eBay

wcellusa · ‎08-27-2020

Wondering if anyone else has had this issue. We use a listing software and have been trying variation listings and some new things to utilize the software. We noticed about a week ago that eBay is showing that we are almost at our maximum limit for sales. The numbers are way off. We have contacted eBay several times, and yep, you guessed it, we just get the run around and basic blah, blah, blah email responses. They did raise our limit, but the dollars just kept going up even though we have only made a few sales. Luckily the new month is right around the corner, but what will we do if this happens again? The eBay system is incorrectly calculating our sales and there is no tech support! Does anyone know who to contact to fix issues like this?

nobody*s_perfect · ‎08-27-2020

It's a listing limit, not a selling limit.

In a multi-item fixed price listing, such as a variations listing, each item counts. If you set up a listing for a shirt that comes in 4 sizes and 4 colors, and you have 10 available in each combination, you have used up 160 of your allotted listing limit.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-limits?id=4107

wcellusa · ‎08-27-2020

Yes but our listing limit is barely over half. That is not the problem. The issue is with the dollar amount. We have not sold anywhere near what eBay shows, so we are not able to list more items this month. It is some kind of glitch, we do not know how to fix it.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎08-27-2020

But what is the price of the stuff you have listed? Listing limits are placed on both the number and value of your listings. If those 160 shirts in my previous example cost $20 each then you have used up $3200 of your listing limit.

wcellusa · ‎08-28-2020

Thank you for trying, but you're not helping. We have been over this before. I wouldn't be here asking for help if the basic eBay article had answers. I guess we will just have to figure it out on our own.

lacemaker3 · ‎08-28-2020

@wcellusa, I think that you have already received a good answer and explanation for this. Have you calculated the dollar value of all of your listings and variations, both active and ended?

One of your variations listings has: 4 colors, 2 networks, 2 capacities, and 3 conditions available, which gives 4 x 2 x 2 x 3 = 48 possible combinations. The median price is $274.99, and if each combination has 2 available on average, which appears reasonable, that is a total of $2199.92 out of your listing limit.

Looking through your sold listings, I saw 3 other listings like that which had been ended, at least one was ended this month. Sometimes listings that were ended early don't show up in the completed search. Ended listings still count against your listing limits, both quantity and value. There are also category limits that may be applied, and all of your listings appear to be in the same category, one which has a high incidence of buyer dissatisfaction, so it can be assumed to have tighter requirements.

@nobody*s_perfect wrote:
But what is the price of the stuff you have listed? Listing limits are placed on both the number and value of your listings. If those 160 shirts in my previous example cost $20 each then you have used up $3200 of your listing limit.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎08-28-2020

The key fact which the article apparently fails to make clear is as I stated before: It's not a selling limit, it's a listing limit. If your listing limit is $1000 and you list ten items that each cost $100, then you have hit your limit even if you have not sold anything.

wcellusa · ‎08-28-2020

No I have not received a good answer or explanation. I do not want to throw out exact numbers, as this is a public forum but let me just give you an example. This is what our listing limits look like on the My eBay Summary page:

"348 listed and sold / 1,000 limit on quantity of items" 652 more items <--- this is correct

"$9,868 listed and sold / $100,000 limit" $1,310 more <---- this is wrong

"Sales (31 days) $6,354"

So eBay is telling me we have sold $6,354 (last 31 days) but in August we have sold $9,868 and for the rest of this month we can list/sell $1,310 more of our $100,000 listing limit.

Now I do not claim to be a math genius but those numbers do not line up!

Yes we have some dissatisfied buyers, because we sell used electronics. They do not always work the way people expect. We are a top rated seller, and our return rate is below average. That does not explain why eBay's math is flat out wrong.

Not to mention, we have listed and sold more product in prior months. August has actually been a slower month for us. Not sure if you read in the original message, but eBay did increase our listing limit last week from $50,000 to $100,000 (example numbers). So we have sold less product with a higher limit and the "$1,310 more" did not change!

lacemaker3 · ‎08-28-2020

@wcellusa wrote:
No I have not received a good answer or explanation. I do not want to throw out exact numbers, as this is a public forum but let me just give you an example. This is what our listing limits look like on the My eBay Summary page:
"348 listed and sold / 1,000 limit on quantity of items" 652 more items <--- this is correct
"$9,868 listed and sold / $100,000 limit" $1,310 more <---- this is wrong
"Sales (31 days) $6,354"
So eBay is telling me we have sold $6,354 (last 31 days) but in August we have sold $9,868 and for the rest of this month we can list/sell $1,310 more of our $100,000 listing limit.
Now I do not claim to be a math genius but those numbers do not line up!
...

"listed and sold" is not the same thing as "Sales (31 days)".

The number for "listed and sold" should be for the calendar month, and includes active and ended listings, both sold and unsold. This is almost always higher than your sales for the same time period, unless you sold everything.
"sales (31 days)" is the total value of your sales for the last 31 days, which is not a calendar month. This will usually be longer than the elapsed time in the current month.

Because the numbers don't add up, that suggests that you are hitting a category limit, which apparently is not well documented or explained in your account-specific information that they make available to you.

I don't want to get any more specific with numbers, but I notice that the total value of the two variations listings that are/were active this month (August) is potentially as much or more than your total sales for the last 31 days. If the other 2 variations listings that were ended early are also included, then that may be significant.

Category limits:

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-limits?id=4107#section3

wcellusa · ‎08-28-2020

This was in an email response from ebay Trust and Safety yesterday, "Sellers are limited in the total number of sold or active listings they can have in any month. If an active listing sells, it counts toward the limit. If the listing ends without the item selling, it no longer counts against the limit." Maybe the ended listings are not being added back to our limit like they are supposed to. We start a new month in a few days and it will be interesting to see what happens. What little we have listed now will carry over to the new month, but hopefully the numbers will reset/update correctly. *fingers crossed* Thanks for your replies!

lacemaker3 · ‎08-28-2020

@wcellusa, well that explains why you're confused. The explanation was mistaken (or incorrect, depending on how you want to put it). The last sentence is not correct.

".... If an active listing sells, it counts toward the limit. ~~If the listing ends without the item selling, it no longer counts against the limit~~."

eBay tends to refer to them as "selling limits", and that explanation would make sense if they really were "selling limits". But, they have never worked that way, and that is not how they are explained in the policy.

The policy page does not explicitly address this point, but the page does make it clear that the limits apply to items that are listed or sold, not just sold items. If an item ends without selling, it does still count against the limit. It's always been that way.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-limits?id=4107

"Currently, you've listed or sold xx items of your xx00 monthly limit. You can list or sell up to $xx,000.00 more to reach your $xxx,000.00 monthly limit."

Based on the numbers you shared, you are not reaching your basic listing-or-selling limits, but you are selling in a category that has a high incidence of problem transactions, so you are probably experiencing category limits. The policy page suggests that these may be applied based on your volume of sales, and seller performance (returns requests, cases, refunds, etc.) I don't think I have ever seen or heard of a case where eBay revealed what the category limits were to any particular seller.

wcellusa · ‎09-01-2020

Just want to give an update in case anybody is interested. Our listing/selling limits were still incorrect as of this morning, even though a new month started today. There was a problem and it took talking to several people in eBay support to finally get a solution. So if anyone else stumbles upon this problem, just be persistent with support. They can fix the issue, it just has to go through the proper channels.

chestegec · ‎09-23-2021

I'm having the same issue.

I see a long discussion here basically for nothing but Ebay not being able to fix their own platform.

They have confirmed they are having a major problem with their system (sales limits and stuff) with many sellers.

It is funny though. That a huge company like this is having this type of issues and they can't really figure out where the problem is in their platform.

It's basically 2 weeks or even a little more, and they haven't gotten their sh... together.