Chalsie A.

I have been with Listia since February 2010 so a long time! When I first learned about the site I thought the idea was genius. I still think it is. You offer your stuff up (used or new etc) to gain their "points" and when you have accumulated enough points you can use them to bid on things you want. It appears that they keep things afloat with ad revenue I presume and the team seems to work hard at trying to improve the site. There are always going to be people in this world that will try to scam others so remember the old adage. If it looks too good to be true it probably is. Check people's feedback and reliability before bidding. Are they listing a brand new iPhone with no feedback? Yeah maybe don't bid on that unless you like headaches. xD I believe I use the site for what it is meant to be used for. Listing used things and trading them in for small possibly used things in return. If you want some premium item like a brand new gadget, or ebay gift card or very useful items clearly being dropshipped from Amazon you're going to end up paying more than they are worth because people are trying to profit. Also if you are wondering why people list a good bit of useless or overpriced items it's because the site encourages creating 5 listings a day for 25 free points. 5 points is 1 cent so it's only 5 cents a day but hey some people list things like vinyl stickers for 99 points so I suppose in 4 days you could get a completely free item from creating listings that end and never sell. This brings me to the issue of inflation. All those free points being given out daily can cause some inflation. However it does seem like inflation has finally stabilized on the site and the people managing the site claim they combat inflation by using some of their revenue from ads to pay for the auctions they host like more Amazon gift cards. Also the points Listia gets from their auctions plus all their final value fees are used to payout all those free point incentives they give away for listing items and referring others. You can list items completely free without paying any final value fees if you start the auction at 99 points and offer free shipping. Most of the complaints I've seen about Listia seem to stem from deals gone wrong or people that don't understand that you can't shove lumpy stuff (bracelets, belly rings, fat seeds, a clump of fat paper punches all in one spot) in an envelope and expect normal first class letter service (sometimes it makes it through but many times it does not or gets badly mangled). This site is basically a big garage sale and you will see people listing both trash and treasure. I personally use it for small flat items like stickers, used postage stamps, craft supplies/scrapbooking paper and the handmade stuff is fun to look at. There really is so much stuff to bid on honestly if you know where to look. It's a fun way to pass the time. No cash is involved either so no taxes which is a nice headache free way to declutter. :D