My interpretation of 40 listings per month would be that if you are not a shop, you could have 40 different ads for free. And that after that, you would be charged a listing fee.

If you have 178 listings, that would be well over the 40 limit?

I wouldn't necessarily interpret it as 40 more free listings on top of what is already in the system.

I am not sure about what happens when ads roll over as I am not a seller. But by the sounds of it, not all of yours have rolled over for free.

There may be a way around it, in that I believe it is perfectly legal to have more than one ebay account. I am not sure what the maximum number is though. Maybe 4 or 5? Someone else will be able to tell you or else ebay help.

So you could possibly open a couple of new accounts and spread your items out.