What We Shipped in March (and What's Next)

Hey everyone,

We've been heads-down shipping features this month, and I wanted to share what's new on Lumo—plus what we're working on next.

The Big Stuff We Just Launched

We dropped our commission to 10% flat. No tiers, no fine print. Whether you're delivering tacos or selling a couch, we take 10%. Most platforms are taking 15-30%, and we think that's broken. We want sellers and service providers to actually make money.

24-hour escrow with auto-release. Your payment is protected when you buy something, and sellers get paid automatically 24 hours after delivery unless there's a dispute. We've heard from too many people burned by sketchy transactions on other platforms. This one's simple: money held safely, released fast.

Same-day delivery from literally anyone. Restaurants, retailers, your neighbor selling furniture—if they're on Lumo, they can offer same-day delivery. We built routing that connects sellers with available drivers in real-time. No more "we'll ship it in 3-5 business days" for stuff that's ten minutes away.

Stripe bank payouts. You get paid directly to your bank account. Fast, reliable, no jumping through hoops. We're not reinventing the wheel here—Stripe handles this better than we ever could, so we partnered with them.

Real estate and autos marketplaces are live. You can now list apartments, houses, cars, motorcycles—the big-ticket stuff. Same 10% commission, same escrow protection for deposits, same philosophy: transparent, fair, no games.

AI-powered ad studio. This one's honestly kind of wild. You upload a photo of what you're selling, and our tool generates ad copy, suggests pricing based on comparable listings, and optimizes your post for search. It's not perfect, but it saves a ton of time. We're using it ourselves to test listings, and it's already getting better every week.

What We're Hearing

The feedback has been humbling. People love the lower commission—that one's a no-brainer. The escrow system is getting a lot of appreciation from buyers who've been scammed before.

But we're also hearing what's not working. The app's search is still slower than it should be. Category filtering on mobile is clunky. Some sellers want more analytics on their listings. We're on it.

What's Next

We're shipping two things in April that I'm really excited about:

In-app messaging with payment requests. So you can negotiate, agree on a price, and request payment without leaving the conversation. Should've built this first, honestly.

Verified seller badges. We're launching a lightweight verification system—ID check, transaction history, reviews—so buyers know who they're dealing with. Trust is everything in local marketplaces.

Longer-term, we're exploring subscription options for power sellers (unlimited listings, priority support, boosted visibility) and expanding delivery zones outside our current metro areas.

Why We're Building This

Look, we're not trying to be the next unicorn. We're trying to build something that actually works for real people doing real transactions. Lower fees. Faster payments. Better protection.

There's a lot of room to improve local services and marketplaces, and we think the playbook is pretty straightforward: charge less, pay faster, don't be shady.

Thanks for being part of this. If you've got feedback—good or bad—hit us up. We read everything.

—The Lumo Team

P.S. If you haven't tried Lumo yet, now's a good time. List something, order delivery, browse the marketplaces. We'd love to know what you think.