"Liquidity Services Inc. has introduced a new website design for its Liquidation.com marketplace that includes auction recommendations placed throughout the site to help buyers find what they need, as well as detailed "Seller Performance Reports" on Item pages. Galleries, called "auction carousels," provide an easy way for visitors to quickly browse the most popular auctions on the site.

Additional enhancements include prominent images, enhanced search filters, and a streamlined bidding process. New members will be asked for a credit card for the first auction they place a bid on, and after that initial entry, a credit card number will only be needed after the auction has been won.

Liquidation.com has also added a new section to the bottom of auction pages called "You Might Also Consider," which includes a list of auctions that are similar to the auction being viewed.

The new Seller Performance Report is displayed prominently on the Item page and can be seen in search results when the user mouses over the seller name. The report is designed to offer an objective measure of seller performance compared to all other sellers on Liquidation.com. Statistics are calculated as follows:

• Completed Transactions: The cumulative number of transactions completed in the timeframe indicated. For privacy reasons we do not highlight the exact number of transactions once specific thresholds are achieved.
• Average Days to Ship: The average number of business days that elapse between a buyer paying for a transaction and that transaction being shipped.
• Buyer Dispute Rate: The percentage of a seller's completed transactions that result in a credit being issued to a buyer due to an error that we have determined was most likely caused by the seller.
• Repeat Buyer Rate: The percentage of a seller's completed transactions made by buyers who have made multiple purchases with that seller in the past. This rating is not a sole indicator of seller performance. Other variables may impact this rating such as the amount of auctions the seller posts, the variety of merchandise posted, and the length of time the seller has been selling on the site.
• Seller Cancellation Rate: The percentage of a seller's closed transactions that are canceled by the seller before shipment.
• 90 Day Rank indicates where the seller's 90-day metric ranks against all other sellers on Liquidation.com. Sellers that rank in the top 10% across the above metrics earn the Top Seller designation.
• Fulfilled by indicates whether a transaction will be fulfilled by a Liquidation.com warehouse or by a seller's warehouse.

Liquidation.com has been beta testing the new design and is expected to officially announce it next week.

Liquidity Services Inc. has 1.3 million registered buyers which include exporters, traditional retailers, online resellers, end-users and consumers. According to a research note from Wall Street firm Lazard Capital Markets issued on February 5, registered buyers increased 20% in the fourth quarter year-over-year, while the average number of bidders per auction (a measure of liquidity) "remained healthy at 4.3."

The company has plans to further integrate its UK and US commercial marketplaces and its government marketplaces. It grew GMV 14% in the three months ended December 31, 2009, and revenue increased 17.4%, to $65.3 million.

Edited on 2/16/10 to clarify date of announcement.