eBay lost its roots

[jumpingmarlin]

eBay grew up out of individuals buying and selling. Seems like it’s now only a place for businesses.
Tried to list a few household items like I have done intermittently. But was told I can only sell $10 worth.
I have no intention to sell a few things each month to get my limit up to sell the few things I want to sell.
Sad that eBay has left its roots for the big wide marketplace.

[kopenhagen5]

You seem to be confused.

New seller limits are usually 10 listings per month to the value of $2500

And to list is free, you only pay fees if an item sells.

[jumpingmarlin]

I don’t believe I am confused ( wish I was). eBay is clearly limiting me to $10 per item. I have googled this and seen that it is now a thing.
I went to list an item with a min price of $40 and it said not allowed. Can only sell $10 worth.
It then gave me the reasons why - essentially “ to build my business slowly to make sure I can meet my customer demand”. From what I’ve read this is a made up reason, which irks as its dishonest. Seems it’s to prevent fraud.
Like I say, makes it impossible to use in the way eBay started.

[jellybirddesigns]

OP is not confused - this seems to be a new thing.

I found this in Reddit from 8 days ago:

"Hello, I'm not trying to start a business but I'm trying to sell a few dozen items that are in the garage. eBay has said that I have a $10 limit and one item until they review my account. I'm trying to find a way where they can either review my account now or override the limits because I have several dozen items worth in total maybe one or two thousand dollars. Do you have any idea what I should do? Their online support chat is useless and I can't find a good phone number."

And from another site:

"ebay won't allow me to list an item, saying my limit is $10 for 1 item this month.  I'm not a regular user and don't intend to be, just occasionally trying to sell an item in my household.  But I wouldn't bother if it's value was less than $10.  What am I doing wrong?"

[jellybirddesigns]

I'm wondering if this new restriction is in reponse to some sellers who open up accounts to sell non-existent high priced items and then disappear as soon as some money has flowed in.

[digital*ghost · Accepted solution]

What payment method do you have on file, and / or have you officially verified your account? 

I've checked other forum posts with people encountering the same problem, and it seems different people have been able to resolve this in different ways, and some not at all - one resolved it by verifying their account (phone method), another contacted eBay and was told the limit was due to their account being dormant but the limit was lifted after that contact. 

The accounts that appear to be experiencing this aren't new members, but appear to be infrequent users of the site, especially with regards to selling, so I suspect it may be a measure to prevent hijacked accounts from listing lots of items suddenly. 

I'd hop on to ebay chat and see what they say - most scammers hijacking an account would abandon it immediately if it had a 1 item - $10 limit, so they may assist if you contact them. 

[jumpingmarlin]

Thanks very much. eBay chat helped me out.

[gutterpunkz05]

Have you tried the     Request A Limit Increase   Tab.

[jumpingmarlin]

I did try that but it didn’t work and gave an error message. Needed eBay real person on chat to help.
Thanks

[p9games]

True.  Ebay grew up.  They acquired Gumtree which offers people a free outlet to move low quantities of items.  Gumtree seems to be focussing on personal listings of one off items, for people to declutter their homes and garages.  Ebay, whatever it's roots, is geared toward business sellers.

Ebay is what it is.  Little to be gained by lamenting 'the way it used to be' 20 years ago.

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@jumpingmarlin wrote:
eBay grew up out of individuals buying and selling. Seems like it’s now only a place for businesses.
Tried to list a few household items like I have done intermittently. But was told I can only sell $10 worth.
I have no intention to sell a few things each month to get my limit up to sell the few things I want to sell.
Sad that eBay has left its roots for the big wide marketplace.

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