What We Shipped This Month (And What Broke Along the Way)

We moved fast this month. Maybe a little too fast.

Hey, it's February and we've been heads-down shipping features at Lumo. Some worked beautifully out of the gate. Others... well, let's just say we learned why beta testing exists.

Here's what's new, what's working, and what we're still ironing out.

We cut our take rate to 10%

This one's simple: we dropped our commission from 15% to 10% across the board. Why? Because we ran the numbers and realized we could still keep the lights on while putting more money in your pocket. Whether you're delivering tacos, flipping furniture, or running errands, you now keep 90 cents of every dollar.

It's permanent. Not a promotion. Not a gimmick.

Escrow that actually makes sense

Payment anxiety is real on both sides of a transaction. Buyers worry about sending money into the void. Sellers worry about doing the work and never getting paid.

So we built escrow with a 24-hour auto-release. Money gets held when the job is accepted, automatically releases 24 hours after completion, and both parties can sleep at night. If there's a dispute, we step in. If not, the money flows and everyone moves on.

It's not revolutionary, but it works—and that's the point.

Same-day delivery from literally anywhere

This feature surprised us. We thought people would use it for restaurant food and groceries. Turns out, you're using it for everything.

Antique furniture from an estate sale across town? Same-day delivery. Birthday cake from that one bakery your mom loves? Same-day delivery. Replacement part for your lawn mower from a guy on Facebook Marketplace? Yep, same-day delivery.

Any retailer, any restaurant, any individual with something to send. Our courier network picks it up and gets it there today. Simple as that.

Stripe payouts (finally)

We heard you loud and clear: waiting 5-7 days for payments is ridiculous in 2024. Now your earnings hit your bank account through Stripe within 1-2 business days. Sometimes faster.

This should've been day-one functionality. It wasn't. But it's here now.

Real estate and autos marketplaces

We soft-launched dedicated sections for real estate and vehicle listings this month. They're live, they're functional, and they're... quiet. Which is fine. These take time to build liquidity.

But the infrastructure is solid: photos, specs, messaging, escrow for deposits, the whole nine yards. If you're listing a car or a rental property, give it a shot. We're waiving featured listing fees through March to get things moving.

AI ad studio (our favorite experiment)

This one's still rough around the edges, but the potential is huge. Upload a photo of your listing, and our AI generates ad copy, suggests pricing, and even creates social media posts you can share.

Some of the outputs are chef's kiss. Others are... let's say "creative." We're training it to be less weird and more useful. But when it works, it saves you 20 minutes of staring at a blank screen trying to describe your couch.

What's next

We're working on in-app messaging improvements (threading is broken and we know it), better search filters, and a referral program that actually rewards you for bringing friends.

Also considering instant payouts for a small fee. Tell us if that's something you'd use.

Try something new this week

Whether you're here to earn, shop, or ship something across town, we built Lumo to make local transactions less painful and more human.

Poke around the new features. Break things if you can—we'll fix them. And if something doesn't make sense, email us. We read every message.

Check out what's new on Lumo and let us know what you think.