KEY POINTS:
TradeMe is blocking the sale of Apple iPhones, it says, to stop fraudulent auctions.
There is not yet an official on-sale date on the highly-desirable phone, despite numerous private imports.
Hackers have enabled the iPhone, which on release is 'tied' to a specific network, to work on various GSM networks.
It went on sale in the United States on June 29, and Apple has just struck a deal in the United Kingdom which will see it launch on the Spanish-owned 02 network on November 9.
But TradeMe spokesman Dean Winter said TradeMe will not list any auctions - even if sellers can prove they have product - until the phone is released here.
"This is a policy decision based around high fraud risk," he told nzherald.co.nz, "it was leading up to the release of the Xbox 360 that the problem first came to light."
He said a number of auctions - where sellers did not even have the games console - were faked. A similar policy was therefore adopted before the release of Sony's PlayStation3.
"It is very difficult, if we know that a product is not available in New Zealand, to know if they're legitimate it or not."
Winter noted that placing a blanket ban on the product meant it was easier for the website to manage than by asking sellers to prove that they actually had the iPhone.
Apple spokesperson Fiona Martin said the company had not asked any auction sites to block sales of early imported iPhones.
TradeMe competitor www.sellmefree.co.nz, however, is not prepared to deny New Zealanders the chance to get their hands on the hot gadget, and are authenticating each auction individually, says GM Josh Bortwick.
"We've taken a slightly different tack," he explains, "and we're contacting everyone who is selling an iPhone and confirming that they have actually bought them. We are very reluctant to say an outright no to iPhone when there's such a huge demand.
"There are a lot of people wanting to use this technology, and we don't really think that it's fair to make New Zealanders wait for another year or two before they can."
James Tarquin, an American living in Wellington, had two iPhones that he had imported from the United States, and was thoroughly disappointed when TradeMe pulled the pin on an auction for one of them.
"I think its unfair that people here are going to have to wait for so long to use the iPhone," he said "that's a bummer."
His frustration with TradeMe has solved the problem though after talking to friends about the blocked auction, he's got a dozen people vying for his spare iPhone. The other, of course, he will be keeping for himself.
Tarquin regularly visits America and brings back gadgets that Kiwi tech-heads are forced to wait for.
"The availability of cutting edge toys down here is often a long way behind, and that can be very frustrating for New Zealanders."
