Trader not honest on Trade Me

The Commerce Commission has, for the first time, prosecuted a man for failing to disclose himself as a professional trader on Trade Me.

Bilal Shurab was fined $5000 in the Palmerston North District Court on Tuesday for failing to disclose his trader status when selling items online, and for selling an unsafe cot.

He had a job, but supplemented his income by selling mainly secondhand household items on Trade Me.

Although people do not have to list themselves as a trader if they are selling the odd item, Shurab made more than 1300 Trade Me listings between November 2016 and April 2017.

The commission’s consumer and competition general manager Antonia Horricks said Shurab was running a business over Trade Me, so his customers would have been covered by the Consumer Guarantees Act when buying from him.

But failing to list as a trader meant other traders probably thought they were not covered, she said.

‘‘This case is a warning to those who sell on online marketplaces that they must comply with product safety requirements, and if they are prolific sellers they must alert prospective customers that they are selling ‘in trade’.’’

Two of the three charges Shurab faced involved selling an unsafe cot.

The commission was alerted to safety problems about a cot he listed on Trade Me in March last year and the company removed the listing.

He argued it was a bassinet, and did not need to comply to with certain safety requirements, but the commission disagreed and gave him advice on what to do. He relisted the cot within a few days as a bassinet and the commission bought it.

It was tested and found it didn’t comply with the requirements because faults made it possible for a child to climb out, become smothered or be strangled.