Happy 2014! One of the first new features of the year is our new badge view that we released this afternoon! Here’s a little summary of the details and reasoning behind it.

• You can now click on your badges and a popup will open displaying the details of the badge
• There are badges that have tiers/levels and badges that don’t. If a badge has multiple levels you will see an icon in the actual badge. In the popup you’ll also be able to see what levels you’ve reached and what criteria it took to get there. Click the “See All” link to see more details.
• One downside is that the count of number of badges you have has probably gone down for most of you. This is a new way that we are counting badges where we no longer are counting each level as an individual badge. The main reason for this is because we’re making room for more badges.
• Bigger badge images!
• Oh and did I mention… more badges soon!!!

This is where you may see a slight difference. We no longer include the number of times you have leveled up for each badge.

Click the “See All” link to see how many times you’ve leveled up with a specific badge

If a higher level is available you’ll see what it is and the criteria to get there. Cool huh?

We are still taking a close look at a couple odd things during this change (including a few reports of missing badges). We’re on top of it and any issue with this should be resolved soon!

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!

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!

Hi everyone,

We are currently in the process of improving our categories on Listia to be more comprehensive and thorough. In order to do this we have had to disable the ability to create a custom subcategory when you list your item(s).  Don’t worry though! Once we’re finished with revamping our categories it should be easier to both list and browse! We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you for the time being.

Also, on November 19th we will be switching everyone over to the newly designed auction page. A few of you have tried it out and then opted to go back to the old design, but on November 19th the old auction design will no longer be available. Thank you for all your feedback so far!

Stay tuned for more updates!

We decided that it was time for our auction page to get a fresh new look and we’ve released what we think is a cleaner, more organized way to view auction information!  Some of our newer users may have already been exposed to the new page, but for our veteran users we’re giving some of you a chance to take a sneak peek as we roll out the new design.  Here’s a quick look:

To see if your account is ready to preview the new auction page go to any open auction and see if you have the following link on your page:

If you don’t like it right away you can get back to the old design by clicking the link located at the bottom right hand side of the new auction page (please note, we’ll eventually be moving everyone to the new design):

We hope you’ll stick with the new page and give it a chance to win your heart over ❤  And of course we’d love to hear your feedback so if you’re feeling extra expressive, please tell us what you think in this short questionnaire.  We’ll be reading each and every one of your replies and making changes before switching over to the new page (date TBD).  We hope you like it!

This morning we launched a feature that allows you to set higher start bids on your auctions!  Now you don’t have to worry about getting too few credits for your items, so start digging through your closet to find more of those things you want to list!  Some awesome benefits:

• List those higher valued items that you were afraid to list before
• List heavier things that you can’t ship like furniture, computer monitors & TVs.  Post them up for local pick up without worrying about your minimum bid.

A couple things you should note when you list a higher start bid in conjunction with Get It Now.

• Your Start Bid must be lower than your Get It Now value.  Makes sense right?
• If your Start Bid is over 50% of your Get It Now value, Get It Now will be disabled after the very first bid

Enjoy and happy listing!

We’re so thankful to have a large engaging community of users. Not only is Listia a fun marketplace to discover new and used items, but many users also gain new friendships here too. To go along with this collaborative spirit, we’ve come up with some helpful tips and advice that will help everyone succeed on Listia.

UNDERSTANDING SOME KEY TERMINOLOGIES:

• Seller: A user who lists an item
• Bidder/Buyer: A user who bids on an item
• Winner: A Bidder/Buyer who wins an item at the end of an auction
• “G.I.N”: This is short for “Get It Now”. For more information about our Get It Now option, visit this page here
• “F&W”: abbreviated for “Fanned and Watching”

LISTING AN ITEM (FOR SELLERS):

• Always have a clear descriptive Title. This will help attract potential buyers to click on your listing and be more engaged to read your description
• Always have a clear and detailed Description. This is where you can highlight your item and give potential buyers your “selling points”
• You can set a starting bid amount (ranging from 0 – 100 credits). This is done by clicking the Show Advanced Option button
• If you are not offering free shipping (e.g. flat rate, exact rate) and have a specific payment method (e.g. PayPal only; does not accept PayPal), make sure you include that in your description so potential buyers are aware
• For high-value items (e.g. electronics), we suggest that you include photos with your user name on a piece of paper next to your item. This will help potential buyers know that you have possession of the item and ensure buyer confidence
• The more clear images you have, the more attractive your listing will be (check out our latest blog for statistics)
• Comment back to potential buyers in your auction(s) so that they know you’re an active user and comfortable buying from you

PLACING A BID (FOR BUYERS):

• Carefully read the auction listing and description before placing a bid
• If you have a question about the listing, leave a comment for the Seller prior to bidding so you know what you’re bidding on
• Once there are multiple bids on an auction, you cannot withdraw/retract your bid amount
• If you’ve placed a bid, but was automatically outbid, that means your bid amount was not high enough to outbid the current highest bidder.  Try again with a higher amount
• If you’ve placed a bid, but did not win the item at the end of the auction, then your credits will be returned and made available in your account again

Be sure to check out our FAQ/Tips pages for additional tools & tips: http://www.listia.com/support/faq

What helpful tips would you also offer? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment!

South by Southwest Interactive kicks off this Friday, March 9, and we’re excited to see so much activity and interest in sharing economies and collaborative consumption startups.

Several panels caught our eye this year, including:

• What Makes Asset Sharing Platforms Thrive?
  An exploration of what qualities drive success in sharing platforms, as well as unique challenges faced by collaborative consumption startups. Speakers include Christopher Lukezic from Airbnb and Neal Gorenflo, publisher of Shareable Magazine.
• The Airbnb of Anything: The Growth of P2P Markets
  As the title states, this panel will discuss the rapid growth of P2P markets. Speakers include the founders of Airbnb, thredUP, and TaskRabbit. They’ll touch upon how P2P startups are connecting consumers online and reinventing market behaviors to elevate sharing.
• Designing for Social Innovation and Public Good
  Barbara Brown Wilson from the Center of Sustainable Development will join forces with several leaders in the public interest design movement to discuss how design can be used to solve complex social problemss

It’s amazing to see how much traction collaborative and trading economies have gained in the past few years, and we feel really fortunate to be a part of the sharing marketplace momentum. Will you be at South by Southwest this year? What panels, speakers or parties are you checking out?

Do you ever wonder if it’s worth it to offer Free Shipping in your listings? We were very curious to find out, so we asked Ngan to dig up some more stats from our database.

To set the record straight, most Listians do offer free shipping. In the history of all listings, about two thirds included free shipping for their buyers. 65.5% of all listings, to be exact:

But how does Free Shipping help or hurt your listings? Well, you can draw some conclusions for yourself:

Based on our top performing categories, we noticed very strong correlations between Free Shipping and more bidders, bids and final credit amounts. Across the board, items with Free Shipping ended with twice as much activity than their counterparts offering Flat, Exact or Local Pick Up only.

So as a seller, is Free Shipping worth it? We sure think so, but we’ll let you confirm for yourselves.