on 01-08-2024 09:56 AM
I have been a small-time eBay seller for over 23 years. I don't sell all the time, sometimes not for months or even a few years. I strategically assemble auctions and sales and promote them widely, mostly selling records.
eBay gave me an offer of a monthly store subscription of 250 auction items and 1000 fixed-price items. I accepted that offer. It's straightforward.
I then spent four months pulling together a 20K inventory of records, multiple photos of every item, fulltime days to assemble the text listings, and then . . .
eBay limited me at 130 items and only $1.2K inventory.
They don't believe a full-time store operator can handle more than 4 orders a day--and that's assuming a fallacy that all four items will sell in that day. (Statistics indicates maybe 1 will sell, for a profit of $2 per day. EBay believes they know my business better than I do, and that I can pay my rent with this $2-a-day profit.)
The profits on any sales will not even cover the storage fees for this inventory. eBay had never done this in the past. Now they are telling me they know my business better than I myself do. So this is going to bankrupt my business right when I decide to make a real commitment tk it; and they've already invoiced me fees for a product I never used while I prepared, and thet they will not even honour.
eBay does not care about small stores. That is now obvious. They want to be Amazon, that is transparent. eBay is a dead and dying platform. So dead they now resort to lies and deception for business. I do not say this lightly, not after 23 years of valuable service. eBay has effectively ruined my business with their bait & switch fraud. New users need to know from an old hand around here, eBay is now for all intents and purposes a total control-freak Chinese-style Capitalist scam.
" I don't sell all the time, sometimes not for months or even a few years."
and therein is the problem... the issue at hand has nothing to do with the conspiracies that you banter about, but rather has EVERYTHING to do with the fact that you have been an inconsistent, infrequent, non-regular seller in recent times and these days eBay requires sellers to be trustworthy with a regular selling habit that provides a better buying experience for potential customers. After you have proven to eBay that you are indeed a seller in good standing, those selling limits will be lifted and you will be able to list the maximum amount with no further restriction; assuming that everything goes well with any and all transactions. eBay has set down these restrictions for the benefit of the site, for the benefit of buyers and indirectly for your benefit so that you do not get yourself into difficulties. It matters not how many years you have been selling on this site, what matters is a proven,reliable and recent trustworthy track record.
been there, done that...(an absence of 6+months set me back with listing limits,payouts with held,etc)
This is just the way eBay is these days and consistency as a seller is very important >>> listing/selling infrequently is your enemy...(BTW this is not unique to eBay...other selling sites have similar listing limits, payout holds & the like for infrequent/occasional sellers same as for new sellers)
Good luck going forward.