How eBay selling limits work in a store's first ninety days

Every new eBay seller account starts with a selling limit: a ceiling on the number of items and the total value you can have listed in a month. It is the single most common reason a new store's first quarter looks slower than the plan. It is also predictable, and a launch that respects it goes better than one that fights it.

What the limit is

A monthly cap on active listings, expressed as a number of items and a dollar total, applied per account. At the time of writing a brand-new account typically starts with a small allowance in both, and eBay shows the current figure in Seller Hub under the selling limits section. Read yours there; the starting numbers change and vary by account.

The limit counts listings, not sales. A fixed-price listing with ten units counts its full quantity and value against the cap for the month, whether or not any sell. That is why a new account with a small limit cannot simply list a deep catalogue on day one.

Why it exists

It protects buyers and eBay from new accounts that turn out to be fraudulent or unable to deliver. From eBay's point of view a new seller is an unknown; the limit keeps the unknown small until there is a track record. Once you see it that way, the way to raise it is obvious: become known, in the way eBay measures.

How it rises

• Automatically, over time, as the account sells and delivers without problems. eBay reviews accounts periodically and raises limits on ones that are performing.
• On request. Seller Hub has a request-to-increase option once you are near the cap. eBay may ask questions (what you sell, where you source it, whether you have another account) or ask for verification. Requests made with real sales behind them tend to go better than requests made on an empty account.
• Faster with a clean record. On-time shipping, tracking uploaded, low defect rate, no unresolved cases. The things that make a store good are the things that raise the ceiling.

Planning a launch around it

1. List within the cap from day one, with the items most likely to sell rather than the widest range. Sales are what raise the limit; breadth is what waits for it.
2. Ship fast and upload tracking on every order. This is the record eBay reads.
3. Request an increase when you are near the cap, not before, with sales behind you.
4. Expect a ramp. The first month or two on a new account is smaller than the store it will become, however well it is run. A plan that assumes otherwise is a plan to be disappointed.

For a managed store

The limit is on your account, so it applies whoever operates the store. A good operator plans the first catalogue to the cap, keeps the shipping record clean because that is the lever, and tells you what the current limit is in the weekly report. If a provider's plan for month one assumes a catalogue the limit cannot hold, they have not launched many new accounts, or they are not planning to use yours.