Former TradeMe bullion trader warned on price fixing

An attempt by online dealer Silver Seller Ltd to fix prices with a competitor has elicited a warning from the Commerce Commission and a ban from TradeMe.

In June and July 2011, Silver Seller and director Jacob Martin allegedly attempted to form an agreement with a competitor to fix prices for bullion sold on Trade Me.

The competitor alerted TradeMe and the commission. TradeMe subsequently banned Silver Seller from trading on its website.

The commission’s investigation uncovered emails from Martin to his competitor suggesting they agree a fixed price for gold and silver bullion sold online. The competitor did not respond to the approach.

The commission has decided to warn rather than prosecute Martin but says it does not rule out stronger enforcement action later.

Price fixing, or even attempting to reach an agreement to fix prices, is illegal under the Commerce Act.

"Price fixing harms competition, downstream businesses and consumers. An attempt to fix prices in any industry or market is viewed seriously by the Commission," said Commerce Commission manager, competition, Ritchie Hutton.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name:
Your email:	Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Anti-spam verification:

Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

Second St John withdrawal of labour takes effect tomorrow with further strikes likely
Sanford Appoints Independent Director
CRP ADVISES CLOSURE OF SHARE OFFER TO EXISTING INVESTOR
Devon Funds Morning Note - 14 August 2024
OCR 5.25% - Monetary restraint tempered as inflation converges on target
Consumers still need due diligence as new deposit takers emerge.
Woolworths strike: staff asked to dress up in Disney costumes for a week on their own dollar
Turners Invests in Quashed Online Insurance Platform
PGW Reports on Challenging Year
Arvida Announces Executive Team Changes