DISCLAIMER - The following is all my best guesses. Ebay do not comment on how their systems are structured and so no-one, including me really knows.
There are not that many stores that claim to be affected by secret selling limits on the Australian boards. You see it mentioned from time to time on the power sellers board, but rarely on the open selling boards. This would suggest that the secret limits apply more to stores with slightly larger turn-overs, but that may not be the only thing in play. I suspect the secret limits may also be based on the size of the store within a catagory.
I suspect I have a secret selling limit on my stores. A number of years ago my main store would have been considered a large ebay business but over the past few years it has shrunk to the point that it is very small beer on the ebay landscape. Many other large brand name businesses have come along that have raced past mine and would make my ebay business look like a bug on their windshield. Having said that it is still the second largest in its catagory by listing numbers and sales. So although the turnover is now very small, it is still a main niche catagory player hence my theory that secret limits are catagory based.
The throttling thing appears to be slightly different. This appears to be sharing the remaining sales within a catagory amongst the sellers within that catagory. If the catagory has a big week, the sellers in that catagory have good sales. If the catagory does not do well, the sellers within that catagory have very few sales.
I suspect it is even more complicated. My guess is that sellers are also graded into catagories.
* The highest ranked sellers probably have no sales limits and most of the normal ebay rules are only guides for them. This is the brand name stores and big Chinese sellers. They have access to prime visibility.
* There would a couple more grades here, but I have no idea what they would be
* Under these you would have the main players in small niche catagories. These would have selling limits and would regularly meet these sales limits, regardless of sales within the catagory.
* next comes the throttled accounts. No secret selling limits and no gauranteed sales, but are given a share of the remaining catagory sales using throttling to control visibility and sales.
* last comes the sellers with unpopular items or poor track record. They get the scraps left behind and ebay would prefer they sell somewhere else.
Cassini also ranks sellers based on recent immpressions and sell through rate. Then more you sell, the higher your visibility and so the more you sell. Conversly, the less you sell, the lower your visibility and so the less you sell.
Ebay sellers can get trapped in a cycle of low sales and low visibility which is a downward spiral to oblivian. It takes a major effort of new listings of popular items to break this cycle and get things back on track.
In answer to another of your questions, I suspect if you have a secret selling limit on your account it is very difficult to break through that limit. I have tried in the past, but have now given up and just accept that I can make regular worthwhile sales on the site. I,m grateful that my sales are consistent and reliable as I know many sellers are really struggling.
In closing I would again state that all of the above is just theories and conjecture. No-one really knows.
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