SELLING LIMITS ARE JOKE!!!!

[Anonymous]

Selling Limits are JOKE!!    I was on phone with the customer service which transferred me to a department that look after and I was on phone for more than 2 hours (I was able to work on something else to kill the time while put on hold so often).

I was told it is to protect sellers/buyers/community/eBay as whole, I kept asking protect from what???  The way the person at eBay telling me, it looks ideal for the new sellers but not for sellers who are on eBay for more than 5 years!!

It is like telling Wal-Mart that they cannot stock any items until they meet the quotas!!!  It is insane that eBay needs to put selling limits on all accounts (that is what I am told that eBay is going to put selling limits on ALL/EVERY accounts!!

I find it very ironic because from the way I knew about eBay, eBay is all about getting $$$$$ from us at any way, and yet they NEED to put selling limits on us??

I wonder if their 4th or the next 1st of 2014 quarters will be down due to selling limits?  If not, I would consider any quarters after that are fraud and fixed!  Do the shareholders are aware of that and would support and be happy to get less $$$ than what they expected?  I think NOT!!

In fact, it has nothing to do with any issues as my seller performances are above, no issues, etc., yet they need to put selling limits on my account.  I was able to get them to increase them but not enough as I won't be able to take advantage of any free listings promos if they offer us up to 10K due to selling limits!!  It doesn't make senses.

Anyway with this insane policy, I hope their quarters are going down, and that the CEO get a pink slip for allowing this stupid idea in the first place!!  John, enjoy while it lasts!!

[mr.elmwood]

All sellers have limits.

Your retail example was wrong as all B&M stores have KPI (Key performance Indicators). What is listed is determined by sales and profitability. ALL retail stores have limits for what they can list and sell. ALL retail stores have policies that keep them aligned with Mother Ship.

I am assuming that you are referring to your selling ID. My limits are above what I sell. Should I want to go over, I have to delist some things. I always called it "managing my listings". Turns out, eBay uses the exact same phrase. About 18 months ago my numbers vanished form My Summary Page. I called and the lady said, and I quote "How are you supposed to manage your listings?". My numbers reappeared as I talked to her.

Seller limits are exactly the same as a retail store with shelves. You have X amount of shelf space. Manage that space.

[73rhc]

Oh come on! Do your really believe that if a Walmart store has inventory in their stockroom and nothing on the shelf that they aren't going to bring in out to the customers? It's the same thing! eBay sellers have inventory that they cannot get on the shelves. What a society we would live in if all the commercial retailers would close their doors halfway through the month, because they reached their selling limits. Do you ever agree with anyone on these pages?

[mr.elmwood]

I managed in a retail store for 12 years. I think I know a little about the concept.

I agree with all the intelligent folks here: Pierre, Femme, BB, Rep, PJ, Poco, Rose, Nan et al. They give a balanced and reasoned viewpoint from an informed viewpoint. They stop, think, consider. Their argument is never "Ah come on".

Yes, shelves do run out. There are order points, minimum stock levels, safety stock, order days, delivery days, sales trends. Not everything is in the back. Vast majority is in a central warehouse. Retail stores need to manage their listings every day. They have X amount of shelf space, product assortment, plan-o-grams, shelf management. There is billboarding, waterfalling, traffic flow, shelf flow, product groupings, right hand trade-up, impulse items.

[73rhc]

Once again another subtle insult, from the all knowing!!! All I read is blah, blah, blah... Have you addressed the issue here, no! Quite frankly, if you managed a store for 12 years with ebay' swelling limit concept. I feel sorry for the owners and customers of this fine establishment! Intelligence, what a joke!

[pierrelebel]

"I wonder if their 4th or the next 1st of 2014 quarters will be down due to selling limits?'

Selling limits have been around for several years and eBay has continued to grow.  There is no reason to believe that will change anytime soon.

The official policy is available here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/sellinglimits.html

I frankly do not understand why it took two hours for a customer service representative to explain it. The limits exist to protect buyers from unscrupulous new sellers and the system integrity.  Unfortunately, they also affect new (or newer) honest sellers wishing to expand their eBay business rapidly.

An alternative used by many new (or newer) sellers looking for fast growth is to set up a website offering a growing number of items in conjunction and/or addition to their eBay listings.

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Please keep in mind that hostile comments and interpersonal disputes are not allowed on the community. Further posts of that nature will be removed and/or the thread may be locked.

We need everyone's help in keeping the community friendly and welcoming. Thank you 🙂

[mr.elmwood]

Is that remark aimed at me Leslie?

[anguscoinshop]

one of the issues is its always the same old same old posting on here

it would be very refreshing to see new members bringing new view point to this forum

oh by the way, i will impose selling limits to my home store!!!

Why, i don't know, i guess i just feel like it, $2 a day, <:)

[tobyshitzu]

Had this account for over 10 years, I have no idea what my limit is on any of the ids.  No idea how that helps me mange anything?  Its one thing to reduce the fraud risk on new ids, quite another when very large veteran sellers with perfect fb  trying to grow suddenly get cut off without warning. If I wasn't one to pay close attention to the chatter around I'd have no way of knowing there was even the potential to suddenly be limited

[rose-dee]

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@toby**bleep**zu wrote:

If I wasn't one to pay close attention to the chatter around I'd have no way of knowing there was even the potential to suddenly be limited

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And that's my own main issue with selling limits -- not the limits themselves, because as I understand it they are usually pretty generous, and can often be increased on request.  No, my problem is that we have no idea what they are. Like you, had I not noticed this subject on the discussion boards, I wouldn't have been aware there were limits at all.  I find this absurd.  

As I said in another discussion, it's like being told "you can drive your car as much as you like, but we're taking the gas gauge away, and when you run out, you'll know".   I agree that the concept of managing listings and inventory levels is a necessity, but I think it's pretty hard to manage those levels when you're blindfolded.

Now, that said, I do understand the need for selling limits.  My suspicion is not that they are there to help small to mid-sized sellers manage their inventory, but to prevent newer sellers (and those of the megalithic kind) from swamping the site with their goods, especially with thousands upon thousands of goods of a similar type.  There may in addition be an element of control of newer sellers until they've established their reputations.  I suspect it's also possible that certain categories may have lower limits (more restrictions), and I wonder if that may be what 'honeybed' has come up against. 

These conclusions are based on two observations:

1) that limits were never an issue several years ago, in fact, from what I understand they did not exist; and

2) the emergence of free promotions involving literally tens of thousands of items (I saw one recently for 100,000 free listings).  

Just ask, who on earth has that sort of inventory?  I think it's clear. 

And we can also ask: why have limits have become an issue in recent months, after years without?  Likely because for many years eBay's seller base didn't include monstrous offshore retailers with literally tens of thousands of items available to list on this site at any given time.  

Absence of limits these days would turn eBay into a free for all.  If we think eBay is already skewed toward cheap Chinese junk, knock-offs, and just plain fakes, imagine eBay today without any limits at all.  Not good for sellers or buyers!

The unfortunate side of eBay's across-the-board application of this policy is that mid-sized sellers get restricted from expanding quickly.  As Pierre says though, if you're in a position where the limits imposed by eBay are too small, there is always the option of using your own website for that purpose.  In fact, if you're expanding so much so quickly, that's probably a good idea anyway.  

[brandeentertainment]

Although I understand the seller limits and the reasoning i do not think they are as effective as people lead on..

The purpose I agree with the Results not so much because the facts are the facts anyone with a little know how can make a living of scamming people on ebay .. Telling a seller they are prohibited to seller limits is one thing but what stops someone from opening another account... Nothing if you know how ...

There is no protection for sellers and buyers are well protected without sellers having limits which is why I do not think it is effective but do agree with the theory and reasoning behind it .. ...

Elm of course leslie is talking to you she has to keep you in line quite often LOL.. I get post removed all the time on here  though because well I like to stick with facts most the time but sometimes personal opinions get in the way but then again if everyone stuck to facts all the time life would be boring never change or never be challenged ..

Those who don't know question and those who question bring changes (not always)

True to say Pierre and others think then respond many of them are life saver for many new people on ebay they taught  me many of things sense I started on here if only I had time to be the best I could be things would work out much better for me ..

[73rhc]

"As Pierre says though, if you're in a position where the limits imposed by eBay are too small, there is always the option of using your own website for that purpose. In fact, if you're expanding so much so quickly, that's probably a good idea anyway."

No really an option. People come here to sell for many reasons. One being the exposure. Everyone (most) knows of eBay. Try getting seen on Google with your own site. Most people do not go beyond the 3rd page when doing a search. Then there is the expense that goes along with a site. If you do all the web design yourself, then there is the upkeep of the site. Does anyone want those headaches?

As for policing the unscrupulous, why penalize everyone? Instead of just the offenders.

How about limiting listings in a single category?

[rose-dee]

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@73rhc wrote:

As for policing the unscrupulous, why penalize everyone? Instead of just the offenders.

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I suspect it's probably easier for eBay to set limits than to monitor and police every seller on its site every day.  And unfortunately, to be fair to all sellers, that means everybody has to have limits.  

As far as private websites are concerned, there are lots of options these days, many that are as close as you can get to  "DIY" at fairly low cost (under $200/year) and have plenty of marketing and exposure tools if you know how to take advantage of them.  

If the cost of a website is so prohibitive as to make it unprofitable, then it's likely there isn't the sales volume to justify it in the first place.  In that case, having a sale in order to run off some excess eBay inventory to make room for more listings is the better choice. 

[tobyshitzu]

Anyone could get a mickey mouse website up for a little money and time with shopify or similar.  Getting sales on your small online only business  is a whole other thing.  Thats why so many of the big ones are using marketplaces,   

[73rhc]

"If the cost of a website is so prohibitive as to make it unprofitable, then it's likely there isn't the sales volume to justify it in the first place. In that case, having a sale in order to run off some excess eBay inventory to make room for more listings is the better choice."

It is not only the cost, it's the time and effort that goes along with it. That's why it is so much easier here. Do you believe that you can get your vintage clothing the same exposure on a private site compared to here? IMHO, I believe that is why most of us are here. So I don't believe the website suggestion is a viable solution. It almost sounds like" if you don't like it, get out" Not a mentality that I subscribe to. There are many people who are unhappy and unaware of these selling limits. We are allowed to voice that opinion. I, for one, wish that eBay would take note of this and other issues. There is a need for fine tuning here. I'd like to see this site evolve not regress.

[rose-dee]

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@73rhc wrote:
It almost sounds like" if you don't like it, get out" Not a mentality that I subscribe to. There are many people who are unhappy and unaware of these selling limits. We are allowed to voice that opinion. I, for one, wish that eBay would take note of this and other issues. 

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I'm not sure why you seem to have thought my comments were directed at you specifically.  I was speaking quite generally, and having a different opinion certainly never means (to me at least) not permitting others their opinions.  I'm not sure why you took umbrage at my voicing those ideas.  Actually, my comments above don't even really apply to me -- I'm quite happy here for the time being, and it's unlikely I will ever exceed whatever limits eBay has placed on me.  

However, for those who feel restricted by the eBay limits, there are options, and whether those options are better or not depends on the type of product, the price, and the sales volumes.  As it happens, vintage/antique clothing and sewing patterns are some of the few areas where private websites can do quite well, mainly because they tend to attract repeat buyers and a loyal customer base.  I currently use my website primarily to direct interest to my eBay store, but at some point I may need to do the opposite, or use them in tandem.  There are often ways to combine other selling venues with selling on eBay. 

[Anonymous]

If I developed my own website, how do people will knew about it?  We cannot put our website address in our eBay auctions to lead the buyers to check it out as eBay has not allowed it a few years ago when I noticed it disappeared after eBay set up that policy.

[Anonymous]

To pierre, you need to be deaf to understand how long it can be on the phone with anyone at any time.

For deaf people like myself, we have to use Internet to make calls through IP Relay Service (Internet Phone Relay Service), the IP operator then calls to the person that I need to talk to, when the person on the other end answered, the IP operator typed the message to me and then I respond and typed the message, then the IP operator relay the message to other person and so on.  Sometimes this process can take longer and for last night, this lovely guy really wanted to make sure and checked triple times before doing some actions on my account(s),

It didn't take 2 hours for him to explain about selling limits only, there were other issues that we need to cover to be sure everything go smoothly and I was happy to do so, rather having to call eBay each time for each issue.

Although IP Relay Service can be frustrating or slow but we are thankful for that technology, otherwise we have to rely one someone else to make calls "for" us which we don't like.  From my past experiences, one of my sisters hate to do it for me when I was so serious and went into heated debate, so having IP is ideal for all deaf and to be able to be 100% independently. 

Don't judge until you walk in our shoes first to understand.  Thanks.

[rose-dee]

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@Anonymous wrote:

If I developed my own website, how do people will knew about it?  We cannot put our website address in our eBay auctions to lead the buyers to check it out as eBay has not allowed it a few years ago when I noticed it disappeared after eBay set up that policy.

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Actually, you are permitted to put website URLs on eBay pages -- you just have to know where it's allowed.  And you can put links to those eBay pages in your listings.  Check the policy on "external websites".  If you make full use of this permission, and direct your buyers to it in appropriate ways, it can be very effective. 

It is unfortunate that eBay removed the ability to "cross-market" by putting external website links in listings themselves, but that feature, like many others, was being abused, almost to the point of absurdity.  I remember seeing listings that were really nothing more than excuses for advertising external selling sites.  So, like everything else where people are given a privilege and some decide to abuse it to the maximum, there have to be restrictions imposed.  

Still, to be honest, I continue to see "live" website links occasionally in listings.  I can only guess that these are just sellers who haven't been reported or caught yet.