During these unprecedented times as COVID-19 continues to affect communities and day-to-day life across the world we would like to highlight a few of the features on Listia and some tips to ensure buyer and seller transactions continue to run smoothly. This is also the perfect time to do some decluttering in your home!

Carriers and shipping companies are considered an essential service right now and there has been minimal disruption to date. Most carriers will have slight variations on their signature required processes but otherwise, most, if not all, are open as usual.

Very Important:

If you need to visit the site of a carrier to drop off packages, we ask that you adhere to social distancing guidelines and follow the advice of staff there. It’s advised to wear a mask when going into a store and many employees appreciate that. In order to limit the time spent outside your home please remember to reuse supplies, such as boxes or bubble wrap, received from any other packages you get delivered to your home, and pack your item before you head to the store. Also, it’s quick and easy to buy and print a shipping label at home through Listia.

After your item is packaged and ready to ship don’t forget you can schedule a Free USPS pick up for the following services:

• Priority Mail (including flat rate packages)
• First Class Package
• Returns
• First Class Package International
• Priority Mail International
• Priority Mail Express

Alternatively, if you happen to see your neighborhood post office delivery driver they will often take your package for you. Be sure to thank them for their service!

Like many of you, we’re adapting to new ways of working but we’re still here to help. If you do have an issue, we encourage you to search our support pages and visit our Blog for up-to-date information on Listia. If you can’t find what you need, please do not hesitate to send in a Support Ticket!

So much continues to change during COVID-19 and we’re committed to help buyers and sellers navigate the uncertainty. Please stay safe!

Today, we’d like to announce a few changes related to Listia listings that will be coming soon! First, a quick update on the release of Points and Props. We’re still working hard on finishing up the final touches and we’re working with the Props team on a good time to launch. We thank you for your patience and we know you’re excited to see what we’ve built! We’re very excited too, but just hang tight a little longer!

Some other changes we are making to the marketplace in an effort to fuel a balanced experience for both sellers and buyers are described below. We’ll be slowly rolling these features out over the next few weeks and our current users will have a short grace period to get accustomed to these changes. Don’t worry, if you violate these new rules, we’ll remind you through your listings or direct message.

Let us know if you have any feedback on the changes! We’d love to hear what you think!

Shipping items with tracking

Moving forward, we will not be able to refund a seller if a tracking number is not used and the buyer does not receive their package.

Sellers are strongly encouraged to ship all items with tracking and it is the seller’s responsibility to successfully deliver items to their buyers. Moving forward if there are transaction disputes, we will be looking to see that the seller did their best to successfully deliver their items to the buyer, including adding a tracking number. Tracking has a number of benefits for both sellers and buyers:

• Sellers are protected against buyers that may falsely claim that they did not receive their items
• If an item is not delivered, the seller can contact the shipping carrier and potentially file a claim. The tracking number will also help the shipping carrier track down the package.
• Buyers know when they’ll be getting their package so they can watch for their delivery
• Buyers will be more confident buying your items if tracking is used

We understand adding a tracking number increases shipping costs which is why we are not making it a requirement. We are still giving sellers the choice to use tracking or not, but it is a risk that each seller has to evaluate for each item they ship. If you are a seller that ships with tracking, be sure to add it in your listing description because your buyers will appreciate it!

Shipping payments

For items where the seller requires a shipping payment, we are no longer allowing cash, personal check, or money orders to be used to pay for shipping.

Sending shipping payment through the postal service adds multiple days to the shipment of items and it is not secure. We strongly advise using PayPal goods and services directly or via our Replin payments app to pay your seller for shipping. It is not advised to use services like Venmo, Cash App, Google Wallet, Zelle, etc. because of the risk involved with using these services.

45 day transaction period

Transactions will now close 45 days after payment has been made.

The current duration to request a refund is 60 days and we are reducing this to 45 days to help both sellers and buyers finalize their sales in a more timely fashion. Sellers should be responsible for delivering their items on time and buyers should be responsible for knowing when they would like a refund.

Point transfer for gift card listings

Points will no longer be automatically transferred for member listed gift cards in order to give the buyer time to verify the gift card. Once the buyer confirms receipt, the points will transferred as usual. This rule will apply to all sellers.

Thank you again for your patience and hope you and your families are staying safe during this time! Stay tuned for more updates!