Listia Stories is a series featuring  you, and all of the Listia community members. Tell us about the friendships you’ve made, or simply why you love Listia. Members whose stories are published here on the blog receive a unique Listia All-Star Badge, 5 Listia stickers which will arrive in the mail & 100 bonus credits deposited into your Listia account. Email your entries to Ilove@listia.com.

I’m So Addicted, by Aaronrothenberg12:

Visit aaronrothenberg12 on Listia

I joined in march of this year and know I am hooked. Its been almost 2 years I have been out of work due to multiple bulging disc in my L4&5 along with blocked nerve ending damage. Listia became a gateway out. I won Birthday presents for my wife and son,  things I couldn’t afford because money has become tight. I’ve made a lot of new friends and even met some in person who lived close by, so I didn’t have to ship!  And [we’ve] had play dates with our kids. Without listia I would fall short on giving out gifts. So far all my wins went to my wife and son except one. I won a fishing lure I look forward to using one day. Thank you listia and all the great listians on this amazing site.

Friends From Around The World, by renaewilliams615:

Visit renaewilliams615 on Listia

I LOVE LISTIA! I have been a member for quite some time, and find myself spending a lot of my day on Listia. Listia has given me the opportunity to get rid of my unwanted items that I would otherwise just toss, and helps me get new items for my son and myself, that I otherwise would not have the money to spend on. I’ve met some Amazing people here from across the globe. It’s definitely the Most Friendly site ever! Thank you Listia for giving me a chance to grab some cool and much needed things 🙂

Home away from home, by TiffanyHunt

Visit TiffanyHunt on Listia

Listia is my home away from home! I’m always checking to see if I have any new bids, or fans. I’m able give away things I no longer want or need and in return get things I want for FREE! It’s an awesome combo! As a single mother of 2 boys times are always tight, i’m able to get them things they need. I’m always telling my friends at work about Listia, they all think i’m crazy until one day I walked in the door with my brand new Coach purse! They asked ‘where did you get that’? One word…LISTIA, and I didn’t pay a dime! I have been lucky enough to make some awesome friends along my journey, and look forward to making even more! Thank you Listia for making this such a fun site…I’m addicted, what more can I say?

I Am A Jewelry Artist, by Juniebug1

Visit juniebug1 on Listia

Listia made it possible for me to discover that I had a knack for making jewelry. One day I was looking through fb and saw the Listia logo. I logged on, received a bunch of credits right away and started shopping. My mom gave me a bunch of jewelry to list and I became hooked.  I noticed that some of her jewelry needed to be fixed so I took it apart and made other jewelry out of the old. I didn’t even know I could do that! Ever since then I’ve met marvelous , wonderful people her whom have become actual friends , I enjoy showing off my creations and I’m very addicted to the auction aspect it’s very fun. Thank you Listia and all my Listia friends.

Over the next few weeks, Listia members* will notice a new look to the Credit Activity page. Now, you will be able to view all of your activity on a simple transaction sheet, making it clear how many credits are available to you for bidding, versus credits that are tied up in bids, or simply pending.

As a result of this change, the green number in the upper right hand corner reflects the number of credits available for bidding, but not the total number of credits in your account.

Credit Balance: Total number of Listia credits in your account
Pending: Credits you will receive after the winner receives their item
Current Bids: Credits that are temporarily in use as with winning bids. When you bid on an item, if you have the winning bid, those credits are temporarily held while you have the winning bid.
Credits Available: Credits you can use to bid right now

When you bid on an item, if you have the winning bid, those credits are temporarily held while you have the winning bid. Now, it will be easier for you to distinguish how many credits you actually have available to use for bids while the other credits are tied up in other auctions. As always, if you lose the auction or are outbid, you will notice the return of your pending credits into your available credits.

We’re really excited to bring this improvement to all of you, and are eager to hear your thoughts. If you don’t see it yet, don’t worry. This feature is rolling out to all Listia members over the next 2 weeks.

Do you have the new Credit Activity & Transaction Sheet? What do you think about It?

*If you are a new member, you already have this view and will not notice any changes. Questions? Our Support Team will help.

Each week we bring you stories from Listia members about all of your experiences and the friendships you’ve made. Members whose stories are published here on the blog receive a unique Listia All-Star Badge, 5 Listia stickers which will arrive in the mail & 100 bonus credits deposited into your Listia account. Email your entries to Ilove@listia.com

Visit usmithbiz on Listia

This has been a tough 2 years for me. I lost 3 family members on separate occasions, broke my left big toe (my most favored foot), almost lost my only son, ran into financial difficulties and fell into a depression. My broken toe further limited my mobility from what it already was with my chronic, severe arthritis of the knees. I live alone in a high rise for the elderly. I found myself spending hours in my bed, bored to tears and mourning my lost family members. I could not afford to order online movies and I don’t own a television. Occasionally, I would peruse Facebook in an attempt to alleviate the boredom. That, at times, seemed only to add to my emotional stress. Anyone who does Facebook knows what I mean. However, one day this past June, I spotted an ad on Facebook that read, “Listia – Auctions for Free Stuff”. Free stuff?! That got my attention and I decided to look into it. I have tried other auction sites and didn’t find them to be of much interest: I couldn’t afford most of the items on them and what I could afford, I did not want. The Listia website was user friendly and I immediately found items that I could use. I won the second auction that I bidded on and fell in love! This is really FREE STUFF! Well, then a thought occurred to me. I wanted to show my living family members that, although I may not stay in touch as much as I would like, I do think of them often and love them dearly. Listia could make it possible for me to get thoughtful gifts to send to them: something tangible to show how much they mean to me. My tight budget, impaired mobility and long distance from them no longer had to be a hindrance. With Listia, I can get beautiful stuff to send to them that they can hold on to — not just paper cards that tend to get thrown away. I have now begun bidding on items for friends also. This has helped me to recover from my mourning and focus on the living. Lying in bed is so much more exciting now. I’m hooked on Listia and I have been telling everyone about this great find. Keep up the great work, Listia. I love being a part of the Listia online family.

 

Visit cshakely on Listia

It was a typical cold day in October and I was suffering from cabin fever, being cooped up in the house for a weeks at a time because its too cold to go anywhere. So one morning, I got on my computer and decided to check facebook, and this woman I did not know sent me a invite to a site called Listia. At first I took a glance, and was sort of  apathetic towards joining, not knowing that it would be the beginning of a beautiful and interesting relationship 🙂 I started out like everyone does at first, getting my feet wet and living and learning what to do and not to do. I have met some great friends on here,who I see in outside of Listia at times. There is so much Listia has  to offer, and I love to look into all categories when shopping. It is hard just to browse, you always catch your eye on something spectacular or useful.  I just received a glittery red long formal gown that looks like you could wear it on the red carpet at the Academy Awards-and it was free! Listia is a amazing marketplace, and you can learn so many techniques on being a good seller /buyer that can help you in real life as well. I have improved my life, and found my passion in life with Listia…so thank you for all you do and I look forward to logging in and seeing what is hot on the auction block!

 

Visit organicgrandmadi on Listia

I joined Listia to get rid of the clutter that seemed to develop a life of its own. My husband said he hoped to live to see the day when our house would look the way it used to, with a place for everything and everything in its place! As we are both disabled due to exposure to a toxin, I secretly doubted it. My goal was to get enough credits to get Amazon cards so I could get a commercial first aid kit for our kids’ new business–still saving. What I got that was totally unexpected–whole network of supportive friends! I am daily amazed at the caliber of caring & kindness that abound here! I have to include the Listia help desk who patiently and fairly provide support to all of our millions of questions. I’ve developed a whole new circle of friends–besides the opportunity to give our “clutter” to people who can use and work toward my own goal even when I am stuck in bed or a wheelchair. It’s great to feel useful again!

 

Visit blindman0208 on Listia

My name is Jason and I am 100% blind due to trying to help a female that was getting beat by 3 males and I tried to stop them and I was jumped by all 3 guys. They ended up breaking my jaw and my nose and I ended up taking a bullet to the head which left me blind. Since then it has been really hard to find ways of getting stuff I need and want and to find new friends. But thank GOD for a program called JAWS which is a screen reader that reads to me what’s on the screen and a great site full of awesome people. Now thanks to Listia I can get garden seeds to plant for food, I can get home and kitchen supply, I can get phone accessory stuff for my computer, stuff for my kids which is really important to me and so so much more stuff and it is all free. That helps a lot since I am now blind and disabled. And Listia works really well with my JAWS program and my voice over on my  iPhone. I can not state how thankful I am that I found this site and gave it a try now I spend most of my time on here looking thru all the great auctions and starting up conversations with people and I have met and made so many new friends because of LISTIA. I spend hours telling my other friends about the site and suggest to them to give it a try that they would fall in love with it. And I just wanted everyone to know how much impact Listia has had on my life in such a short period of time.

 

Visit WendyE1 on Listia

I LOVE jewelry. I’m an entertainer who wears brightly colored clothes onstage, and I always want my jewelry to match. Needless to say, this can get pretty expensive! Well, discovering Listia has saved the day because there is sooo much jewelry available on Listia. It’s so much fun scrolling through all the auctions! I create a list of items I like and then watch the bidding for each one as it progresses. I’ve won dozens of pieces of beautiful jewelry! To earn credits, I round up unused things lying around my house and put them up for auction. It’s rewarding knowing my unused items are going to people who really want them. I enjoy being part of a large community of like-minded people who want to swap their stuff….it saves us a ton of money, and of course, it’s also great for the environment. So thanks for your awesome website, Listia…..you’re the best!