There are no absolutely no fees for registering, buying or selling on this website.

Our only means of revenue is through advertising sponsors. 10% of profits from the three advertising windows on the right of both the Classified and Auction screens will go towards regional and nationwide charities.

We believe on line trading should be completely free to the end user to help empower the business user to stimulate the New Zealand economy by allowing truly Free Trade. It is hoped that advertising will cover most of the costs we incur.

TradeFree has no responsibility or liability whatsoever for any damages caused to the seller or purchaser through out the selling / auction process but we have listed safe practices below which you should practice with any trade whether using this site or any other. In conjunction with our Member Rating and other security devices, we aim to have as much safety as with any other auction or trading site.

TradeFree has no responsibility or liability whatsoever for any illegal activities that occur on this site and again but will share any information with legal authorities that may lead to the prosecution of law breakers.

TradeFree will make our best effort to ensure that no illegal activities occur on our site and will put as many security processes in place as is viable. However if any illegal activities occur we cannot be held accountable. In such a case the police will have our full cooperation.

In the event of the suspected sale of illegal goods, we may share any information on this web site with the police or any other authority as we feel fit. We of course do not condone any highly unethical or illegal activities on this site and will do our utmost to combat any such activities.

As with all online services like this, all IP addresses and times are logged which allow us to track the usage of computers and users and in the event of a Police enquiry the location of computer devices using this site. Shill bidding (bidding on your own items) will also be exposed by this method and by other similar methods.

We kindly ask you for your judgment and cooperation to make this a safe and fair free-to-use service for all New Zealanders.

All sales and purchases must be arranged within 3 days of the auction / sale date.

Your contact details are shared with any other party you sell to or buy from.

If you win an auction or the buy now feature is used, you are obligated to complete the trade. Repeated failure to complete trades may in your account being suspended unless the you have a valid reason such as the seller being untruthful about the description of an item.

If you bid and win, you must contact the person within 6 days. If you plan to be away at the time of your Auction close, then simply ask the seller to remove your bid OR notify bidders of your absence using the "Comment" feature.

You should pay the seller within 6 days of the auction unless prior arrangement is made with the seller to pay later than 6 days. This keeps trades tidy and makes it easier to keep track of trades for traders who sell or purchase many listings.

When bidding, only ever bid an amount which you are happy to pay for the goods, be wary of getting caught up in the moment in a bidding battle against another Member prompting you to bid an amount that is above which you want to pay. In this case, if you do overbid, please tell the seller so you don't waste other members' time and potentially cause a dispute.

Place feedback promptly once you have received your goods. Before this action, you should have already received your feedback from the seller.

Have a very good reason before placing bad feedback as we may ask you to justify your comments in the event that you may potentially defame someone's character. Try to work things out first with the seller, usually they will rectify any problems rather than receive bad feedback.

It is the place of the seller to place feedback fist as their expectations have been completed once the buyer has paid.

Read Listing Properly before placing a bid, don't just read the heading or the first line. Your inability to read properly is not grounds for placing bad feedback.

Again, all we really ask is to be as fair as you possibly can and try not to make rash decisions which may have a negative outcome for both parties concerned.

Sellers must only sell if you are the legal owner of the item. This also means that the sale of stolen items or ill gotten goods is prohibited and is of course against the law.

Sellers must be fully honest and open in their description and list any faults with an item.

PLACE FEEDBACK ONCE YOU RECEIVE THE MONEY, THAT MEANS YOU PLACE FEEDBACK FIRST IF YOU ARE THE SELLER.

You have to take precautions to ensure your financial safety when trading so it is important to act smart.

In saying that, the same risks can exist for people who use any trading site so...

Some things you can do to ensure a secure sale or purchase is:

• Don't send money to a buyer until you ensure you have a home phone and address of the person you are buying from, especially if they have little or no feedback to judge them on.
• Don't send something until you see the money in you account. That means cleared, though it may be acceptable for you to accept a bank Draft, bank guaranteed cheque or postal orders which can generally be trusted as if they were cash. Nevertheless, this still has a small degree of risk which should be understood.
• Get the other party's home address and phone number, this way you have some ammunition to take that person to the small claims court or disputes tribunal should the deal turn sour.
• Send the Seller a non-negotiable cheque made out to their name, that way you attempt to doubly insure that their name and address is genuine which is a big help for the small claims court to summons the seller if they end up being a rogue trader.
• Do not place feedback until you receive the item, no matter how many feedback points the buyer has, it is only a guidance to determine whether you should deal with them at all.

In the near future we will also offer a free Escrow service. This will allow you to pay the money for any item to the Escrow service. The money will be held in Escrow until the buyer confirms receipt of the goods. At this point the money will be released to the seller.

• Who places feedback first? ... The seller.
• Why? … Because the buyer completes their obligations first.
• When do I send the goods to the seller? When you are satisfied that payment is forthcoming from a well known reputable source, or you have received the payment.
• The seller must place feedback upon receipt of money. This means you do not wait for the buyer to place feedback before you place yours but rather each party should receive feedback upon their end of the deal being fulfilled. I.E. Once seller has received payment, the buyer has completed their obligations. Once buyer has received & checked goods are in condition as advertised, the seller has completed their obligations.
• A seller would only have cause to place bad feedback if the buyer did not pay or pulled out of the sale with no good reason. This could be the only possible reason
• A buyer may have to justify any bad feedback if a seller feels it has been placed unjustly. The buyer should only have reason to do this if the goods do not arrive, or arrive in a bad condition or anything contrary to what was advertised. Even then, the seller should be given the chance to rectify their failings rather than bad feedback being placed.

If either party chooses Neutral or Sale Did Not Eventuate, the other party will only have this option and Good/bad feedback options will not appear or allowed to be used for wither buyer or seller.

As your details are exchanged with the reciprocal party at the completion of an auction, you are able and we strongly suggest you should check the legitimacy of such details especially before sending large amounts of money.

If you are unhappy with the reciprocal exchange of your name, address and email address, you have two options

• List a P.O Box as your address, which has to be legitimate, exist, and be yours so that it can be used to summons you to court should you act illegally.
• Don't use TradeFree

It should be noted that as your user name is an alias, it would be near impossible for someone to track you down based on that alias simply to obtain your details.

However, we understand people selling valuable items such as jewellery may want to use a P.O.Box or valid alternative address on their account so as not to expose the location of valuable goods. This is acceptable as we understand it may be a safeguard in some circumstances.

Hard-talk forum is a tool designed to give you freedom of speech. Remember that you are responsible for anything you write, so you must make sure you keep within the law as it is wholly your responsibility to do so. Please note:

If you are offended by anything you read which is not illegal or ethically sick in nature, you should immediately log out of the forum and refrain from using it in future.

If you are offended by anything you read which you think may be illegal or ethically sick in nature, please report it to us so that we may take action.

Racist comments against any race will be removed. Sexist slurs against men or women will be removed.

Their may be some situations where we seemingly legal or seemingly inoffensive threads or comments are removed in accordance with the law. Please understand if this happens that it is done to preserve this place of free speech. In this situation however, the opposing debate will also be removed by us if we feel the law is unfair or biased towards one race, sex or social demographic.

Please limit the use of text talk such as "gr8", "enuf" and all other short text talk.

Other users have the ability to tag your comments or threads as "Illegal","Boring", "Petty" or "Highly Offensive/Racist/Sexist". In such cases, especially multiple tags your comments or threads may be removed and in extreme cases your account removed (but highly unlikely).

TradeFree provides the Hard-Talk web forum for the use of our members and is not responsible for any of the opinions expressed.

By agreeing to our terms and conditions you agree to take full legal responsibility and indemnify us against any liability which we may incur to a third party arising out of your use of the Hard-Talk forum.

By agreeing to these terms and conditions you:

• accept that you are personally responsible for your actions and relinquish TradeFree of any liability
• accept that you are personally responsible to make yourself aware of any New Zealand laws relating to the purchase and sale of goods and the expression of opinions on Hard-Talk forum
• accept that you are personally responsible to make yourself aware of any New Zealand laws relating to the posting of information, comments, feedback and questions in relation to auctions, listing and hard-talk forum
• accept that you will act legally & ethically with the purchase and sale of goods
• accept that you will act legally & ethically with the posting of information, comments or question in relation to auctions, listing and hard-talk forum
• accept that you must be 18 years or over to be permitted to use this site
• accept that you must not let other people use your account
• accept that you are responsible for any activity stemming from your account
• accept that we reserve the right to remove your account
• accept that you may not use this account to advertise unless it relates to the sale of an item. Multiple listings of the same classified/advertising spam will not be favoured and may result in suspension.
• accept that you must prove that you had just cause to place any negative feedback on another user and that any bad feedback has been preceded with adequate negotiations to rectify any differences as negative feedback should be the last option
• accept that if you are selling an automobile and there is a dispute as to it's advertised condition which results in the buyer backing out, you must be willing to take the car to a specialist to prove that what you advertised was a true and fully honest description of the automobile otherwise you have no-right to leave bad feedback or force the sale
• accept that if you buy an automobile then back out of the sale, any report from a reputable specialist which states the car was advertised truthfully and accurately, you are obligated to complete the trade
• accept that negative feedback should not be used as a bargaining tool or merely as a ransom or tool to make threats
• accept that these terms and conditions may change and that any such change you do not accept makes you responsible to refrain from using TradeFree, Classified and the forum.
• That you are responsible to ensure you re-read these terms and conditions should amendments or updates be made
• accept that unlike with other traders, you will not be profited from by us in any way whatsoever no matter how many items you or your business plan to sell

These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of New Zealand.

Access to this web site may be terminated at any time by us without notice.

If you are unsure of whether or not you are legally allowed to list an item please contact a legal advisor or consult books of New Zealand law.

WHEN YOU TICK THE CHECK BOX AT THE TRADEFREE REGISTRATION PAGE YOU ARE GIVING CONFIRMATION THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD AND AGREE TO ALL OF THE ABOVE GUIDELINES, TERMS & CONDITIONS. YOU ARE ALSO AGREEING TO IMDEMNIFY TRADEFREE OF ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE TO YOU, YOUR' PERSON, YOUR' REPUTATION OR YOUR' NAME.

PLEASE NOTE THAT NONE OF YOUR INFORMATION WILL BE SHARED WITH A THIRD PARTY EXCEPT IN AN EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCE THAT YOU HAVE BEEN CONDUCTING ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES THROUGH THE TRADEFREE, CLASSIFIED OR HARD TALK WEB FORUM SERVICES. IN SUCH AN EVENT YOUR INFORMATION WOULD ONLY BE HANDED TO AUTHORITIES IF THEY PROVIDE A WARRANT TO OBTAIN THOSE, AND ONLY THOSE SPECIFIC AND RELEVANT RECORDS.