There are many ways to get your auctions to generate more bids and potentially get more credits for your items. Because some of them may take some trial and error to learn, we wanted to help everyone by sharing some of the tips we use ourselves. So here are the top 10 tips that work best for us:
10) Always include lots of CLEAR photos. Blurry ones are a big turn-off. Studies have shown that lots of pictures in auctions are worth a bazillion words. Take pictures from various angles, in good light, showing relative size, etc, and again, never include blurry photos.
9) Give LOTS of info about your product. Also, take advantage of Listia’s ability to add Updates to your Description, should you forget to mention something or end up getting lots of the same question.
8) If you live in a smoke or pet-free household, let it be known. Some people really care about that. My favorite from this week is from one of our user’s auction: “Items come from a smoke free home….I have cats….they don’t smoke either!” Hahahaha!
7) Make sure your Seller’s reputation score is high. Your online reputation is worth everything and will instill confidence in the bidders who are interested.
6) Be extra clear with your shipping options. Ambiguity is your enemy when it comes to having successful auctions.
5) Unless absolutely necessary, try not to “hide” any comments. Bidders will trust you more from your transparency. Besides, any bidder can simply click and see what a seller hid.
4) Try to time your auction to start and end during a reasonable day/time when there are more Listians bidding–that’ll usually lead to higher credits. Don’t have your auction end at 10am east coast time on a weekday, since that would only be 7am on the west coast, and many potential buyers are either rushing off to work or still sleeping. Remember that Listia does allow you to schedule your auctions if that’d be more convenient for you. Start times (thus end times) can be set while creating the auction, under the “Show Advanced Options.” (Requires Listia Perks: http://www.listia.com/account/perks) Click this thumbnail to see exactly where.
3) Try setting your auction as a Premium Auction so that its title is bold in the search results, gets a special icon next to it, and it will get special placement in both the search results and auction pages. The cost varies, depending on the then-current market demand, but it’s usually a good investment. I almost always do mine as Premium with great results. Details can be found here.
2) Offer Free Shipping because you’ll get more bids and better placement in the search results. And you’ll make up the cost with the extra credits you’ll earn.
1) Communicate, communicate, and communicate often with those who are watching, fanning, or commenting. Nothing else gives bidders more “warm n fuzzies” than a seller who’s friendly, helpful, genuine, addressing concerns, and commenting back quickly. Did I mention that sellers should communicate often? 
I hope these tips help you get more out of your auctions.
Do you have any seller tips of your own that you’ve found to work well for you? Leave us a reply below.
Have a suggestion for a future topic? Tell us here too.
Coming in the next Newsletter: Shortcuts to blaze through Listia, faster than a lightning bolt!
GO LISTIA I LOVE THIS SITE I SPEND ALL NIGHT AND DAY ON HERE HAVING A GREAT TIME AND MAKING NEW FRIENDS..AND YES SOMETIMES A WAKDDOO NO IT ALL…IVE HAV WON SOME AMAZING ITEMS ASWELL HAVE GAVE SOME NICE ONES AWAY..
THANKS YOUR FAN
BIG RON
Hi Big Ron,
It’s always great to read about someone having a blast on Listia! May you win some more great things!
ListiaTae
I don’t see the start day and times in the advanced icon when i list an item???
Hi Sarah, while creating an auction, look for “Show advanced options” near the bottom. When you click it, it’ll display additional capabilities, including one for setting the auction’s start date/time.
Try clicking the thumbnail above in the body of the article for a screen shot of where that’s located.
Have fun!
Ooops: in order to add this capability, one must have a Listia Perk. Details are here: http://www.listia.com/account/perks Sorry for the confusion, but it’s still a great way to time your auction’s end time.
do u get ur credits back if u loose
Hi Andrew,
Yes, the credits used to bid are returned to the account when the auction is over, should you not be the winner (highest bidder). So there’s no reason to not bid and try to win! Good luck.
Sarah Gordon,
I also never see the start day’s and time either!! I would also like to know why it doesn’t show up?
Hearts2412
Hi Sarah,
That feature requires a Listia Perk. More details can be found here: http://www.listia.com/account/perks) Sorry for the confusion.
One statement is not entirely accurate— 5) Unless absolutely necessary, try not to “hide” any comments. Bidders will trust you more from your transparency. . . .
Besides, any bidder can simply click and see what you hid.
This is not a viable option any longer— people cannot click on hidden comments.
I used to think I was the only one on the internet half the night, but now I find so many Listians bidding while I am: 2am or 5am dianaclarke
“2) Offer Free Shipping because you’ll get more bids and better placement in the search results. And you’ll make up the cost with the extra credits you’ll earn.” — I have to slightly disagree with this statement because credits have no monetary value in the real world, thus you’re not making up shipping costs in any way, shape or form by gaining more of them (not until the Postal Service begins accepting Listia Credits for payment, and I doubt very much THAT will ever happen LOL).
ya and never send cash like i did the seller seems to think they can lie keep your shipping money and resale the item agaqin or a third time like warrenharper did to me you cant trust alot of people that sucks
Hi Aaron,
If that were to happen, you’re still protected if you file a Dispute on the site. That’ll allow the admins to review the case and make a ruling in favor of the innocent party. And it’s usually a risky thing to send cash to anyone, regardless of which site you’re on. So it’s a good idea to use the site’s process and procedures, in order to get maximum protection (just in case something in the transaction goes sideways).
Could you add a search on our messages & closed auctions? If you’ve been on listia a while and trying to find a message, or item you have sold or won, it takes forever. I will be so much easier to just type a word that’s in the title or description similar to if I was searching for an item to bid on.
Thanks!
QueenV
Request noted, thanks for the suggestion!
Free shipping is a good thing, and I do on some auction then only charge half shipping on other items. It does get expensive.
I enjoy being able to list and bid on this awesome site. I have made friends ummmmmm and 1 enemy
Thanks LISTIA
Glad you’re having fun Joni! That’s what it’s all about!
I absolutely love your site!! I have won lots of awesome stuff, and met some really great friends. Even a friend that ended up being a Best Friend. Won a raffle, this was my first raffle I have ever won in my life, and I love it! What a wonderful site you have here! It’s also taught me that there are many wonderful people still out there, and also some crazies. But I have had blast,and will continue to be one of your many fans. God Bless!
Glad to hear Amanda that you won your first raffle on Listia! I for one have never won a raffle or lottery. The odds are so much better on Listia’s raffles! =)
Love Listia! However yesterday my credits went into the negative and now everything else on my account is messed up. All my auctions went to pending status, credits in 10 days. Can’t leave feedback for anything that ended from yesterday or today so far. I have items ending that I have been waiting to bid on and Listia admin won’t respond to my support ticket in a decent amount of time ( last time it was 5 days). A LOT happens on here in 5 days! I’m missing my watched auctions that are ending today
1626 feedback with 100%, seller wings and trusted seller. Very Disappointed right now!
Hi Jacque,
Sorry to hear about that. There must be a good reason that happened, so can you please open up a support ticket so that your username is included for investigation? I know the tickets response times is now within ONE business day currently (usually same day in fact). The admins have been working really hard to improve our response times, so we should be able to get back to you really fast now.
Thanks!
Jacque,
Hun, your not alone, i’ve put in 2 or 3 support tickets (see, I can’t even remember, it’s been that long!!! My last support ticket, I put it in over a week ago and have heard nothing, as well as the others before that one. It’s really a waste of my time, if they aren’t going to reply on them. It’s VERY FRUSTRATING!!!
Hearts2412
Hi Mona,
That’s really strange that you didn’t get a reply because the support team has been really on the ball….all tickets are currently getting responded to within 1 business day, so you should have gotten responses by now. Please post your ticket numbers here and I’ll personally look into them for you. Thanks and sorry for the inconvenience.
Hi again Mona,
I was able to dig around and find your account and see that your most recent ticket (#173643) was opened on July 17th and responded to on the 18th. But that’s all I can see other than another one back in May. So I look forward to getting your other ticket numbers here so that we can investigate what might have happened.
We take the quality of our support very seriously, so we want to make sure that nobody’s ticket gets lost. Thanks in advance for your help in ensuring that this doesn’t happen again.
the support ticket feature is really a false sense of security I too have waited many days for a reply to support ticket what’s the point in fooling the people here why do you have this feature if it useless,and rude?
cool
I have an important Q. My Listia credits went to -436(negative) Idk why it is doing that. i am brand new to the website, and don;t want to screw anything up
How would I go about finding one of the sponsors. I would like to purchase something and would like to do it thru the Listia link and possible earn credits while I am at it.
hello im not sure if this is the right place i go to to complane about a seller who dose not reply aon his item i won and STILL have not got it its been 4 days now i won SMALL PAIR OF BINOCLARS and i want my credits back for failer to deliver and respond to my messages
Hi Bryon,
Please request a refund using the link on the auction itself. That’ll start the refund process since you didn’t get the item. Thanks!