Another Way to Recycle Your Old Stuff

Getting rid of your old stuff around holiday time? There’s now an interesting auction site option in addition to Freecycle, eBay, or Craigslist. Listia.com is an eBay-style auction site where you bid on virtually free stuff using barter-style credits instead of real money. As of November 2009, this startup is focused on the San Francisco and New York markets, and will grow into additional markets as it becomes more popular.

A quick note on how it works – you receive Listia credits when you sign up, and earn more credits as you give things away. eBay-style bidding is based on the credit system, and the winner of an item auction receives the rights to pick it up from you for free or arrange shipping.

The main benefits of the site are in saving time and money, while keeping a level of trust in your transactions. You can give away items without having to manage dozens of Craigslist replies or worrying about the buyer showing up, and each member is rated in a similar fashion as eBay.

This new business model provides another potentially interesting way for us to recycle finished goods. I’m glad they’re working on making it simpler for users to get rid of stuff they don’t need anymore, or find someone else’s free stuff online without resorting to landfills.