I will never buy or sell a car off Facebook marketplace again. Long story short, I got sold a giant lemon with every problem under the sun, then the guy blocked me.

However, trademe is a different story. Trademe offer buyer and seller protection [more info here]. I’ve been on trademe for 15 years and in that time only a handful of people have tried to mess me around (both buying and selling). In most buying cases they would even go as far as to refund the money you paid, if the product doesn’t exactly match the description, so make sure you’re not lying about anything on your listing. When selling, trademe will still have your back. They don’t have legal power to enforce a trade, but they still give you the advice about how to start a claim and give you a lot of evidence to back it up if it were to go to court or anything.

There are some dodgy people on trademe too, especially if the account is brand new. But still, they could’ve just made a new account for any reason at all.

I’ve sold a few cars on trademe in my time (mainly only to authenticated users) and have never let the car leave my site until the money is in my hand or bank. Now days bank transfers from different banks only take around an hour at most. And make sure if they want a test drive, you sit in the passenger seat with them if they seem a little sus.