Get rid of old stuff. Get new stuff for free!
Listia is all about helping people be more green by letting them trade things that might otherwise turn into waste.
We should all take a few moments today (and everyday!) to give mother nature a big hug. Go ahead and recycle that empty soda can, turn off lights that aren’t in use and list all your old stuff that’s collecting dust.
You can also check out this great article (with a Listia mention!) that provides more tips on how to smartly donate, dispose of, and recycle your unwanted things:
We’re continuing to spruce up the listing form, and today we’re unveiling a very cool feature that lets you easily reorder your item photos!
Once you’ve uploaded two or more photos, you’ll be able to change their order by simply dragging and dropping them within the ‘Add Photo’ section of the listing form. This makes it particularly convenient for you to pick a main photo after you’ve uploaded all your pictures. The first image spot holds the main photo that appears in search results, and is denoted with a white star. Just drag the picture you want as your main photo all the way to the upper leftmost spot!
Keep in mind that reordering is disabled for old photos once someone bids on your auction, but you’ll know which photos cannot be reordered because a small lock icon will appear on them. However, you’ll still be able to to reorder any new images when you update your listings:
We hope this feature makes your listing life much easier. Let us know what you think in the comments!
Today, we’re announcing a new way to list and find digital items on Listia! In the past, items such as e-books, codes, electronic gift cards, and other digital items that can be delivered electronically (via email) have been mixed in with the physical goods that make up the majority of listings on Listia. This made digital items difficult to find and also made it hard to just browse physical items in certain categories.
To solve these problems, we’re introducing a new delivery method called “digital delivery.” All digital goods from now on should be listed with this delivery method checked to ensure that other users will be able to find your items quickly and easily. Digital goods should no longer be listed with any physical delivery options such as “free shipping” or “local pickup” etc. This listing feature was just released, and the second part of this feature (described below) will be released next week.
On the browsing side, you will be able to filter your results and include or exclude digital goods depending on what you are looking for. So, for example if you are looking for books but don’t want to include e-books, you can simply uncheck the “digital delivery” checkbox and continue browsing. On the other hand, if you are only looking for electronically delivered gift cards, you can check the “digital delivery” checkbox and uncheck the other shipping and local pickup checkboxes. This part is greyed-out currently but will be released next week.
As digital goods become a larger part of our marketplace and online commerce in general, we are committed to providing easy ways to find and discover these types of items when browsing the site. Let us know what you think of the new features and whether you find them helpful in the comments below. Thanks!
The following shipping tips are brought to you by our team of moderators, who have a lot of experience shipping things at a reduced cost, and the tips were collected and summarized by moderator Denise.
Hi Everyone,
Today’s Listia Tip is about how to ship cheaply and securely.
You have several options when it comes to selecting a shipping carrier, and while some may offer overnight and very speedy options in almost every situation the cheapest option will be granddaddy of them all the U.S. Postal Service. Despite what some people say the USPS is quite dependable and is a bargain compared to UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc. What we want to talk about today is how to get the most for your money when shipping your items through the USPS. We will discuss third party companies that you can buy postage through that are not only cheaper than going to your local Post Office, but also more convenient since your mail carrier can pick up your items from your home or office.
The Listia moderators all use and love Paypal’s shipping feature. Most Listians use Paypal to send or receive shipping payments, but did you know that you can buy postage through them as well? You can even use this service for items that were not paid for through Paypal, so you can list items with Free Shipping and still get discounted shipping through Paypal. To get started visit: https://paypal.com/shipnow
Another shipping option that is similar to Paypal’s shipping would be Stamps.com. The two services offer very competitive pricing on shipping, but there are of course pros and cons to each service.
Here is a quick price comparison from different companies, to ship a package that weighs around 4 ounces, like an iPhone case with tracking number.
Again there are several options when it comes to shipping an item, and while some people may prefer to use to ship items the old fashioned way by taking them into the post office. Listia suggests that when you ship items to always get a tracking number, and that just got easier since USPS is currently offering free tracking on every Priority package. One great way to save on shipping is how you buy the shipping materials you use. You can buy shipping labels and bubble mailers from Amazon or eBay for extremely low prices. You can get 200 shipping labels for less than $10! And you can get 200 bubble mailers for $20. That’s way cheaper than if you were to go to Wal-Mart or a Dollar Store, and don’t forget that plenty of great Listians list these items on Listia as well. While the USPS offers flat rate boxes and envelopes most of the time these options will cost more than if you package the item yourself.
Those packaging peanuts and bubble wrap really add up, so why not use items you have around your house to pad your shipments? If you have old newspapers lying around, those are great for stuffing into packages. Or maybe you have some brown paper sacks from your last grocery trip? You can use those as brown wrapping paper! And if possible, always try to reuse old mailers—recycling is good!
I hope these tips help make shipping a little more affordable for you. Thank you for being such great members and for helping Listia continue to grow.
Moderator Denise and the Mod Team
Hi everyone,
We’ve had a blog topic before on Finding the Best Stuff on Listia Faster, and many of you have told us how helpful those tips were. We’re building a new, exciting feature that’ll let you filter your search and browse results even further. Currently, you can filter the auctions you see for ones that have Get It Now or Free Shipping. A new one will be added so that you can exclude auctions that are for items that’ll be delivered digitally, such as ebooks, gift card codes, recipes, DIYs, etc. We’ve heard your requests, so we’re building it. It may become a new check box near the current filters. Yay, it’s coming, it’s coming, and as usual, thanks for all of your suggestions!
Note: Auctions for these types of digital items are not likely to get free credits like Free Shipping provides currently, because there’s no real “shipping” involved by the seller. We think that’s fair…do you agree?
Leave us a comment with your thoughts and have fun listing, bidding, and winning! Thanks!
ListiaTae
Today we’re releasing a snazzy new way to select a category and subcategory when you list your item! You can just try it out or read on for more details.
You’ll notice that the form field looks slightly different. When you click on it you should see something like this:
Once you select your main category you will be prompted to select a subcategory:
One difference is that it is now required to select a subcategory. When your selection is incomplete you will see a “Select…” prompt in red. If you find that a subcategory doesn’t fit for your item you can select the “Other” subcategory. Once you’ve completed your selection it should look something like:
Tada!
We’re gearing up for some category updates soon that will take full advantage of this new UI so stay tuned! Enjoy!
Please join us in welcoming our newest addition to the Listia Staff Team: Quan! He’s here as a developer, to help program our site as we continue to grow. He’ll help implement some site changes to make Listia even better than before.
As a tradition of introducing our new employees, we would like to share interesting facts with you about Quan:
If you’re interested in job opportunities with us, see our postings here: www.listia.com/jobs Now that we have both a Tae and a Quan on the team, all we need now is a Do to get our “Tae Quan Do” badge. =)
Leave a comment here for Quan and please welcome him to the Listia community!
