Listing fees and activation
Before a new listing goes live, sellers review everything on Step 5: Review & Activate and pay any fees that apply. This page explains what the listing fee covers, how pricing is calculated, when payment is required, and what happens after checkout.
Listing fees are not buyer checkout. When a buyer pays by card for animals on your listing, that money goes to your connected Stripe account. Listing fees are separate platform charges that pay to publish or extend your listing window. For buyer card payments, see Card payouts and the Stripe Direct model. When does a listing fee apply?
A listing fee applies when you publish a new draft listing for the first time.
You reach Step 5 at the end of the create-listing flow. After you choose a duration, confirm your details, and complete payment (if any), the listing becomes active and buyers can find it.
Listing fees do not apply when you:
- save a draft and come back later without publishing
- edit a listing that is already published (basics, photos, inventory reductions, and so on)
- reactivate a sold-out listing while its current window is still open (this is free)
Paid Extend and Renew for published listings are rolling out separately. If you open Extend or Renew from a reminder or the manage screen, you may still see the review step, but checkout for those actions may not be available yet. See Listing expiration and renewal reminders.
What you pay for
Your total at Step 5 can include up to three parts:
| Charge | What it covers | Required? |
|---|
| Base listing fee | The listing window you selected (for example, 30, 60, or 90 days) | Yes, unless waived |
| Social media promotion | Scheduled ad placements on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok (~1 per week over your window) | Optional add-on |
| Browse featured spotlight | Featured placement on the Browse page and a featured badge on your listing | Optional add-on |
Before you can activate
Step 5 requires all of the following:
- A selected listing duration — tap a duration card to choose how long the listing stays live.
- A pickup location — your profile (or your organization’s profile) must have a pickup location so buyers can see your approximate area on the map and in search. If one is missing, Step 5 shows a prompt to open Profile and add it.
- Confirmation checkbox — check I confirm that all information is accurate and I agree to the terms of service.
- A valid pricing quote — the app loads a server-calculated quote for your duration and add-on choices. If the quote fails to load, wait a moment and try again.
Save your draft at any earlier step if you need to fix photos, inventory, or pickup location before paying. Your work is preserved until you successfully activate.
When the base listing fee is waived
The base listing fee may show as Included in the pricing summary when one of these applies:
Free-listing organizations
Some nonprofit and shelter organizations have free listings. For those orgs:
- Duration cards show the base fee as Included with the regular value listed for reference.
- The pricing summary shows a $0 base fee.
- Optional add-ons (social promotion, browse featured) still cost the same as for any other seller.
Listing credits
Referral credits and other listing credits waive the base listing fee only for one eligible activation. Credits do not cover promotion or featured add-ons.
When a credit applies, the pricing summary shows:
- (credit applied) next to the base listing fee line
- Included instead of a dollar amount for the base fee
- A note that your listing credit was applied
Credits are personal. They do not transfer to an organization or another user. See Referrals and listing credits.
If the base fee is waived and you did not select any paid add-ons, Total due is Free and the button reads Activate Listing instead of showing a payment amount.
How payment works
Free activation ($0 total)
When nothing is owed, the app grants your listing entitlement immediately and publishes the listing. You stay on Step 5 briefly while activation completes, then go to the Sell tab.
Paid activation
When Total due is greater than $0:
- Tap Pay $X & Activate Listing.
- The app saves your promotion choices and pickup location, then opens Stripe Checkout (a secure hosted payment page).
- Enter your card details on Stripe’s page and complete payment.
- After payment, you return to Step 5 and the app verifies the payment and publishes your listing.
- When activation finishes, you are taken to the Sell tab and your listing appears under Published.
On web, Stripe Checkout opens in the same browser tab and returns you to Step 5 when done.
On iPhone and Android, Stripe Checkout opens in an in-app browser. When payment completes, you return to Step 5 automatically. If the app was closed during payment, it tries to bring you back to your listing to finish activation.
You do not need a connected Stripe payout account to pay a listing fee. Seller payout setup is only required if you want to accept card payments from buyers. See Card payouts and the Stripe Direct model.
What happens after you pay
Behind the scenes, The Animal Traders:
- Calculates your fee on the server (the price you saw at Step 5).
- Records a listing entitlement tied to your payment or credit.
- Publishes the listing: sets status to active, applies your chosen duration, sets expires at, and applies any promotion flags you selected.
- Consumes the entitlement so it cannot be reused for a second listing.
If payment succeeded but the app was interrupted before publish finished, reopening your draft on Step 5 can complete activation automatically once the entitlement is confirmed. A server-side backstop also finishes activation if the return to the app is delayed.
Pricing summary example
A typical paid activation might look like this:
- 30-day listing fee — $XX.XX
- Social media promotion — $XX.XX (if selected)
- Browse featured spotlight — $XX.XX (if selected)
- Total due — sum of the lines above
A credit-waived activation with one add-on might look like this:
- 30-day listing fee (credit applied) — Included
- Browse featured spotlight — $XX.XX
- Total due — $XX.XX
An exempt-organization activation with no add-ons:
- 30-day listing fee (included) — Included
- Total due — Free
Exact amounts depend on the duration and add-ons you choose. They are always shown in Step 5 before you confirm.
Canceled or failed payment
If you cancel checkout or payment fails:
- Your listing stays a draft. Nothing you entered in earlier steps is lost.
- Step 5 shows an error message and you can try again.
- You can change duration or add-ons and start checkout again.
Common messages:
- Payment canceled — checkout was closed before completion. Try again when ready.
- Payment failed — the card was declined or Stripe could not process the charge. Use a different card or contact your bank.
- Offline — the app could not reach the server. Your draft is saved; retry when you have a connection.
- Still finishing activation — payment may have gone through but verification is still running. Wait a moment, stay on Step 5, or reopen the draft.
If you believe you were charged but the listing did not publish, check the Sell tab first. If the listing is still a draft, return to Step 5 — activation may complete on its own once the payment is confirmed.
Referral rewards and paid activation
Referral credits are earned when a referred friend publishes their first qualifying paid listing — a listing where the base fee was actually paid, not fully waived by a credit or free-org exemption.
Publishing through a free-listing organization does not trigger referral rewards for either person, because there was no paid base fee to reward.
See Referrals and listing credits for the full referral program rules.
Who can activate a listing
- Individual sellers can activate their own draft listings.
- Organization owners, admins, and managers can activate organization drafts.
- Staff and members generally cannot activate or pay listing fees for the organization.
For ownership and role details, see Listings & Ownership and Roles.
