The Listia Blog

Today we are excited to announce the arrival of a new feature on Listia: Fixed Price Listings!

Fixed Price Listings are different from today’s auctions in that there’s no bidding involved, and instead there is only a Get It Now (GIN) option. Some info about this new type of listing:

1. Fixed Price Listings may only be listed by sellers with the Trusted Seller badge.
   Knowing the exact price you want for an item takes experience, so we want to make sure only sellers who’ve earned the Trusted Seller badge have this capability. There are no restrictions on who can place a GIN bid, though.
2. A listing fee of 50 credits is applied when the item is listed.
3. If the item sells, there is a 10% transaction fee based on the GIN amount.
   This amount is only deducted when you receive credits for the item.
4. Listings can be created on the Web starting today, and support on our Android and iOS apps is coming soon.
5. In almost every other way, these listings behave just like Auction Listings.

This new type of listing will benefit both sellers and buyers:

Seller Benefits

• List with a fixed price to make sure you get the exact amount of credits you want. Have a valuable item that might only attract a few bidders? A Fixed Price Listing can help remove a lot of the uncertainty that may come with auctions and bidding.
• For high volume sellers, Fixed Price Listings can result in listings that end earlier (you typically won’t have to wait the full listing duration), which means spending less time waiting, and more time earning credits.

Buyer Benefits

• Fixed Price Listings bring more of that feeling of instant gratification you love when you use Get It Now. Watching and bidding on auctions is fun and exciting, but being able to win an item instantly is equally rewarding!
• Because Fixed Price Listings encourage sellers to list items they previously might have held out on listing, buyers will start to see new types of items on Listia!

In conjunction with the release of Fixed Price Listings, we are also simplifying the pricing of the Get It Now and Start Bid options on Auction Listings, making them more consistent with how Fixed Price Listings behave.

Get It Now on Auctions

• The low 50 credit listing fee is staying the same, but will no longer be refunded when the auction ends with GIN.
• This change is effective today for all new auctions.

Start Bid on Auctions

• Start Bid currently has a listing fee that increases with the start bid amount. For example, a starting bid of 1,000 costs 100 credits, but a starting bid of 50,000 costs 1,000 credits.
• This is changing to a low, flat listing fee of 50 credits with a 10% transaction fee on the start bid amount if an item ends with normal bidding (not GIN).
• Example: If you set a 5,000 start bid on an auction, you’ll pay just 50 credits up front. If your auction ends at 100,000 credits, then a fee of 500 will be applied when you receive your credits. A couple of important things to note:
  • The 10% transaction fee is only based on your start bid, not the final bid amount.
  • If the item does not sell, then no transaction fee is applied.
• These changes will take effect Wednesday, April 15th, 2015.

The changes to Get It Now and Start Bid come about because we want to make the fees for the various features on listings simple and consistent. Once all the changes roll out, a simple way to think of it is that Fixed Price, GIN and Start Bid all have a very low listing fee of 50 credits. This allows you to list items with these features with little upfront cost and very little risk. Then, for all three features, there will be a 10% transaction fee applied only if the item sells.

Onward and Upward!

Along with these changes, you’ll also notice a refreshed browse and search results view on the Web. We’ve made some improvements to display bidding and GIN options more clearly, and we’ve also made the images larger.

Our continued goal is to make Listia a bustling community where members can trade items with each other in a friendly and fun environment. With Fixed Price Listings, we’re now giving sellers a lot more control over how they want to sell their items, and at the same time creating more GIN opportunities for buyers.

Having more options helps everyone find a way to use Listia that feels “just right” for them. We can’t wait to see what you list! 🙂

Listia Stories features you, and all of the Listia community members. Tell us about the friendships you’ve made, or 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.

(jennifergeorge1610) I joined Listia early last year when my friend introduced me to it because I was having a rough time financially. I had been trying for about a year, maybe more, to sell my belongings that I no longer needed in order to make a little extra money to pay for my daughter’s medical expenses. She had a stroke in utero, which led to severe brain damage, which in turn led to her having severe Epilepsy, Cerebral Palsy, and a number of other health issues. Having a special needs child is always challenging, but having a special needs child while also being severely disabled myself is extremely challenging. I, myself, also have Cerebral Palsy. I walk with forearm crutches, I wear leg braces, and I cannot drive. Having Listia in my life this past year has been amazing! Listia has allowed me to get items for my daughter that I couldn’t otherwise afford. I have met some really kind and helpful people who gave me some great tips along the way! The Listia community is Incredible to say the least. Listia has helped me in more ways than I can even tell you! I am addicted to Listia and I won’t be going anywhere anytime soon! Thank you for this amazing site 🙂

(StephMiller) I joined Listia back in August 2013, & I’m working on year #3! I happen to be on my email trying to get Free Items, One of the freebie sites sent me here to Listia,(My Second Family)! I’m a single parent of three; one of my children is disabled, and like many of us, I’m also on a VERY fixed income. Having to be a stay-at-home caregiver, and having back issues myself has prevented me from working. Listia has been a godsend! I thought “Ok, I’ll sign up and give it a try, what could it hurt?” Then I find out Listia has a DONATION center, & how EASY it was to get started & how welcoming everyone made me feel! I was hooked! Now my cell phone has become my third hand! I LOVE my Listia family!! This site is a lifesaver! From trying to get holiday gifts for 3 children, to birthday gifts, and of course something for Momma! From the people I’ve met since I’ve been a member, EVERYONE, makes you feel like they’re your best friends and family! Listia has become my second home!

(shherann) I didn’t think sellers would really send items but when I got my first won item in the mail, Listia became fun & made me bid more. Listia can be addictive. My mama is also an active member. It’s just a site everyone needs to check out!

Listia Stories features you, and all of the Listia community members. Tell us about the friendships you’ve made, or 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.

(toadslinger) I am 71 years old and recently retired from a 52 year programming career. I have always believed that things happen for a reason and you encounter certain people on purpose. While I have been a generous soul, it seems that more gifting opportunities have come my way since joining Listia.

(dewdrop58) I am a relative newbie when it comes to Listia. I joined on December 7, 2014 and am quickly becoming an addict! Recently I have listed my first as well as my fifteenth auction. It is thrilling to watch the credits climb higher and higher, not only with each of my individual auctions but to my overall total. I waited and watched the auctions of others before I listed my own for the first time to get a feel for what worked and what didn’t. My goal is to try and supply enough photographs and written information so that no inquiries are ever needed. I will always welcome someone stopping by to say hello though. I am quickly developing a new network of friends, something I hadn’t even thought of when I joined. I hope that my future auctions will be entertaining and offer members true value for the credits that they bid. I would like to be known as fair, trustworthy and in a sense represent the best that Listia has to offer.

(usernamefrank) I started in October 2014, tested the waters and soon jumped in. On my first day, people started helping and walking me through. I sold some things, met people and I have since knocked out almost 100 auctions. You’ve got to know Listia!

(Mistercarolina) I became a Listia member back in October 2013 and I have quickly built a positive reputation. My mother and my aunt were both collectors so I felt like I was living in a storage warehouse. My daughter encouraged me to try Listia (so I did) and found out that it’s so much fun. I make enough credits to get even more free stuff: I thought I’d put stuff on Listia, people would win it, and that would be the end of it. But members write to say how much they love what they’ve won, or how beautiful something is. It’s all going to people who really want and appreciate what they’re winning. I know they’ll keep and cherish these things. It’s really special.The best part about Listia is you don’t have to go through the rigmarole of running to a physical store where you have to sit and wait. You can use the site from your house anytime. With Listia, people are busy shopping when you’re not even there. The attitude you have to have is “nothing ventured, nothing gained”. Just give it a try. It’s not hard to do. Thank you Listia for offering this site to all of us.

(sherrylove) I started a little over a month. I wasn’t really imagining it would save me from so much daily work. I live off of my art, so finding all my supplies, plus makeup, jewelry and entertainment needs has made my life practically stress free. Within the first day I made a friend and fellow seller/bidder for life. I’m not bogged down with items I keep until my next yard sale (whenever that is) and I love the idea of trading in recycled products that only take up other Listian’s room and dust. AND IT’S FREE!! Thank you Listia and my family of Listians. I’m a daily member for good, now! =)

(larrysanford58) It was my wife that first found Listia and told me I should check it out. After doing so, I found an entire new world that had lots of new interesting people with free stuff to get rid of, that I liked. Soon after I acquired points through the surveys and videos, and started bidding and winning. The people I dealt with soon became friends. About 6 months after getting started, I found several sets of darts that I was interested in and found I wasn’t the only one. I’m a Disabled Vet and this has given me a whole new outlook on life and something meaningful to do with my time. Not to mention all the new friends I’ve made all over the states, from shore to shore and even Canada…. Thank you Listia for a great way to stay connected with the world.

We are making some important updates to the Rewards Store today to ensure that Listia can continue to provide great new items to all members in a fair and fun way. A summary of the changes is listed below, but we encourage everyone to continue reading this entire post to fully understand the reasons for the necessary updates:

1. Rewards Store items are being simplified into three different categories:
   • Staff Picks: Great new items shipped to you by Best Buy and Walmart (items previously found under other categories will be located here)
   • Listia Goods & Gear: Listia swag, including t-shirts, mugs, stickers and coins
   • Amazon Gift Cards: Official Amazon.com gift card codes, delivered digitally
2. Most items, including all items sold through “Staff Picks,” will now be auctions that do not include a Get It Now (GIN)

The shift from GIN only items to regular auctions is the change that has the largest impact on Listia members. Since the Rewards Store first launched over two years ago, most of the items on the store have been available to Listia members through a fixed price (no bidding, just a GIN option). It was introduced as a nice benefit of being an active seller on Listia, and we felt that having GIN as the only option made buying from the store both quick and easy. It started off at a small scale, and the store was nearly always full of great products, and everything seemed fine.

In the span of the last several months though, we’ve noticed that items began to sell out extremely quickly (Can you imagine someone winning a 3-piece luggage set within 30 seconds of it being listed? It happens.) The Rewards Store started to look very sparse, and at times was completely sold out. An easy solution would have been to simply list more and more items, but as you can imagine, that would quickly become too costly for Listia to maintain.

There are two main reasons why the Rewards Store started to sell out:

1. The Listia community is growing, and that means more members are using the Rewards Store as a great way to spend their credits.
2. Items in the store were often priced much lower than what they would sell for on the rest of the site. In many situations, winning an item on the Rewards Store could be considered a steal, and who doesn’t love a great deal?

Over the last two years, we’ve steadily grown the Rewards Store. We’ve also changed the Get It Now amounts a few times to make the items priced more accurately. Those actions weren’t quite enough to keep the Rewards Store in a state where enough members could participate in a casual, stress-free way though. Hearing members’ stories about needing to refresh the Rewards Store constantly to immediately “snipe” something that gets listed is one of the things that keeps us up at night!

A few answers to some of the questions you may all have:

How long will the auctions be live for?
We are starting off with 5 day auctions, which we feel is short of enough to keep things exciting, but also long enough to make sure everyone gets a chance to see it. Items will be starting and ending daily, so keep your eyes peeled!

Will things get more expensive?
Since Listia will no longer set the price of most Rewards Store items, the bidding will behave just like any other auction on Listia. It’s hard to say if specific items will tend to sell for more or less credits, but in general you should see prices more accurately reflect their fair market value.

Our goal with today’s changes is to keep the Rewards Store as an enjoyable and rewarding place for our members to use their credits. While we are sad to see the GIN option go, we feel that it is a necessary step to make sure the store stays up-and-running for all members. Also, by having Rewards Store items as auctions with no starting bid and no GIN, everyone can place a bid early to have their opportunity at winning. As a separate measure, we will be increasing our focus on keeping the items as fresh as possible!

Thank you all for continuing to be a part of the Listia community!

Listia Stories features you, and all of the Listia community members. Tell us about the friendships you’ve made, or 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.

 (drinxx) I joined Listia in 2010 and have to say, it is a wonderful community of buyers and sellers alike. The best part about Listia is that any of the listed items can be gotten for free!! Sure, you might have to list a few items of your own, or earn free credits by completing surveys or tasks to get what you want, but it is ALWAYS worth the effort. So many great things to win on Listia. In addition, I also love the raffles and the fact that Listia offers ways to donate to charities as well. It’s been an all-around awesome experience and I hope to be here for a long time to come. Thanks Listia!! 🙂

 (amystahl94) After being a member on Listia for almost two years, I am writing this letter out of much happiness and joy. I have gained three friendships from this site and would like to thank you and them. I also have 100% feedback which means so much to me. Last year my son was very sick and to keep him calm, we decided to scrapbook. Since we couldn’t get to stores (because he was hospitalized) we got our stickers from Listia. It really helped him and when his spirits were low, we used to take out all the beautiful scrapbooking supplies and start scrapbooking! I am happy to say that with his new medication, he is doing much better. He still loves to scrapbook and loves all the stickers that we got. Whatever we get on Listia is a treasure.

(KariLody) I signed up on Listia a few years ago but I didn’t understand what it was all about, so I didn’t do anything. Then, the beginning of this year, I needed a lot of craft supplies (stickers, paper, etc.) for my scrapbooking hobby.  As usual, my husband said “it’s a waste of money, sell some of this stuff we have around the house on eBay instead”!  Well, I tend to agree that hobbies can be expensive, but I dislike eBay and all their rules.  Around that time, a friend of mine told me about Listia.  I went to sign up but noticed I was already a member!  From that day on, I was able to get rid of many things that have been accumulating around this house lately, and, I was able to stock up on hundreds of dollars of scrapbooking supplies, for FREE!!

As the Listia community grows, we need to continually evolve and improve our rules and policies to protect members and create as safe and enjoyable a marketplace as possible.  Today we’re introducing some more specific guidelines surrounding how shipping payments should be made between buyer and seller when auctions have fixed or flat rate shipping.

The updates can be read in their entirety on our Rules and Listia Assurance pages, but below is a summary:

1. Shipping payments are now limited to PayPal, Google Wallet, check, money order and cash.
2. Sellers can specify which of the above methods they support in their listing, but may not add additional payment methods not allowed by Listia, and may not specify “Cash Only” (sellers must accept at least one of the other methods as well).
3. When sending payment through PayPal, Google Wallet, check or money order, your credits are now protected by Listia Assurance in the event there’s a problem with the shipping payment being received.

While we always encourage sellers to offer free shipping, we understand that it is not suitable for all sellers and all items.  For these situations, we hope that these updates make both paying for and receiving shipping payments as simple and worry-free as possible!

(zekrom2419) Listia is so awesome! It’s so cool to know that you can actually win free stuff! It’s also cool to earn badges. I can earn credits by listing stuff and even doing surveys. I love Listia.com; it’s the world to me. It’s one of those sites where you try to sleep at night and you just can’t so you run into walls, doors and everything just to check out how many credits or comments you got. Listia is the answer to all your needs. Go ahead and check out Listia.com!

(kkmemories) I have been a member of Listia for almost 3 years now and I have loved the site ever since I found it. I was especially thankful for the site this past Christmas. I had to have surgery in November which put me out of work for a period of time and my husband is disabled so money got kinda tight. Thanks to Listia and all the wonderful members, I was able to get some really great gifts and not have to stress about the money. So, I just wanted to say thank you for helping my family to have a really nice Christmas.

Listia Stories features you, and all of the Listia community members. Tell us about the friendships you’ve made, or 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.

(luckdragon11) When I stumbled upon Listia over a year ago, I looking for a way to get rid of my items to sell and make ends meet as I had just lost my job. I found it very interesting that I didn’t need money to set up my auctions and I could choose to have buyers pay postage directly to PayPal. As I started listing, I was getting enough credits to start bidding on gift cards for Walmart that helped me get groceries. Then the whole whirlwind began! Christmas was coming and with no funds, I started cleaning out the garage, grabbing the grandkids clothes they grew out of and on and on. With as much effort as I wanted to put into it, I not only helped to make ends meet but also made a wonderful Christmas for my family! Along with being able to do all of this, I began making friends as well as doing something fun! Some of the people I have met through here I believe will be lifelong friends from here on out. (As my husband is disabled from cancer, I have bonded with two very special people through Listia who have tragically been in my position). I feel a camaraderie with many on Listia. Thank you for coming up with this wonderful site!

 (pamhawkins9461) I don’t remember much about how Listia entered into my life, but I can remember this: it has changed my life forever. I joined Listia in 2013 and my life hasn’t been the same since. Being a female, two of my favorite things are jewelry and makeup (naturally).  Since I’m a disabled widow on a very strict budget, I can’t afford to pay retail prices. I haven’t won an auction yet I haven’t loved.  And the people I’ve had the great pleasure of working with are amazing.  I’ve made many new friendships with people from all around the world.  Thank you Listia for becoming a very exciting part of my life.

 (goodgirl1975) I have been on Listia since 2012 and I love everything about it. Thanks to all the cool people I have met and all the helpful hints that I get. Thanks also to the ones who made this site possible. I’m addicted to it and always will be. I have gotten so much stuff it’s crazy. I don’t know what I would do without it.

Listia Stories features you, and all of the Listia community members. Tell us about the friendships you’ve made, or 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.

(YashuaSaves) I became a member since December 2013 but I hadn’t been on much until November 2014. I had decided to give it a chance for Christmas.  Christmas is going to be beautiful and exciting, knowing that my family will open up presents. Listia eased the burden; so did the Listia members. I have met a lot of nice people with precious hearts and even Listia moderators as well.  I am writing this (tears are raining down on my face) with complete and utter thankfulness. Thank you all for being here… for all of us members. I am truly blessed!

(leannabrosh) I stumbled across Listia about a year ago. I am disabled and was unable to get everyday needs and had a house full of stuff. Not only do I get what I need delivered right to my door, but I also have gotten rid of a bunch of items I no longer need. The most amazing part is the friendships I have made along the way. Also the Listia team has made using this site super easy! It has been a true blessing all around. This has been an amazing experience!! 🙂

(So_Quick_Trading) I always have a very low Christmas budget, and this year wouldn’t have been much different.  Thanks to Listia, we had a truly wonderful Christmas for the first time in many years.  The best part was a stuffed box auction, which made it so I was able to absolutely shower my wife, mom and sister with all kinds of jewelries: rings, necklaces, earrings and watches.  They were practically in shock… it was just awesome. Many thanks to Listia, and all the wonderful members (both buyers & sellers) who really helped to make this happen.  And I’m really looking forward to how much more happiness and joy Listia will bring in the coming new year.  I’ll bet my family’s birthdays of 2015 are all going to be amazing as well.