eBay

rose-dee · ‎12-04-2013

Well, this message from eBay - copied verbatim - at least gave me my chuckle for the day (I've put the amusing part in bold):

"To help you be a successful seller and ensure a safe experience on eBay, we sometimes change limits, and or add restrictions/suspensions, on accounts. Account limits allow us to learn about your selling activity and to make sure you're adhering to our selling practices policy and performance standards. Limits vary by seller and can change over time.

You can now sell up to items monthly and up to monthly. If you currently have more items (active items for sale and sold items) this month than your limits allow, you should reduce the number of listings you have on the site. Any listings that place you over your current limits may be automatically removed."

So, I had no idea what my limits were before, no idea where to find out, never cared, never encountered the subject previously, and now I also don't know what my new limits are.

Hilariously unhelpful missive, thank you eBay for this illuminating information.

73rhc · ‎12-04-2013

I see mine in "my eBay" at the top of the selling page.

nan*55 · ‎12-04-2013

I have never seen mine anywhere

73rhc · ‎12-04-2013

I can see mine on .ca, but haven't looked on .com

ricarmic · ‎12-04-2013

Hey that was a good idea, I checked on .CA but I don't see it there either, so I don't see mine on .COM or .CA ...... but I've been here a long time.... hopefully my limits are BIG.....

73rhc · ‎12-04-2013

Oh well, thought it might have been only on .ca. Maybe you have no limit.

ricarmic · ‎12-04-2013

As far as I know everyone has a limit, just like many things around here, I won't know what it is until I hit it....sigh......

rose-dee · ‎12-04-2013

@ricarmic wrote:
As far as I know everyone has a limit, just like many things around here, I won't know what it is until I hit it....sigh......

...or it hits you (eBay's usual modus operandi)!

By the way, I've never been able to see my limits information on any of my seller pages. I wonder why some sellers do see it and others don't?

mr.elmwood · ‎12-04-2013

I "think" they have not finished rolling out all info. Mine is on my dot com summary page at the bottom.

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73rhc · ‎12-04-2013

I've been able to see mine for over a year and a half. Limits are plain stupidity. I certainly hope that I don't have the extreme bad luck of finding a hundred genuine Rolex's at a garage sale. I won't be able to sell 'em. Lol

ricarmic · ‎12-04-2013

Well, my understanding is that it is a $$ limit of items listed and sold, so I have a contingency plan for when I do hit it. I will just kill off a couple of my "big" items (I'll actually just move them to another non-eBay site I list on) and that should free up room for people to buy stuff and me list other stuff. (It would be good to know what it looks like from the buyers perspective if they try to buy something from someone who hit their limit).

73rhc · ‎12-04-2013

As long as the items are listed before you hit your cap, the buyers won't see anything. It's when you try a list afterwards that you will be blocked.

73rhc · ‎12-04-2013

Btw, it's not only $$$ amount. There is a ### amount of listings!

reallynicestamps · ‎12-05-2013

Btw, it's not only $$$ amount. There is a ### amount of listings!

Would moving up to a higher level of Store help with that? If a seller had a very large number of items, suddenly, having a higher level Store would reduce his listing costs per item.

73rhc · ‎12-05-2013

Not really about listing costs. I have no store, so maybe I have a lower limit. Mine is 180 items or $5000 of listings a month. I've seen some sellers with $200000+ of inventory on at once. I guess eBay goes with your average sales??? Is till believe that everyone loses with these limits!

cumos55 · ‎12-05-2013

There are many things happening on eBay.... and some of those things will eventually affect some, and sometimes all of us.

The total number of listings keeps going up.... There will come a time when eBay's ability to keep up will be compromised.

One way to make an adjustment is to look at categories with a lot of listings... maybe too many listings.....

and that is where the limits may be imposed.... a first reason.

Then ... the problem sellers.

Problem sellers in cluttered categories may be the first to go..

while others balancing on the fence may still be around... and may disappear if they fall into never again land....

Many new sellers come here with a thought of becoming successful.. There are limits for these new sellers..... and if they do well their limits get raised.....

It is on eBay's major competitor's site that one finds limits even before starting to sell..... and that has been around for a very long time.

In contrast, eBay started many years ago without a limit for sellers ... whereas now those limits are showing up.... and coupled with a removal of many sellers things are a changing.

In order to be really successful, without a limit..

(1) Sell in a category with few numbers of listings, and with very little competition.... Be a small seller with a big presence

(2) Sell without problems... ...customer service at its better than best is very important

(3) Follow eBay's rules.... and do not do anything contrary to those rules... Do not push your luck

(3) If one has problems, it is time to adjust.... now ....and do not wait...

cumos55 · ‎12-05-2013

If one goes to the eBay.com boards, one gets the impression that there is a measure of paranoia..

Who will be the next to leave?.

There is also a lot of discussion about the parameters used to identify problem sellers..

It is important not to get caught up in this paranoia...

The best option... is to ....... do it right....

ricarmic · ‎12-05-2013

As far as I know, I am "doing it right", however what is "right" is evolving as well....... and it is hard to keep up with everything going on as well as keeping material running for people to buy, so perhaps I will someday miss something, if I haven't already.

Having a contingency plan I still think is important - in any case a business should have contingency planning anyway....

Perhaps the Kalvins of the world reading this will pass along the comments to the systems powers that be to implement the limits for everyone so even the "old timers" know what theirs are as well....