A couple updates from us on this Friday afternoon.  We pushed out a new badge system for user achievements.  Right now you can see how many badges a person has by going to their profile.  Check out satin7’s profile page: http://www.listia.com/profile/3637  For a list of badges and what they mean check out the legend: http://www.listia.com/badges  More to come in the near future!

Along with the badge system we’re rolling out some changes for all new auctions some time within the next 24 hours.  After an auction ends credits used to be transferred directly to the seller’s account.  Credits from auctions listed by sellers without the “Trusted Sellers” badge are now held in a pending state for the lesser of 10 days or until the winner claims they received the item.  Users with the “Trusted Sellers” badge are not affected by this change.  The following scenarios can take place after an auction:

Winner: no response, Seller: no response
Seller will receive the auction credits after 10 days from the date of auction close.

Winner: receives item, Seller: delivers item or no response
The seller will immediately get their credits if the winner claims they received the item.

Winner: does not receive item, Seller: no response
The buyer will receive an automatic refund after 20 days from the date of auction close. This waiting time can be expedited in special circumstances.  Note that a winner has 10 days from auction close to claim that they didn’t not receive the item.

Winner: does not receive item, Seller: delivers item
During an auction dispute the outcome will be handled by a moderator. If your auction is in this state, please contact us with your auction details.

Let us know if you have any questions!  We’re hoping that this system both automates returns as well as makes it more obvious who’s who on Listia.  Thanks!

Over the long weekend (long weekends don’t really exist at a startup) we pushed out a few features that we thought we’d let you know about.

First, we added start bids for auctions from 0 to 100.  You can find this field in after you click on “show advanced options”.

Second, we also added variable auction lengths from 3 to 10 days.  This option is also under the advanced options menu.  Auction lengths are displayed on the auction view page.

Third, we added a way for you to import your email contacts to refer your friends a lot easier.  You can now import your addresses from Gmail, Yahoo & Hotmail under ‘My Account’.

Fourth, follow @onlistia to see newly listed items in your Twitter feed!

More to come!!!

Had some coffee with the Posterous crew today in SF. If you are thinking of setting up a blog or just want to share some photos or video, check out their site.

Today we’re launching an experiment called a Tiered Rewards Auction.  The way this works is the auction item changes as the high bid amount moves into different tiers.  For example on our first auction the item in tier 1 is a $10 iTunes gift card.  If the bid for this goes higher than 499 then the tier moves up to 2 and the auction item changes to something else (which remains unknown until the bid amount gets this high).

We thought it’d be a little more fun than your standard rewards auction.  Have fun!

http://www.listia.com/auction/5054

I couldn't figure out how to add pictures to my previous post and wanted to add a few more …

See the full gallery on Posterous

Tonight was the last dinner for the Summer 09 class of Y Combinator.  The last 3-4 months have been one of the greatest experiences I've ever been through.  I'll have a full review and details of my thoughts in the near future.  For now … a couple pictures …

See the full gallery on Posterous

We just spent two days presenting Listia to investors at YC’s demo day.  It was lots of fun and we met tons of cool people. Here are some recent articles from the event that mention Listia.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/19/silicon-valley-elite-flock-to-y-combinat…

http://mashable.com/2009/08/19/listia/

http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2009/08/19/low-points-and-screw-ups-y-com…

Also, we have been getting some great feedback from everyone regarding the service. it really helps us iron out all the kinks, so keep the emails coming!

We’ve added a page so you can see what the hot auctions are on Listia.  Now you can see where the action is going on a little easier.

http://www.listia.com/popular

We also added watch lists so you can keep track of auctions.  When auctions are in your watch list you’ll get a friendly reminder in your email box when auctions are close to ending.  You can add items to your watch list near the vid information on any auction page.  Enjoy!

Thirllist wrote a nice article on us today.  Thanks for the article!

Listia – Thrillist

Molly at Demo Girl made a really nice demo video of Listia even before we could!  We pushed a few changes over the weekend that differ from the video, but for the most part she hit the nail on the head.  Thanks Molly! (I hope you don’t mind that we embed your video)

Give Your Junk Away To Someone Who Really Wants It With Listia – Demo Girl

http://v.wordpress.com/vhcZO6bw

Well the first weekend after our official launch has passed and we spent it trying to prioritize action items and figure out what the next plan of attack is.  We pushed a couple new features that had a high number of requests from you guys.

The first update was adding shipping back to the auction listing form.  And when I bold back it’s because we originally had it there but removed it to simplify the form.  Users have spoken though and I do agree it’s much easier to click a few boxes instead of typing it out all the time.

Second we added comment and reply notifications via email.  We were actually 50/50 on this because we hate excess email, but I actually wouldn’t mind knowing when someone has a question about my auction or when an auction owner has responded to my question.  And of course you can opt out in your account settings.

If you want stuff done, use that ‘feedback’ link on the site cause it’s not a permanent resident.  Stay tuned for more updates …