settings > Trade Me Settings screen.

Gallery

In Trade Me your listing will be displayed in a good position in search.

You cannot opt for Gallery and Gallery Plus at the same time.

Gallery Plus

Like Gallery, your listing will be displayed in a good position in search.

The key difference is that you can potentially get up to two free gallery fees for each set of 3 listings, if the item goes unsold each time during the set of three listings.

There are some additional things you should know about Gallery Plus to help you determine whether to use gallery or gallery plus.

You cannot opt for Gallery and Gallery Plus at the same time.

Bold Title

Listings will be displayed with the title in a bold type.

Feature

Listings will be displayed in a better position in search.

Feature combo

The bundle includes the benefits of Feature. Your listing will be highlighted in search results.

Super Feature

Super feature is used in categories where the photos are displayed at the top in a slideshow. Your photos should preferably be of a landscape type format. Square or portrait type photos will be cropped for the slideshow, but displayed in their proper ratios on your actual listing. Super feature includes gallery, bold and feature.

Listing and offer options

You can set the default behaviour for how we list, re-list and make offers for your products. You need to select the Override default settings button to customise the settings for the product.

To set all your products to use the same settings, then just ensure the Override default settings button is set to OFF for each product. This way all your products will use the defaults configured on the Settings > Trade Me Settings screen.

Allow bids from

Either anyone or restrict this to authenticated members.

Listing Duration

Default your listings durations to either:

• Fixed length (For General listings this is 2 to 7 days or 10 days)
• Fixed length with a specific end time
• Specific day of the week with a specific end time

If you opt for a specific end time, we will create the listing within the next five minutes to finish at your specified end time for the nominated duration. 10 day durations with an end time that is more than 15 minutes in the future will encounter an error and will not be listed until the end time falls within the future 15 minute window. The minimum duration when auto-listing is two days, otherwise, the minimum duration for a manual listing is six hours. If you create the listing manually and you set an end time, the duration and end time will be locked down until the listing sells or closes.

End time listings are free for Tradevine users.

Fixed Price Offers

You can opt to automatically make FPOs (Fixed Price Offers) on your sold and unsold listings to anyone who did not win your listing, but either made a bid or became a watcher (Anyone who asks a question will become a watcher). Select the Include watchers checkbox to make offers to the watchers.

Deselecting the Automatically make FPO checkbox allows you to make FPOs manually yourself if you choose, by selecting the FPO button on the Sold Or Unsold tab of the Listings screen.

You can set a standard fixed price offer pricing strategy for each product by using the Cost price, Start price, Reserve price, Buy Now price or the Sell price. You can also opt to add a set percentage markup or markdown, as well as apply a fixed markup/markdown amount. Alternatively, you can simply set the offer price using Use set price.

Providing you have sufficient inventory, we will automatically increase the quantity available on your FPOs to cover all watchers.

Fixed price offers will not be made to anyone on your blacklist. You can also opt to only make offers to members with a desirable feedback rating, as well as only buyers who are address verified.

If you have an active price promotion then the FPO will be made at the promotion discount price. If the promotion expires while the FPO is active, then the FPO will be withdrawn.

Payment and shipping

You can configure your default acceptable payment methods and your default shipping costs and options for your product. You need to select the Override default settings button to customise the settings for the product.

To set all your products to use the same settings, then just ensure the Override default settings button is set to OFF for each product. This way all your products will use the defaults configured on the Settings > Trade Me Settings screen.

If you don’t know the courier costs and your product is under 25Kg and not a super large size then you can opt for the Book a Courier option. The Book a Courier option is a door to door service. The fees will be automatically calculated for you after you provide the weight and dimensions and the fees will be populated on your listing when it is created. Don’t use this option if the product is a restricted shipping item.

Accepted Payment Methods

Nominate the payment methods you are happy to accept. Afterpay requires at least one other payment option to also be selected.

Charity Donations

You can opt to donate a rounded up portion of your success fee to one of the available charities, when your product listing sells. The amount is calculated by taking the difference between your success fee and the rounded up whole dollar value. Eg. if your success fee was $3.67, then the rounded up amount would be $4.00, so $4.00 minus $3.67 would equate to 33 cents being donated to the nominated charity.

Combined Shipping Offer

Specify whether you want to include or exclude the product from the free shipping offer on your shopping cart.

Shipping

Here you can allow or prohibit pick-ups. Plus set your preferred shipping options and the costings.

Shipping templates allow you to create groups of shipping costs and apply these to multiple products. If you have multiple Trade Me accounts, then the shipping templates are also available across all accounts.

You can also specify the shipping costs without the use of a template.

An example of how viewers and buyers will see your shipping and payment options in Trade Me.

How do I update my shipping templates?

With structure shipping data now available in Trade Me and Tradevine – it’s advised to upgrade your Shipping Templates to the new Structure Shipping Format.

Automatic feedback

You can opt to ignore feedback for some of your products.

Disable automatic placing of feedback for this rule

Set this to On if you don’t want to do any automatic feedback for this listing rule. This will allow you to ignore the default feedback policy just for this listing rule.

Automatically ignore feedback for this rule

Set this to On if you don’t want to see feedback on the Requiring Action From You tab of the Feedback screen. In this case the feedback will still be availbale on the All tab (up to 30 days) if you want to see it, but it won’t be included in the Dashboard link – Feedback requiring action.

Checking fees and manually creating listings

We only allow one listing for each product rule, so you will only be able to create a manual listing if the product rule does not currently have an active listing.

You can use the free Calculate fees option which can be found on the Rule Options button, to see how much Trade Me will charge you each time you list the product.

Once you are happy with the configuration of the product listing, you can manually activate the Trade Me listing by selecting the Create Listing Now button. If there is no stock available then a warning prompt will be displayed. It is then your choice if you want to proceed with creating the listing.

Be aware that the listing will close at the same time (different day) you start the listing. If the end time is important to you then set your end time in the Listing options panel before listing the product.

Updating your listings

Trade Me generally only allow a maximum of three updates to each listing. Providing your product has a currently active listing, then each time you make a save to any data on this tab, you will be prompted to update your listing.

You can choose to pass on updating the listing or attempt the update by selecting the Yes – update them button.

Any rejections will be displayed in a yellow warning panel nearer the top of the screen, otherwise the update should have been pushed through to Trade Me. You will not be able to update a listing once the first bid has been made.

We currently don’t update category changes, because of the complexities around tracking categories with products and any changes to fees. You will need to make category changes directly in Trade Me.

Multiple Trade Me accounts

We cater for multiple Trade Me accounts. This is useful if you sell the same (or very similar) products. Alternatively, you could configure some products to list under some accounts and other products to list under the remaining accounts.

After adding any additional accounts, each account will have it’s own sidebar tab on the Trade Me tab of the product, where you can configure the listing rule(s) for each account.

The example above depicts three Trade Me accounts and two Shopify accounts. Each account allows you to configure the specifics of the product for just that account. The Trade Me accounts are identified by the accounts username. The Shopify accounts are identified by the shop name.