GoPayforit had launched its new mobile, small payments service in the UK to enable bloggers and content owners to more easily sell content online. By using GoPayforit, lower priced content can now be purchased by consumers in an easier, more manageable and less time-consuming way.

GoPayforit allows bloggers and content owners to set up a payment service for their site by inserting one simple line of code. Once established, this enables consumers to debit money directly from their mobile phone bill (PAYG or contract) in order to make payments. UK mobile operators provide support for GoPayforit as a secure transaction platform as it is based on the tried and tested Payforit platform.

“When making small donations of £5 online, or buying one-off pieces of content from websites for say £1 or £2, entering your credit card details can be a long and tedious process,” said Chris Newell, CEO, GoPayforit.

The GoPayforit service requires purchasers to enter their mobile number online to receive a secure PIN code sent as an SMS. Once the pin is received the code is entered online and the purchase is completed. This system is far more efficient than using a credit card – and GoPayforit has discovered that it is up to 7.5 times more efficient for consumers.

Step 1 : How does GoPayforit work?

Step 2 : How does GoPayforit work?

Step 3 : How does GoPayforit work?

Recent research conducted by GoPayforit calculated the number of keystrokes needed to make an online payment. Using 6,500 different name and address variations, the research found the number of keystrokes needed to make a purchase on the following sites:

– Sainsbury’s – 122 keystrokes

– Play.com – 120 keystrokes

– Just Giving – 120 keystrokes

– PayPal – 80 keystrokes (using address capture software)

– Marks & Spencer – 80 keystrokes (also using address capture software)

– GoPayforit – 16 keystrokes

GoPayforit requires only 16 keystrokes to complete a transaction – on any website. The total number of keystrokes for GoPayforit is the same as the number of digits on a credit card and is still five times faster than sites using address capture software, such as Marks & Spencer and Paypal.

GoPayforit can be used to make purchases ranging from 25p to £10 and can be used on any website and for any content, including: purchasing singles or videos from a band’s website; making small donations to your favourite charity; purchasing mobile games from online stores; paying for additional content on news sites; or subscribing to your favourite blogger for a small fee.

MyPunchbowl – the start to finish party planning site, has acquired I’m In! – a site that was previously operated as a site for group travel and local trip ideas. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Punchbowl Software has acquired certain assets including the code, design, registered users domain names, and registered trademarks associated with I’m In! Imin.com will not continue to operate. Imin.com is now redirected to MyPunchbowl.com.

Using assets of I’m In!, MyPunchbowl launched a comprehensive local vendor portal for the party planning market. The new MyPunchbowl local vendor portal includes over one million vendors that are suitable for parties and events. Vendor categories include Artists, Attire, Bakeries, Balloons, Bands, Caterers, Churches & Synagogues, DJs, Entertainers, Event Planners, Event Staffing & Services, Florists, Musicians, Photographers, Rentals & Equipment, Transportation, and Venues & Locations.

“The acquisition of I’m in! has accelerated our entry into the local party planning market.” said Matt Douglas, CEO, Punchbowl Software.

The local vendor portal also includes the ability to search for party venues and locations. As hosts plan events on MyPunchbowl, they can now search for a venue for their party in the new venue finder. Hosts enter their location and choose from twelve venue categories including birthday party venues for kids & adults, restaurants, and baby shower venues. After a venue is selected, hosts can populate the location and address directly onto their online invitation.

MyPunchbowl also now offers featured listings for venues. Featured locations receive priority placement on the venue finder. Retail venues and chains that service the party planning market can contact MyPunchbowl to get a featured listing.

If you were a user of I’m In! you now have a MyPunchbowl account. You will receive an email with login information sometime during the next week.

fring, the multi-award winning mobile application, released the world’s first full VoIP support on all Android devices.

Users can enjoy the world’s first free voice calls (VoIP) over fring, Skype, MSN and GoogleTalk and via hundreds of SIP providers. As on the rest of fring’s supported-platforms, they can also see real-time presence and live chat with their ICQ, Yahoo! and AIM buddies and use Twitter, as part of their integrated contact list.

“Now Android users can join the millions of fringsters on thousands of fring-supported mobile devices who enjoy the rich features and cost benefits that mobile communication over internet can provide: communicating and sharing social Internet experiences over Wi-Fi or data plan with their friends wherever they are, on the web or on their phones.” said Avi Shechter, Co-Founder & CEO of fring.

In addition to Android, fring is supported worldwide on thousands of Symbian S60, iPhone, iPod touch, Windows Mobile, J2ME and Linux devices.

The brand-new Android version can be downloaded via fring’s WAP site at m.fring.com or directly via the Android Market.

You have 2 simple options for getting fring onto your Android device:

1. Get it directly from the Android Market:

• Start the Market application on your phone
• Search for fring and install

2. Get it from fring’s WAP site:

• On your Android phone, go to Settings > Applications and check the box to allow ‘unknown sources‘
• Point your phone browser to m.fring.com and download

In a high note for theatre people everywhere, leading theatrical licensor Music Theatre International has launched MTIShowspace.com, a new free social networking site and online resource dedicated exclusively to people who love and live theatre.

MTI ShowSpace offers thespians and fans a space to connect with anyone and everyone involved in the theatrical process, and serves as a continuously expanding free knowledge database so that members can make their next show their best show. Unlike other social networking outlets, MTI has built an online community that is specific to the practice of putting on a show.

Throughout the United States and Canada, 45,000 amateur and professional theatrical organizations involve more than four million households. MTI ShowSpace offers each of these organizations – and their over twenty-five million audience members – an organic, multi-leveled way to network.

MTI ShowSpace provides a centralized location for community theatres, schools and professional organizations to share, locate or advertise hard-to-build sets, costumes or props. Regardless of their ability, level of involvement in theatre, or geographical location, actors, dancers, composers, authors, producers, educators, students, crew members, musicians, administrators, and fans can share their ideas, advice and inspiration in the form of blogs, forums, photos, videos and other dynamic interactive features.

Interactive forums allow educators of all levels to share and receive curriculum enhancement strategies as well as set-building and costume-creation techniques. This peer-to-peer network is further enhanced by a dedicated team of MTI experts who provide immediate assistance to any director who has questions about “putting on a show” in his or her community.

The site also provides a stage for the next generation of artists to showcase their talents with photo and video sharing features, while also enabling users to brainstorm about holding auditions, raising funds, securing a venue and producing a great show. The MTI Vault provides an archive of original production photos and other rare media treasures from the past fifty years for reference.

RockYou, the leading innovator, creator and distributor of social experiences that engage hundreds of millions of people across multiple social networks, secured $50 million Series D round of funding from SoftBank.

RockYou will use these funds to enhance their global brand, expand current applications development and create products to host in-game advertising opportunities.

RockYou operates the largest independent ad network in social media, reaching more than 213 million monthly total unique visitors with more than 15 billion monthly impressions. Since its launch in November 2005, RockYou has provided industry leading solutions for marketers to reach their target audiences across social networks. RockYou will expand branding opportunities to in-game ads as well as other advanced products.

Additionally, RockYou has been a leader at developing the most engaging and entertaining applications and plans to continue to devote resources to expand this business model. RockYou today launched its new gifting application on MySpace called Gifts.

“RockYou has been an innovator in the social media industry since our launch more than four years ago, and we are excited to expand our relationship with SoftBank with this round of funding,” said Lance Tokuda, co-founder and CEO, RockYou.

This funding round brings RockYou’s total financing to $118 million. RockYou raised a total of $52 million in Series C funding, receiving $17 million from SoftBank and SK Telecom Ventures in November 2008 and $35 million from DCM in June 2008. Additional venture funding sources include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Partech International and Sequoia Capital.

Some social media networks are known as major time drainers for procrastinating students, but Twitter can also be used for school work, valuable networking, job searches and project management. Here are 100 great Twitter tips, tools and tutorials for serious college students who want to turn their Internet time into something valuable.

Finding People

These tools will help you find the right people to follow, whether you want to hook up with industry insiders, people who can help you with your research, companies you’d like to intern with, or other professors and students.

1. Who Should I Follow?: This service will recommend interesting people for you to follow based on any username you type in.
2. Just Tweet It: With this service, you can find other Tweeters with similar interests as you.
3. Mr.Tweet: Mr. Tweet can also point out influential Tweeters you should be following.
4. WeFollow: Type in keywords to find people who’ve tagged themselves in this directory.
5. FriendOrFollow: Find out who’s not following you back with FriendOrFollow.
6. Twubble: Expand your follow bubble with Twubble.
7. Nearby Tweets: When you need a reference or contact who lives in your city, use this service to find them on Twitter.
8. Twitterator: With Twitterator, you can bulk-follow complete lists of people.
9. SocialToo: Sync follower lists with other social media sites like Facebook.
10. TweepSearch: Use this tool to search users’ bios when you’re looking for specific people to follow.
11. DoesFollow: Find out if certain people are following each other to help friends make connections.

Research

Use these tips and tools for job searches, finding experts to cite in your papers, and to learn more about the topics you’re discussing in class.

1. twitority: Get authority-based Twitter search here.
2. Twitter for Research: Why and How to Do It, Including Case Studies: Learn how to use Twitter for historical research and which tools to use.
3. Monitter: Monitter uses your keywords to find relevant tweets.
4. TweetMeme: TweetMeme is sort of like Digg and is helpful if you want to search popular links that are being tweeted.
5. Tweetag: Tag-Based Search for Twitter: This guide will show you how to use Tweetag to find information based on tags.
6. How to Use Twitter for Information Mining: This guide can help you gather information on companies, individuals and topics.
7. @trendingtopics: Follow Twitter’s trending topics feed to get frequent updates on breaking news.
8. Twitscoop: This service lets you “search and follow what’s buzzing on Twitter in real-time,” great for keeping up with trending topics.
9. Twitter search: Type in a keyword to find out how it’s being discussed on Twitter in real-time.
10. TweetVolume: Here you can enter words and phrases to see how often they pop up on Twitter, and where.
11. How to Search Twitter – The Advanced Guide: Discover how to do a word-level, person-related, location-specific, date-specific or resource search on Twitter.
12. 7 ‘Secret’ Ways to Use Twitter Search: This article will help you become a more efficient researcher and tune out the “chit-chat.”
13. Tweetbeep: Set up alerts so that you know when something or someone is being tweeted about.

Study Breaks

Twitter isn’t just about research and assignments. These tips and tools will show you how to use Twitter for break time, too.

1. Foamee: Keep track of who owes you beer and coffee with this tool.
2. Cursebird: Track curse words on Twitter and see how many times people say the “f” word and other fun swear words.
3. LoveTweet!: Find love poems, break-up stories and more.
4. Tweetwasters: Use this tool to manage your wasted time on Twitter.
5. InnerTwitter: InnerTwitter lets you know when it’s time to get back to work and focus on what’s in front of you.

Discussion and Collaboration

When you have to meet with project group members, study for a test with classmates, talk with a professor, or tweet from club meetings, use these collaboration tools and tips.

1. Share files: Services like FileSocial and FileTwt let you share files publicly or privately.
2. Screenr: Create screencasts for your followers with Screenr.
3. 30+ More Ways to Create Twitter Groups: This guide will show you how to make the most of Twitter groups.
4. Share videos and photos: For school projects and presentations, share videos and photos via Twitter.
5. GroupTweet: Set up private communication with group members using this tool.
6. StrawPoll: It’s easier to collect data from groups of people when you use a poll like this one.
7. Twitzer: When you need to explain something in greater detail, use this app to type in more than 140 characters.
8. TweetCube: Share files — including videos and images — with TweetCube.
9. twonvo: Twonvo is helpful for following conversations: retweets are displayed like Facebook’s threads.
10. Phweet: Phweet is like conference calling for Twitter friends.
11. tweetparty: Group messaging is made possible by tweetparty, which lets you create subgroups too.

Building Relationships

Here you’ll learn all about using Twitter to build quality relationships for school and your career.

1. Don’t spam: Spamming means tweeting every time something pops into your head. Edit your tweets so that you’re only contributing when it matters, not whenever you’re bored.
2. Tweeple Card: Make a business card for Twitter with this tool.
3. twtcard: Send surprise greeting cards to network with people or send invitations to study groups.
4. Retweet: Retweet others’ comments, and they’ll be more likely to do the same for you.
5. Share your knowledge: Let others know you’re available for homework help or to share tips and insight into your passions.
6. Follow Friday: Look for new users to follow on Fridays, when your other friends will hashtag some of their favorites. Highlight your followers too to spread the love.
7. Edit your follow list: The people you follow and your followers can influence what others think about you, so be careful who you network with.
8. Tweet about things besides you: You’ll be known as a more valuable follow if you tweet news stories and about things besides yourself.
9. Become an expert on your community: Whether it’s your dorm or your city, be the one others turn to for help navigating and finding things to do in your area.
10. 8 Things to Consider Before Using Twitter Lists: Before you start listing, read this article to learn about its benefits and downfalls.
11. Use direct messaging: For more private conversations, reach out to someone via direct message.

Career

Twitter is a great career resource too, so make use of these tools and tips when researching companies, finding internships and setting up interviews.

1. twibs: Find businesses to follow with Twibs.
2. Twitter JobSearch: Type in the job you want and let this service find it for you on Twitter.
3. Set up two different accounts: Set up a business account and a separate one for goofing off with your friends: you don’t want your future employers to see what you tweet about parties and late nights.
4. Keep an eye on the competition: Get to know the habits and resumes of people vying for similar jobs as you.
5. Know how to pitch yourself: Don’t just talk about how great you are: pitch your skills in the form of tips for others.
6. Organize a tweetup: Schedule a meet-up or mixer to meet contacts in real-life.
7. Turn Twitter Friends into Real Friends: Learn how to network so that your Twitter relationships result in something concrete.
8. Getting In Front of High Profile People: Copyblogger shares tips for getting on the radar of the tweeters who matter.
9. 10 Networking Tips for Tweeters: Emma Merkas’ tips include standing out from the crowd and being social in real life.
10. Tweetmondo: Look for business contacts in your area or an area of your choosing with Tweetmondo.

Organization

Keep your Twitter experience streamlined and in control with these tools and tips.

1. Twitblocker: When you need Twitter for school and work purposes, block out all the social noise with this tool.
2. Lists: Create lists to organize discussions and groups.
3. Desktop: Use a desktop app so that you can view, filter and organize your Twitter feeds without having to log on.
4. 10 Ways to Archive Your Tweets: Learn about the tools and tips that can save you room on Twitter.
5. 20 Ways to Filter Your Tweets: Learn how to filter tweets by keyword, links, groups, or favorites to stay better organized.
6. TwitKit: TwitKit is a Firefox app that creates a Twitter sidebar for your browser.
7. MyTweeple: Check tweets, hide followers, review people’s stats and reevaluate your follow list with this tool.
8. twuffer: Schedule tweets to share later with twuffer.
9. Twply: Have @replies forwarded to your inbox so you never miss a shout out.
10. Ping.fm: Ping.fm is another tool for syncing FB, Twitter, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, AIM and more.
11. 10 Ways You Can Use Twitter Lists: Sarah Evan’s article shows you 10 ways you can use lists to organize Twitter.

Assignments

Check out this list to find ways to use Twitter for project management, assignment tracking and more.

1. bkkeepr: Track your reading lists here.
2. TwitterNotes: Take, save and tag notes on Twitter with this app.
3. Twittercal: Sync Twitter and your Google calendar so that you’re reminded of deadlines and exam dates.
4. Twitly: Separate your Twitter follows into different lists and groups, which is especially helpful if you want to separate different classmates, people you’re following for different research papers, or general follows.
5. How to use Twitter as a project management tool: Study groups and clubs will get tips on using Twitter effectively here.
6. Remember The Milk: The Twitter version of this task manager can also remind you of upcoming assignments, study groups and more.
7. Read the news: Subscribe to niche and general news feeds for supplementary learning materials.
8. Ask questions: Use Twitter as a study help tool, and ask questions when you can’t get ahold of your professor.
9. Take notes: Take notes from a club meeting or class to save for later, get feedback from others in the community, or share with a friend.

Tutorials and Guides

Turn to these tutorials and guides for in-depth explanations for setting up Twitter, finding people, and more.

1. The Ultimate Guide to Everything Twitter: Start out with this guide to learn about Twitter memes, relationships, apps and more.
2. HOW TO: Do Good on Twitter: This guide will show you how to find nonprofit groups and get your own club on Twitter.
3. Treating Twitter as an Investment: Making Twitter work for you takes time. Read this article to find out why it’s worth it.
4. Twitter for Academia: This guide is written for professors but can also be helpful for students wanting tips for using Twitter for discussion, research and real-life experience.
5. @TwiTuts: Follow this feed to get constant Twitter tutorials and tips.
6. Make the Most of Your 140 Twitter Characters: TutWow can help you say more with less.
7. 3 Ways to Recognize Bots and Spammers on Twitter: Don’t waste your time following worthless auto-spammers.
8. Top Twitter Tools Exposed: If you don’t know which tools to start with, watch this video.
9. Twitter Tutorial: 5 Desktop Apps: This is kind of a goofy video, but it can help you figure out how to pick a desktop application for Twitter.
10. How to use Twitter on the go: Use Twitter on your mobile phone after watching this video.

Miscellaneous Tools

From selling your stuff on Twitter to making Twitter easier to find, check out these tools.

1. Twitpay: If you have PayPal, you can raise money for causes or sell your stuff with TwitPay.
2. twitition: Create, sign and share petitions with this tool.
3. TwitterFone: Send messages to Twitter with your voice when you use TwitterFone.
4. Xpenser: Use Xpenser to track your expenses and save money, even while you’re on Twiter.
5. Twitturl: This Firefox add-on lets you post the URL of the page you’re currently on to Twitter.
6. Twittonary: This dictionary of Twitter words and shorthand will keep you on track with tweeting pros.
7. Twitsig: Your tweets will show up as images when you use this tool.
8. Tweetminster: British politics are tracked on this live Twitter stream.
9. Twitlist: Sell and buy your stuff with Twitter and Craigslist with this mashup.

Thanks to Carol Brown, Accredited Online Colleges.

Twenga, the most comprehensive shopping search engine, has asked internet users what they would do with Christmas gifts they don’t want. The results show that only 49% of British consumers would keep such presents. This compares with 78% of the French, 68% of the Spanish and 63% of the Italians.

Importantly, 25% of British and German users are willing to use auction and marketplace sites to sell on gifts they don’t like. This is in contrast with southern Europe, where 13% of the French and a mere 7% of the Spanish do the same thing. Do the British act out of thriftiness? Certainly not, as shown by the fact that they are also the most likely in Europe to give such gifts to charity.

Bastien Duclaux, Managing Director of Twenga, said: “The British and Germans are not afraid to sell on gifts they are unhappy with because they are pragmatic. They are leading a general change in attitudes, as shown by the strong growth of auction and marketplace sites. It’s only a matter of time before southern Europeans adopt this approach.”

What do you do with Christmas presents that you don’t like?

Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, President and Director General of marketplace site PriceMinister confirmed, “Selling on a present you don’t like is becoming a more acceptable way of getting a gift that you will get more use from, while still respecting the kindness of the gift giver. Each year, Europeans are gradually moving towards the pragmatic behavior shown by northern European countries. It’s the thought that counts, not the object itself. So why not sell it on for something more suitable?”

Methodology
Is the recession over, or will it still affect Christmas spending this year? To answer this question, Twenga, conducted its Annual Christmas Spending Survey, asking some 3,000 European internet users what their budget would be for the festive period and how they intend to spend it. The research was done online by Novametrie for Twenga on a representative sample of 3,027 Europeans in France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands between 6 and 13 October 2009.

Founded in 2006 by Bastien Duclaux and Cedric Anes, Twenga runs 13 sites, including the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Brazil, Russia, the United States and Australia displaying nearly 160 million offerings from more than 70,000 online shops. In August 2009, Twenga sites received over 21 million visits.

Leading live Internet video platform, Livestream, continues its innovative approach to streaming live video solutions, with launch of a first of its kind, free service for streaming live directly to the iPhone and iPod touch.

Using Livestream Procaster, users can stream live from their webcam, video camera or even broadcast their PC or Mac desktop. Livestream producers can start streaming live to the addressable iPhone and iPod Touch audience over 3G or Wi-Fi connections, with less than five minutes of setup.

Livestream is the first to offer a turn-key streaming service that uses the new H.264 HTTP live streaming functionality included in the native QuickTime player that Apple has pre-installed on the iPhone. This means that Livestream producers do not need to obtain iPhone App Store approval to launch their own iPhone live streaming channel, nor do their viewers need to install any application. Streams are viewed using the iPhone’s Safari browser.

Livestream has also provided a simple Representational State Transfer (REST) API for developers to integrate live streaming into their own iPhone websites or their own iPhone applications. Livestream Procaster includes a free streaming encoder, which means that no third party application or license needs to be purchased in order to stream live to the iPhone using Livestream.

“A key breakthrough is that the service doesn’t require any proprietary player or application to be installed on the iPhone. Producers are free to integrate the iPhone live stream with their own website, iPhone portal or iPhone application using the API provided,” explained Livestream CEO and co-founder Max Haot.

Streaming live to the iPhone requires less than five minutes to install. Producers simply download and install Livestream Procaster for the PC or Mac from www.livestream.com/procaster, connect their video camera or webcam, select iPhone 3G Quality, and press Go Live. User can view the live streams on their iPhone or iPod Touch by pointing their Safari browser to the channel they want to view at iphone.livestream.com.

Livestream will first use this new feature at NewTeeVee Live, the conference for online video influencers being held on Nov. 13 in San Francisco. Viewers can watch it live at iphone.livestream.com.

Retrevo is launching new social media & at home gadget shopping services for in-store shoppers and online shoppers. Retrevo uses Artificial Intelligence technology to make sense of the consumer electronics market and help electronics shoppers decide what to buy, when to buy, and where to buy it.

1. Mobile Shopping with RetrevoQ (SMS & Twitter)

For in-store shoppers Retrevo s new service, RetrevoQ, sends instant product shopping advice to a shopper s cell phone. Shoppers simply send a text message (SMS) or Tweet to Retrevo s service with the name of the product they re considering. Retrevo instantly sends back a response that tells them three pieces of shopping advice:

• Real-Time Recommendation – Whether or not it s a good product to buy
• Fair Price – The reasonable price one should pay for the product based on its feature set
• Online Price Range – The price range available on the Internet for the product

2. At Home Shopping Made Easy

For shoppers at home, Retrevo has created the first real-time consumer electronics digital catalog. Unlike traditional print catalogs, Retrevo s digital shopping catalog includes:

• Products that are dynamically added as manufacturers introduce them
• Evaluations and recommendations that reflect up-to-the-minute data
• Prices that are updated whenever retailers change them
• Bargains, deals and special offers that are front and center so shoppers can find them

How-To Use Retrevo’s New Services

To use RetrevoQ, from a mobile phone send a text message to 41411 with RetrevoQ followed by the product make and model. For example, text retrevoq Canon 500D to 41411.

To access @retrevoq from Twitter, Tweet @retrevoq and the product make and model. For example @retrevoq Canon 500D . For a private, direct message exchange, follow http://twitter.com/retrevoq and then direct message the product make and model. For example: dm @retrevoq Canon 500D .Shoppers will instantly receive a response: Canon 500D: Strong Buy if you want high end, Fair Price: $842, Range: $724-$1043.

Shoppers at home can use the Retrevo Real-Time Holiday Catalog and flip through pages to browse products or go directly to a category they re interested in such as HDTVs, digital cameras, laptops, camcorders, iPods, or Blu-ray players.

With violent crimes linked to classified ads sites like Craigslist in Boston and Minnesota recently making news headlines, it’s surprising that no company has emerged to make transacting on classifieds sites safer. That is until now. ListSafer is the first company to provide a ratings and reviews platform for classified ads sites such as Craigslist.org, OLX.com and Kijiji.com.

ListSafer, which just entered public beta, seeks to solve issues related to an increase in identity theft, scams, and violence on classifieds sites by building a platform that allows buyers and sellers to post ratings and reviews on their experiences on these sites. Therefore, potential buyers and sellers will be able to view each other’s ratings and reviews before entering into a transaction, making the whole process safer and reducing fraud.

ListSafer provides a seller with an html badge that can easily be placed into their listings on sites like Craiglist.org. This badge provides a summary of the seller, including the seller’s photo, name, location, overall rating and total number of reviews received. Potential buyers can view this or click through to read the reviews posted to the seller’s profile located on ListSafer’s site. If the buyer likes what he sees he can click on the “Place Bid” button located on the badge and place a bid on the item being sold.

1. Add Listing for Bids / Generate Badge

2. Add Badge to Classifieds Site

3. Buyers View Seller’s Profile / Place Bids

4. Seller Views and Picks Winning Bid

5. Seller and Buyer Rate Their Experience

Sellers can then log into ListSafer and review all the bids from buyers, and for those buyers who have used ListSafer before, sellers can see ratings and reviews they have received for past transactions. Once the seller selects a winning bid, ListSafer sends the seller the buyers contact information, notifies the winning buyer and bidding for the listing is closed. When the transaction is completed the buyer and seller can rate and review their experience.

ListSafer is essentially providing a “trusted badge” for sellers so that buyers can get comfortable with buying products and services from them, allowing sellers to differentiate themselves from all the people who are selling the same thing. ListSafer helps sellers build a positive reputation of safety and reliability, freeing them from competing only on price. As ListSafer also allows sellers to review buyers, if a seller gets a bid from a buyer that had a negative review in the past, the seller can ignore that bid and avoid the potential hassle. ListSafer helps potential buyers by allowing them to read past reviews which sellers have received and make a more educated decision as to whether they should bid on the item being sold.

ListSafer also utilizes Facebook Connect so that users can signup for the service and create a profile in seconds. Integration with Facebook also allows buyers and sellers to see how they may be connected and which friends they have in common, further lessening the anxiety of entering into a transaction.