Misleading number of insertions available and unexpected fees !
Example:
For a starter store, with 172 listings (buy it now)
The number eBay displays as "available" should reflect:
250 (your plan limit) − 172 (currently active listings) = 78 available... it does not.
Obscured in the sellers hub under the promotions section for the beginning of the month,
April 1 - May 1 will show 0/250.
Showing "250 available" is genuinely misleading because it implies you could list 250 more items, which would immediately trigger $0.30 insertion fees on every one of them past your first 78.
This is a billing transparency issue — the display could cause sellers to incur unexpected $0.30 insertion fees
End and sell similar can easily overflow your daily available limit and incur fees unexpectedly !
Reasoning:
- Lazy/simplistic UI design — they're just displaying your plan's ceiling rather than doing the real-time math
- It may benefit eBay — a confused seller who thinks they have 250 slots open might list freely and rack up insertion fees without realizing it
- Legacy system thinking — the "250" figure comes from your subscription tier, and that's the number baked into their billing system display
The display should read "78 listings available today" not "250 available and this number should be clearly visible in a logical place on the sellers hub.
broto_64
·5 months agoCorporate doesn't have a conscience, they don't care so long it doesn't violate a law they will straddle the line between legal and illegal all day and cover it with some legalese to avoid prosecution. In fact they pay a whole team of attorneys to draw up these CYA documents all day long, and seller fees pay for all of it.
meme6253
·5 months agoIf you read all the policies & costs & fees involved then there are no unexpected fees.Always do your homework first.
dhbookds
·5 months agoIt's the same as a bank account.........
On 4/1.......statement shows $500 in the account, despite the fact that you've written 3 checks totaling $100 and/or you may have auto charges each month.....until those clear (listing are relisted), the account will show $500.........it's up to a seller to keep track.......
albertabrightalberta
·5 months agoEXCELLENT analogy!
de.duct
·5 months agoeBay could make it clearer that when existing listings renew, it uses up one of the "250 available". If eBay did make it clearer, then less sellers would get hit with the $0.35 fee for those over 250.
When I want to remain within the 250, I assume all my listings are going to renew, and limit my new listings so as to say under the limit. eBay gets enough fees when my item sells, and I don't want to shell out any more than I have to.
jonathanbrightlight
·5 months agoeBay does make it clear. They don’t, however, duplicate that information repeatedly. They expect sellers to read and understand instead of holding their hand at every stage in every place information might be displayed.
luckythewinner
·5 months agoShowing "250 available" is genuinely misleading because it implies you could list 250 more items, which would immediately trigger $0.30 insertion fees on every one of them past your first 78. This is a billing transparency issue — the display could cause sellers to incur unexpected $0.30 insertion fees
It is not misleading. eBay shows the correct number of free insertions available at the current time.
If eBay assumed that all of your active listings were not going to sell and that you would not be ending any them, then eBay would just be GUESSING and ASSUMING which would be even more misleading.
It is not a "billing transparency issue", it is merely a seller comprehension issue.
lastchancetronix
OP5 months agoThis example was for a STARTER STORE. Are you referencing this experience to a BASIC or greater store? Multiple eBay agents see this as a problem and most find difficult to show the user how many insertions available for that day because of active items ending within the 30 day cycle. This is NOT expressed in the used/left numbers in the promotions section of the sellers hub.
fern*wood
·5 months agoIt works exactly the same regardless of the store level you have. Levels over the starter store just have more freebies to work with. There is no way ebay could guess which of your current listings will roll before it actually happens, so you need to keep an eye on the used/left totals. How could they anticipate which will sell or you might end before they roll? Multiple phone reps probably have no idea what you are even talking about, but it works for them to just agree.
monica-sells
·5 months agoOnce you read the policies and understand the 'rolling cycles' it is very transparent...here is one "listing" that people miss....
If you list a single item in two categories, it counts as two insertions. You are charged (or docked from your free allotment) for each category selected.
tobaccocardyahoo
·5 months agoUnfortunately, the words chosen by Ebay cannot be interpreted without some intellectual activity.
Understanding how Ebay makes money, and why an absurd interpretation is obviously incorrect requires more than the ability to read the written documentation.
Had you read about what Good Until Cancelled means,(listings are relisted every 30 days) you would have been more likely to have understood the method for counting your number of listings.
dhbookds
·5 months ago@lastchancetronix Your math doesn't work.........
3/31 you had 172 listings
Assuming all did not roll over on 4/1.......you may sell some of the listings that did not roll over yet, so the 172 would be depleted by that amount........so you could very well have more than 78 listings left.......
kibble-net
·5 months agoRegardless of whether or not I agree, what do you expect any of us - buyers and sellers from the community - to do about this?
dhbookds
·5 months agomine shows
lastchancetronix
OP5 months agoKeep in mind this is today's numbers and does not take into account items ending from the previous month if you list throughout the month.
Thank you
christworks
·5 months ago@lastchancetronix
You do not "use" one of your 250 listings until either a) You list a brand new item that has never been listed, b) a previously listed item comes up for automatic renewal or c) you end a listing and then relist or sell similar the item.
Why don't you ask your stupid AI why someone would think they have 250 additional listings when they know a) they have 172 active listings and b) they only pay for 250 listings. Any seller who knows what they are doing has read how eBay works. They know each month active listings come up for renewal at some point that month. They know that will eat away at one of their 250 listings. If they have not read how eBay works, then my view they deserve to get charged until they do their homework, as we all had to do.
lastchancetronix
OP5 months agoThis would be confusing to any new seller on eBay platform eBay shows zero/250 Even when you have any number of active listings for the month.
jonathanbrightlight
·5 months agoIt is not a number of listings, it is a number of free insertions. Yes, many new sellers are confused, because they do not read carefully.
electrothings
·5 months agoOK, that's fine.
janet9988
·5 months agoYou do not get EXTRA, for free, over your monthly 250 allotment.
lastchancetronix
OP5 months agoBe nice to new sellers on the platform. It takes a lot of searching in the seller's hub to find these numbers as they're hidden under promotions. This is not an AI centric issue, it is clarity for the sellers so they don't incur charges unexpectedly.
christworks
·5 months agoI am nice. I am equally brutally honest. Also, you are not a new seller.
The numbers are not hidden. Hidden implies you must make multiple clicks. That's not the case here. As you noted, the data is right there on Seller Hub. No clicks needed.
Sounds like you are the person who got burnt because you were not paying attention. What is that saying? Oh, wait. Dang it. If I say it, I'll get a naughty from the mods. 😆