We have 2 IDs. The first is the one my wife originally started to โdabbleโ on eBay which evolved into our joint selling ID. The other is this one, which is/was my board posting ID and which we used to take advantage of the 30 free listings per month, for which we ceased to qualify 2 and a half moths latter when I achieved Powerseller and top rated seller status after 101 trouble free transactions with a 100% buyer satisfaction rating and with 3 stars at 5 and the 4.9 on the last. The other ID has a feedback score of over 6000, with a buyer โpositiveโ satisfaction rating of 100% and with all stars at 4.9 or better.
Now we sell two main kinds of items both from our respective extensive private book and porcelain collections, which we have to down size because we have now retired and are in the process of moving to smaller premises. So it made sense, or so we thought, to continue to use the main ID to sell books and this ID to sell any china excess to our collections. We thought wrong.
Our initial selling limit on this ID was 10 items a month with a combined value of no more than $1000, which was increased to 100 items with a combined value of $7500 after the PayPal account was verified. Then, when our 30 free listing were no more, we decided to open a store on this ID to sell porcelain, but we would have had to had a 1000 items listed at any one time to make the store viable. Should be easy we thought. I mean not only did we have top rated seller status on both IDs, but both also had 100% positive feedback ratings and good stars to boot. So all we had to do was apply for an increase. Right? Wrong!.
You see, though we were both using both IDs to sell, the first was in my wifeโs name while the other was in mine, and the only way to get both names on the same account was to close the old account and start again; and in the process loss nearly a decade of positive feedback and the work which went into getting it. Therefore, as far as eBay was concerned, on this ID we were a new untested seller. So to get an increase to the seller limit on this ID we had to apply for the increase to someone sitting in a call centre the Philippines, who then did a compliance audit, and on finding that we ticked all the necessary boxes, incrementally increase the limit to the next level (200 items a month) with advice that, if we wanted more, we would have to wait a further 3 month when we could apply for a further increase.
Now this in no way suited our requirements, but nothing we said could make the person at the other end deviate from policy. That is 100% positive feedback meant nothing. Top rated seller status meant nothing. All stars at 4.9 or better meant nothing. They mean nothing because when you ask for an increase in your selling limited, you are treated exactly the same as someone who barely reached the minimum selling standards. Outcome this ID, we have stopped selling altogether. Therefore actual fee revenue lost by eBay on this ID is $100-$150 per month, with the loss a further $300-$400 per month being the projected fee revenue had they have received if they had allowed us the selling limit we had asked for.
As for the other ID, we are now actively looking at alternatives; other host sites, whether to start up our own site, or whether it is simply best to store the lot in a shipping container, and progressively sell those items at specialist book and antique fairs. Outcome, actual fee revenue on that ID has reduced by $200 per month as we have significantly reduced the number of new items being listed. We are also progressively removing those items which have been listed for a year more, with the intention that we will stop listing here entirely in a year or two, if not sooner.
But the real loser is the buyer. The buyer because another local seller, a seller selling in categories where there are so few local listings that a massive injection of overseas listing was required to keep the category viable, is about to leave.
