Kai M.

I am reviewing Listia.com so you don't spend your time and energy on it like I have done. It is being penny wise and pound foolish with your time and your life. I at first thought it was a fun and creative way to 'trade' products that couldn't easily be sold on eBay, but have had some bad experiences. It is like the Wild West, with no rules or regulations and people who take advantage of you. They will draw you in by giving you some 'free' points but, believe me, nothing is free.

They use a point system, where the points to 'win' something can skyrocket, but the value is not a given and some sellers are offering 'samples' - you know, the samples given out free in stores - appear to be full size bottles rather than samples because of the way they are photographed, appearing to be bigger than they are. Then you are spending the equivalent of what you would spend by walking into a drugstore and simply buying a full-size product! Sellers hustle you by making you think you're bidding on something you're not by not answering questions - and if you bid, you'll find yourself winning a tiny little sample and if you object, you are in the hands of an anonymous 'moderator' with no recourse once he/she makes his/her decision for or against you if you think you have been wronged (I have been on both sides of this equation and in both instances, I have lost money. For example, someone send me something defective... I had paid for the shipping through Paypal and could never recover it.) There is truly nothing free on this site... the points ARE money and you can buy points on Paypal.)

Or people send you things without tracking and if you don't have your exact "verified" address, the "moderators" will side with them if something gets lost. There is no phone number on the site - at ALL, no one to call... unlike eBay or Amazon, yet real money is exchanged. One can pays for shipping very often, if that is what the seller wants. There are all sorts of ways to lose money on this site and no recourse or appeal. These cranky sellers insist "no buyer's remorse" as a way of passing off a complaint against the shock at receiving a tiny sample they have misrepresented as a fuller bottle by photographing it so you can't read the print and not answering questions. There is all sorts of crankiness represented. This is a site where people create stuffed purses full of samples - I suppose this is interesting in terms of trading, a kind of DIY culture, especially female (I'm female, this is not a dis, women stuffing purses with hair products, maybe stay-at-home moms). I love trading, but not cheating! This is great but only if one is one the up-and-up in terms of value. But there is no way of evaluating true 'worth' on this site. What is a dollar? What is $10? There is also no way to withdraw a bid. There is inconsistency throughout the site, i. E some people sell used makeup, other used makeup products are withdrawn. There is no true set of rules for moderators. It is arbitrary. And no way to appeal.

There is a lot of junk on here - in terms of what is offered. After spending a lot of useless hours and wasting, I would say, about $100... and countless hours... worth far more than that... I wish I had just gone to Target or CVS and bought what I needed. The worse part was realizing that some people really feel okay about sending you a sample and feeling okay about receiving the equivalent of $8.00 or so for it. And saying 'no buyer's remorse.' These are middle-American moms, such as Rebecca 3910 on Listia (below) who proudly portrays her young son at the beach, who is a scammer at heart. I thought there was some integrity left but everyone's trying to make a buck.