Seller Guidelines

Everything you need to know to sell successfully on Light Fish

Updated by · March 2026

Quick Rules

Ship on time or communicate delays
No fish-out-of-water photos
No local-pickup or rehoming listings

Complete your seller profile before listing
Customers get a 2-hour DOA claim window
Listings are reviewed within 24 hours

Create a Listing

Upload Great Photos

This is the single most important part of your listing.

You need a primary image (shown on the homepage and category pages) and at least one secondary image. A third image is optional. Use a 4:3 aspect ratio for the best results — you can crop after uploading.

No fish-out-of-water photos. These will cause your listing to be rejected. Use a highlight to show size instead.

Large photo files? Use Adobe's free image resizer before uploading.

Complete Your Seller Profile

Customers check your profile before buying. Make it count.

Before listing, make sure you have:

Profile photo — a photo of yourself or your business logo
Bio — a short description of you or your business
Profile badge — choose whether you're a hobbyist or business

You can also add social media links. Set all of this up in your account settings.

Write a Clear Title

Think about what a buyer would search for.

Use this format when possible: {species name}, {scientific name}, {descriptor}

Titles are automatically PascalCased. Don't include "Free Shipping" — listings with $0 shipping get a badge automatically.

Good titles	Bad titles
Cherry Shrimp, Neocaridina davidi, SSS Grade	My Crossed Guppies
2 Purple Moscow Guppies, M/F Pair	Zebra Danios $1 Each
Dwarf Hairgrass Clumps, Eleocharis Belem	African Cichlid Breeder
Hollywood Stunner Chalice Coral, WYSIWYG	Snails for Sale

Write a Detailed Description

Assume the customer knows nothing about this item.

Describe the species, care level, temperament, and what the buyer should expect. You don't need to include:

A live arrival guarantee (this is set marketplace-wide)
Water parameters (add these as highlights instead)

Good

"Green Jade Shrimp range from light to dark green. When young or stressed, they may turn blue — don't worry, they'll green up once settled. They make excellent clean-up crews and enjoy company, so we recommend at least 5."

Bad

"Plants are currently in a 300-gallon tank with co2"
"Got guppy fry available for sale payment via venmo"

Add Tags & Highlights

Optional but helps your listing get discovered.

Tags are predefined keywords (e.g., "Peaceful", "Low Light") that help your listing appear in search results.

Highlights let you add extra detail to your listing page:

Standard — shipping origin, max growth size, recommended tank size
Water parameters — your current water conditions and recommended ranges

Example of tags on a listing

Example of highlights on a listing

Shipping Accountability

You must ship orders within your processing window and upload a tracking number. Your customer is automatically emailed when tracking is added.

Delays are okay — just communicate them. If you need to delay for weather, customer requests, or any other reason, submit a delay from your seller dashboard with a new estimated ship date. The safety of the animals always comes first.

If an order isn't shipped and no delay is submitted, Light Fish escalates automatically:

Reminder — Processing window expires. You're asked to ship or submit a delay.

Warning — 24 hours later. Customer is notified of the delay.

Final Notice — Another 24 hours. Last chance to ship or delay.

Auto-Cancelled — Order cancelled. Customer receives a full refund.

Sellers that are repeatedly unresponsive — not sellers who communicate delays — may face account termination.

Live Arrival Guarantee

All orders include a 2-hour Live Arrival Guarantee. After delivery, the customer has 2 hours to file a DOA (dead-on-arrival) claim by emailing support@light.fish with a photo of the unopened package. Customers are eligible for a full or partial refund, including the cost of shipping.

What this means for sellers: If a DOA claim is approved, you may receive partial or no payment for that order. In rare cases, you should file a claim with your shipping carrier.

Listing Review Process

Every new listing is manually reviewed before going live. We check:

Title, description, and images meet our quality standards
Your seller profile is complete
The listing isn't for local pickup or rehoming

Reviews typically complete within 24 hours. If your listing needs changes, you can edit and re-submit at any time. For questions, email support@light.fish.

Listing Examples

Well-crafted listings

Low-effort listings (removed)

Tips from Our Data

We analyzed what separates listings that sell from those that don't. Here's what the data shows:

Write longer descriptions. Listings with 150+ words in the description sell at significantly higher rates than short descriptions. Buyers need to trust that a live animal will arrive healthy — detailed descriptions build that trust. Aim for at least 150 words.

The $30–$40 sweet spot. Listings priced between $30–$40 have the highest conversion rate. Under $10, buyers may question quality. Over $50, the purchase feels high-stakes without seeing the animal in person. Listings above $75 rarely sell — if you're pricing premium, invest extra effort in photos and descriptions.

Title keywords matter. Titles with "fry", "pack", or "free shipping" consistently outperform. Buyers perceive value in quantity. Conversely, "pair" listings underperform compared to packs. Also avoid putting DOA or guarantee language in your title — it belongs in the description, not the headline.

Ready to get started?

Create a Listing

Questions? Email support@light.fish