From murky photos to snapping rusty taps and random clutter, hopeful home vendors face plenty of pitfalls when capturing images to display in real estate listings.

New figures out today show those renting in Christchurch were paying nearly $40 more than Auckland renters in the last three months of last year.

It's shaping up to be an outdoor Christmas for many Kiwis, a list of most searched for items on popular auction site Trade Me suggests.

A house allegedly used for making methamphetamine has had "phenomenal'' interest from potential buyers, the agent marketing it says.

Prospective buyers looking for a unique property in Auckland have been offered the chance to buy a house allegedly used to for manufacturing methamphetamine.

People trying to sell their homes may have to fork out an extra $230 to have the property listed on Trade Me - on top of fees they already pay.

A dealer who advertised a car on Trade Me as having an MP3 input, parking sensors and reversing camera has been reprimanded after the car turned out to have none of these features.

An Auckland car dealership has been rapped over the knuckles and ordered to pay compensation for trimming a year off the age of a car it sold through Trade Me.

Trade Me, New Zealand's largest online auction site, posted slower profit growth for 2013 and warned earnings growth would remain tepid in the coming year.

I've always found the language of Trade Me a little disingenuous. For instance, instead of 'buying stuff' you 'win auctions', writes David Chaplin.

Have you ever bid "too much" for something on Trade Me? You're not alone.

The director of an online car dealing company which placed thousands of bids on its own auctions didn't know the behaviour was illegal, his lawyer says.

Online sellers are paying an extra $39 to have their listings feature for just a couple of hours on the Trade Me homepage. And some of them say the way the "homepage feature" option is described when a new listing is loaded is misleading.

Property hunters who thought they'd found their dream home on TradeMe were disappointed to discover the listing wasn't meant to be there.

New Zealand business feeling daunted by emerging technologies need look no further than the example of TradeMe, says a world-renowned expert in e-commerce.

Trade Me is New Zealand's biggest "retailer". And a staggering 40 per cent of all items sold are new.