10 steps to create the perfect Olio listing
Step 1 - What to share
Firstly, you need to check that what you’d like to share complies with Olio’s ‘what can and cannot be added’ - check the guidelines.
Step 2 - Add your listing
To add a listing, tap the purple button at the bottom of the app’s home screen.
Ensure you select "free" and then ‘Food’ or ‘Non-food’.
Step 3 (Food Waste Hero listings only) - Select the business collection slot
It's really important for Olio and the businesses we're partnering with that we choose the right collection slot. This ensures transparency in our FWH programme! (NOTE: please be extra careful when selecting a collection slot as here you will see a list of all your collections from the previous 25 hours and the next 10 hours)
Step 4 - Select a good picture
A good clear picture of your item will attract more requests!
(Food Waste Hero listings only)
You can group items together and choose how to list the food you collect. Remember that the "Use by" date of each food item must be clear in the listing photo(s) so only group items that have the same “Use By” or “Best Before” date.
Double-check that the date is visible in the listing photo without having to click on the picture (many people won't click on the picture and might report your listing by mistake 🙁 )
Step 5 - Choose a Title
For the title, you’ll need to choose something clear and appealing e.g. ‘Apples freshly picked from my garden’ or ‘Wholemeal Baguettes’, the more eye-catching the title the more likely it is you will receive a request!
Step 6 - Write a description
In the description, please remember to state the following:
QUANTITY - Write something like 3 x cheese sandwiches.
QUALITY – If needed, i.e. freshly prepared, bruised, packet a bit open (anything that you share still needs to be safe to eat)
E.g. 2 x Trio of Olive Bloomer (best before 06 July 2021)
Step 7 - Select the quantity
To make sure we correctly calculate the amazing impact you are having by saving all this food, make sure to specify the number of items in your listing.
Please note that the users requesting the food won't see this from your listing (so you still want to add the quantity in the description as well).
Step 8 - Choose pick up times
Please add your preferred pick up times and ensure that you don’t offer a time that is past the use-by date. *TIP* try to be as flexible as you can offering at least a couple of hours window.
Step 9 - Set the expiry
Adders can choose how long they’d like the listing to be up for, ranging from "until midnight" for use by date food items, 1 – 8 hours, or 1 – 28 days. Please choose the appropriate ‘List for’ time.
For example, if you have food that has a use-by date today, you must ensure it’s unlisted by midnight today.
For items that have a best-before date, these can be distributed after the date so in this instance you might select ‘1 day’ to ensure the food is still of great quality.
After the time set, if you haven’t received a request the listing will be automatically unlisted.
Step 10 - Live in?
Making listings live at a future time can be really helpful if you're listing several things in quick succession, and you want them to become 'live' in a few minutes, rather than immediately. When a listing isn't 'live', it cannot be requested, thus you won't receive messages from requesters until your listing becomes 'live'. This can be really helpful, so that you can complete listing all of your items, before receiving the first requests.
✅ You're done! Submit!
Finally, once you’ve completed all the fields press ‘submit’. Once submitted, a page will pop up with a green tick to confirm your listing has been successfully uploaded. Then when you receive your first request, you can start arranging the collection – woohoo! More than half of all listings on Olio are requested within the first 60 minutes, and more than 80% within 24 hours.