I'm really sad about this. Many of you guys know that I have a dropshipping store...
Well, Due to the way the platform is running, I am shutting it down for a while.

So, My online store is on a website called Listia A while back I wrote about Listia being similar to Steemit in some ways. Because here on Steemit we use Steem. And Listia uses a currency called Credits.

Because Listia uses a credit currency, I was able to make serious money with my dropshipping store.

How was I able to get such an advantage?
If you browse the site, You'll notice that there is a lot of ... Junk.
Listia has always been a great way to declutter everything around your house.
You can list almost anything you want, and it will sell for sure!
Because there isn't much to choose from.
Doing the math, I saw that there were only around 100,000 things listed!
Compare that to Amazon at 480 million products.
And Ebay 112 Million
(Taken off the internet, may not be 100% Accurate)

So it wasn't hard for me to dominate!

Where I got my inventory!

At first, I was using Amazon as my drop shipper. But I later found out; It's against their Prime TOS. And I wouldn't want Amazon to be mad at me. So I stopped using Amazon. And Switched to Ebay!
This worked out better in the long run Because I can get cash back through Ebates, Use Ebay bucks AND Get cashback through my credit card. Cashback x3! Plus profit from Listia! Hellz yes!

I also had an advantage, Because there are a lot of Chinese sellers on Listia, Selling weird unknown items. Which combine that with the junk. And A lot of people charging USD for shipping (Frowned upon on listings).
I was able to List, Your everyday items. That Americans love. As a result, I got lots of sales. And All I had to do was copy and paste shipping information.

Their new feature, Which Ultimately is closing my store.

There is a problem with credits. I don't want to buy a lot of the stuff listed on Listia. So I was incredibly happy when they came out with the ability to sell credits.

At first, they made it like the steemit market. Or any market for that matter. Dealing with unique currencies.
Typically the person with the best price sells first.

They also only opened the program to specific people. Making it even better for me as a seller. When I got into the program.

But a problem arises.

Sellers were constantly "undercutting" each other to have their credits sold first.
So Listia locked in the number at 27,500 credits per dollar. So we were forced to "wait in line." TO have our credits sold.
That was okay. But gradually the "estimated Sale time" Kept rising.... 14 days, 30 days... 45 days.
I was okay with this. Sure I'd have to wait 45 days to get paid, But with the money, I was making from my other sources I could keep my credit card in good shape. While I wait for the money to come in.

Then they made a new change...
I guess a lot of people were complaining about the time frame it took for them to make money... So they enabled Credit sales per week rule.
They based on how many sales you get. With a maximum of 5 Million credits per week.
They estimated that everyone would get paid their limit per week. But to be fair, we had to wait for all the other sales to go through. Which has taken the 45 days! (The old sales still aren't completely through yet.)

The news was bad for me. Because as my credits have piled up in the last couple months. I haven't been able to sell any of them for USD.

For those familiar with dropshipping, You usually charge the cost of the items on a credit card; Then you pay back the credit card and pocket the profits.

This was working well for me Until this happened....
We are waiting an "Estimated Time of 12 days." before I can start receiving my 5 Million credits per week...

How much are 5 million credits per week?
27,500 credits per dollar. So roughly: 145.00 (After Fees)

So basically, if it works out like predicted. I'll be paid 145.00 per week.
Thats it....

If I get NO more sales, They'll be paying me 145.00 per week for the next 77 weeks... 17 Months....
I won't be fully paid off until October of next year.

Of course. They told us this new rule will be temporary until they come up with a better way of doing it.
Their goals....

Keep the amount of time it takes to pay people off shorter.
To keep the rate of credits per dollar as low as they can.

Don't get the wrong Idea. I love Listia. And they have always paid me in the end. My parents have been freaking out thinking I'm involved in some scam LOL.
But it's like Steemit; It's not perfect. But they are doing their best to fix and make the platform better. Sometimes it takes time.

But for now

I have to worry about my self. I'm bummed because I love that I can offer great products to my fantastic customers. But today I am turning "off" The relisting on most of my listings. I'm going to keep some coloring books and some of my Tshirts up. But to save me from having to go back to a job and paying a ton in credit card interest. I'm going to focus on my other businesses that I know will pay more frequently. My goal is to pay back my debt without the Listia money; then when that comes in, I can invest it or use it for my savings. Which will later build my store again?

I think what I learned from this, Is I should have bigger savings to cover the cost of running my dropshipping store, When problems arise like this, I can at least avoid debt. Then wait for the money to come in.