Help: General
The onListed platform is a virtual service marketplace developed to make your everyday service shopping easier, faster, and cheaper. We facilitate the process of matching right jobs with right providers to get the jobs done more efficiently.
As an auction-based platform, onListed harnesses the power of instant online exposure, standardized listing, competitive bidding, and objective contracting to offer a better way to shop for services. We are your premier service marketplace for all your service shopping needs. If it’s legal, appropriate, and US-based, you can list it on onListed.
Using onListed is as easy as 1-2-3-4 or Listing-Bid-Contract-Delivery. First, buyers post their jobs listings in appropriate service categories to solicit competitive bids from interested providers. Second, providers search job listings in specialized categories to bid on the ones they wish to provide. Third, buyers review all received bids to select the most attractive bids from most suitable providers to deliver the services. Fourth, providers complete their contracted service work and buyers pay for the contracted work received. The onListed approach is much more efficient that the traditional service shopping process where buyers do most up-front searching and negotiating work and providers expect buyers to come to them.
We are confident that once you use our platform you will agree that onListed offers a simple, convenient, and effective way to shop for services. The onListed advantage is based on our practical interface design, flexible user interaction, and comprehensive service offering. By imposing our efficient List-Bid-Contract-Delivery format, we make the service shopping process more structured, objective, and predictable. Through our demand-driven and auction-based orientation, we reduce the service shopping burden of buyers and increase the competitiveness of providers. We cannot make you a great service shopper overnight but we can help you make your everyday service shopping easier, faster, and cheaper.
All you need to do to get started is to register as an onListed user. Although you can view some onListed content as a visitor, only registered and logged-in users can post new content, interact with other users, and buy and sell services through onListed. Our registration process includes four steps: (1) required account creation to set up your unique user account, (2) required email activation to confirm email accessibility, (3) required user login to demonstrate process completion, and (4) recommended account verification to confirm credit card ownership. After successful registration, you may immediately create your public profile, post your own job listings, and bid on job listings of others. Please remember that only one onListed user account per person is permitted.
To register as an onListed user, we ask that you are an adult U.S. resident with a valid U.S. address. If you wish to register as a business, you must be the formally designated decision maker of your business entity. All onListed users must be capable of entering into legally binding contracts in the USA.
Our fees are simple, transparent, and affordable. We do not charge any hidden fees, penalty fees, inactivity fees, or subscription fees. You can access our fee schedule by clicking on the “Terms” link located in the footer of most pages and selecting “Fees”. Our ongoing promotions are described in our Fees section and are advertised on the website’s homepage. There are four types of user fees: (1) listing fee paid by buyers, (2) bidding fee paid by providers, (3) winning fee paid by providers, and (4) indecision fee possibly paid by buyers. Buyers are billed listing fees when they post job listings. Providers are billed bidding fees when they bid on job listings and winning fees when buyers select they bids. Buyers may be billed indecision fees when they fail to select winning bids in 7 days after the end of listings with 5 or more bids within the listing’s budget, or when buyers cancel job listings with 5 or more bids within the listing’s budget. We adapted one of the lowest fees in the industry. Some of our competitors charge their users 5% - 10% of contract value for each service traded. This means that a $2,000 project could cost you $100 - $200 in their user fees. With onListed, a $2,000 service contract will cost $6 to trade ($2 to post it and $4 to bid and win it). In fact, our average fee is about 0.5% of the traded service value. We have a strict no refund policy so our user fees are low, final, and nonrefundable.
Some online trading platforms implement a rigid functional distinction between buyers who buy services and providers who sell services. We take a more practical and flexible approach. Our fluid designation as a buyer or a provider is based on your current listing and bidding activity. You are a buyer when you post job listings and a provider when you bid on job listings. We allow our buyers to concentrate on buying and our providers on selling without restricting them to do only that. We realize that our providers may wish to buy services and our buyers may occasionally wish to provide services. The real difference between onListed buyers and onListed providers is that providers appear in provider search results and buyers remain more anonymous. All new users, by default, are registered as buyers without being included in provider search results. You must indicate your provider interest to appear in provider search results by adjusting “My Profile” settings.
You should find onListed navigation very intuitive. The login area is shown in the top right corner of page. The primary menu (Post Listing, Find Listing, Find Provider) appears in the center of page header, for logged in users. “My onListed” dropdown menu is located just below the login area (Listings, Bids, Contracts, Favorites, Profile, Account, Billing, Get Verified). At the bottom of page, you will find our support links (Terms, Help, About, Contact) and our quick reference links for service groups and alphabetized providers. The center of page displays page-specific content that you requested. Most pages have large green titles, just below the main onListed logo, to remind you where you are on onListed. If you find yourself lost, just click on the big onListed logo to come back to the homepage.
Our registered users have access to all onListed features. Most importantly, our users may post job listings, bid on job listings, and form service contracts. Unregistered visitors can only view public content posted by other users. The most prominent onListed tools include our standard job listing format, comprehensive listing and profile search engines, our standard bid format, our flexible public user profiles, our public listing and private bid discussion boards, our buyer-controlled winning bid selection feature, comprehensive service contract printout, and revisable feedback system. You can use our support links to access our Terms, Help, About, and Contact pages. Please note that you are strictly prohibited from posting any illegal or inappropriate content, as defined by “Prohibited Listings” part of the “Terms”. Users who encounter any prohibited content should immediately notify our staff. Violators of this policy may face account deletion and legal liability.
Different onListed content is accessed in different ways. Explore the website by clicking on different menu buttons and links to quickly learn what is where. Naturally, our homepage is a good starting point for learning our site navigation since it is directly linked to more areas of onListed than any other page. To find job listings or provider profiles, you may use the quick listing/provider search window, the advanced “Find Listing” and “Find Provider” menu pages, or the center of homepage summary area, or the bottom reference links for service groups and alphabetized providers. The main menu advance search pages for job listings and provider profiles, offer various practical ways to browse content based on user search criteria. A quick keyword search of job listings or provider profiles can also be done using the shortcut listing/provider search window. Your past and current activity can be accessed through “My onListed” dropdown menu. You may use the bottom reference links to view specific job listings or provider profiles.
Our comprehensive service classification is based on a 3-tier service category hierarchy (group, category, and subcategory) and a linear service type option (personal, residential, commercial). There are 7 groups, 35 categories (5 per each group), and hundreds subcategories. All service subcategories can be represented as either personal-residential, personal-commercial, or residential-commercial service type pairing. The 7 main service groups include: (1) Assistance for personal support services, (2) Business for administrative and operational services, (3) Logistics for relocating and renting services, (4) Miscellaneous for unclassified services, (5) Property for building and land services, (6) Talent for artistic and creative services, and (7) Technology for computerized and scientific services. Service type options correspond to the nature of the service job (small vs. large) and buyer affiliation (individual, household, corporation). The 3 service types are: Personal for individual, non-real-estate needs, Residential for home property and equipment needs, and Commercial for business and nonprofit needs.
You communicate with other users when you post onListed content, including job listings, bids, profiles, discussion board comments, and feedback. Due to the open nature of most content, we advise you not to include any private information in public postings. Bids, bid discussion board comments, and service contracts are visible only to the two contracting users, so more private information may be shared. When a buyer and a provider agree to contract a service job, through the act of winning bid selection, their identity and contact information is automatically disclosed in the content of their service contract. Although we allow our users to share their contact information and communicate outside of onListed prior to service contracting, we strongly caution against it. We simply empower you to utilize all communication tools necessary to make educated service shopping decisions. We understand that unrestricted external communication throughout the negotiation process may be essential for services that cannot be accurately priced without first-hand inspections or personal interviews. As long as you do not attempt to bypass our service shopping structure, you may freely communicate with other users inside or outside of onListed.
We are very serious about protecting your privacy. We designed onListed to facilitate effective service shopping while protecting user privacy and encouraging user anonymity. To help us protect your personal information, always protect your onListed login information, always notify us of suspected fraud and account intrusion, always be cautious about disclosing your sensitive information to others, and always properly logout after each onListed session. For your security, we do not store your credit card information in our system. We rely on a professional payment gateway system and encrypted connection to securely store, access, and process all payment information. We never sell your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes. You may review the Privacy Policy section of our Terms of Use for more information about how we protect your privacy.
As with any business dealings and social interactions, problems can happen and should be expected. Preparation is half of prevention. Always be informed, prepared, and proactive before listing or bidding. You must exercise sound judgment and effective communication to detect inaccurate or deceptive content. Communicate clearly and promptly by asking specific questions through discussion board comments, to make the dialog a part of potential future service contracts. The best way to prevent onListed service shopping problems is to use common sense and do your homework. Buyers should produce descriptive and accurate job listings by including all relevant facts and anticipating provider questions. Providers should post reasonable and practical bids with clear contingency comments to convey image of experience and professionalism. This is not a standard Dutch auction system where the highest, or in our case the lowest, bid always wins. Buyers should not select winning bids based solely on low price. Use all available information to assess the quality of the bidder and the bid itself. Consider provider experience, reputation, quality, and capability. Remember that on onListed, as in life in general, we get what we pay for. Choose the cheapest bid and you will likely get the cheapest service. You may get an occasional bargain but do not expect regular miracles. For more practical tips on how to minimize contracting problems and maximize your onListed success, review our User Conduct section of the Terms of Use.
Our effectiveness comes directly from empowering our users to take control of their own service shopping experience. Since we designed onListed as a service shopping platform for responsible and capable users, we expect our users to resolve their own service disputes, without the need for our involvement. Our feedback system is an effective tool to deter and punish unprofessional behavior. You may revise the feedback you posted for up to 60 days. This means that negative feedback can turn into positive feedback if you handle your service disputes professionally and promptly. Always be polite, cooperative, reasonable, and practical. Show leadership, communication, and conflict management skills. Work with the other person to resolve the problem not against the other person to win the argument.
We designed onListed to be a premier service marketplace, where fraud and abuse are rare and ineffective. Unfortunately, dishonest users will always find their way into any trading platform. The best way to protect yourself from user fraud and abuse is to exercise common sense and caution. Follow our User Conduct guideline for practical tips on how to maximize your onListed service shopping experience. Take your time and do your homework well before you disclose your personal information or commit to a service contract. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Be ready for dishonest users and learn to identify them early. Have a contingency plan for when things go wrong. Try to confirm all essential job listing and bid information before acting on them. Ask questions and demand specific answers. Always be informed, prepared, and proactive.
All abusive content is defined in the Prohibited Listings section of our Terms of Use. You can report any abusive content by clicking the “Report Abuse” link or by emailing us the description and location of such content. Abusive content is disruptive and threatens our integrity and effectiveness. The onListed users are our main defense against content abuse. Please report all abuse you come across while using onListed. We need your help to keep onListed safe and effective. Posting prohibited content in listings, bids, profiles, feedback, or comments is strictly forbidden. We may pursue legal action against all abusive users and remove their user accounts, including all content, without warning.
Our billing system is designed to be simple and transparent. Each paid user activity is billed to the user’s account. Paid activities include: (1) Listing or posting new job listing, (2) Bidding or posting a bid on a job listing, (3) winning or being selected as a winning bid, and (4) indecision or failing to promptly select a winning bid for a successful listing. You may access your current billing statement by clicking “Billing” in “My onListed” dropdown menu. User’s first paid listing or bidding activity requires an immediate manual credit card payment. For your security and convenience, your credit card is not stored in our system but is securely accessible for future payments. Our regular billing system, which begins after the initial manual payment for first listing or bidding activity, is based on a monthly accrual cycle and a single automatic payment on the 1st day of each month. Our monthly billing captures all billable user activity from the 1st day to the last (28th, 29th, 30th, or 31st) day of each month. An automatic monthly payment is processed on the 1st day of each month only if billable activity occurred in the previous month and if outstanding balance exists. Users are emailed a payment confirmation after each manual and automatic payment or payment attempt. If your automatic monthly payment fails, as indicated by the “Billing” sections of “My onListed”, you must manually update your credit card information by processing a new manual payment for the amount due within 15 days, or until the 15th day of the month. Automatic monthly payment may fail if your credit card account has been canceled or suspended, your credit card limit has been reached or exceeded, your account number has been changed, or your credit card has been reissued. You may manually pay your balance prior to your scheduled automatic payment or after a failed automatic payment by completing your payment information in the “Billing” section of “My onListed”. For user protection, we rely on a professional payment gateway software and encrypted connection to securely store, access, and process all your payment information.
We hope that if you are not completely happy with our platform, you will contact us to share your experiences. We will seriously consider your feedback and do our best to address your concerns. If you do not wish to continue using onListed, you can cancel you listings and bids, pay your account balance, and delete your account. User account can be deleted by clicking on “My onListed” and selecting “Account” option. Once in “My Account”, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Delete Account” link to proceed with the permanent account deletion.
We currently support our users through email only. To emphasize the efficiency of email communication, we do not to offer phone or instant message customer support. We can be conveniently reached via our contact form or email, 24/7/365. We are always working and we are always ready to assist you. We will try to respond to most emailed inquiries within 24 hours.
If our Help and Terms pages do not fully address your specific questions, please contact us directly. We understand that more advanced users with more specific inquiries may require more personalized attention to get the most out of onListed. We can be conveniently reached via email or standard contact form accessed through the “Contact” link found at the bottom of most pages.