When new folks begin figuring out how to sell on eBay, there are important limitations they need to understand: Selling Limits and Payment Holds.

New sellers are subject to both of these and if the newbie does not know about these eBay “rules” getting started selling on eBay can be a bit frustrating.

Types of eBay Selling & Account Limits

There are three types of Selling/Account Limits:

• Account
• Category
• Item

To be clear, these limits are not placed on a new account because eBay is “suspicious” about “you” as a new seller. The limitations are are placed in an effort to keep eBay a “safe” online marketplace which benefits us all as a whole.

Note that limits will likely be a bit different for those who opt to open an eBay store at the outset.

How Overall Account Limits Work

There are three components to Account Limits  (per calendar month)

• Sold items
• GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) or the seller’s total dollar amount of sales
• Active items.

For a new eBay seller:

• Active Items: 10 at a time

And whichever below comes first:

• Sold Items Per Month Limit: 10 Sold Items
• GMV Limit per Month: $500

This allows a seller to list 10 items, say, in the first week of the month. If 3 items sell and the others close without selling, the seller can list seven more items.

If these seven close after, say, a week and 3 have sold but 7 have not, the seller can list four more items. This process can be repeated until the quota of 10 sold items is reached or the month ends – at which point, the limits reset to their initial levels.

NOTE: If an item sells, it counts toward that month’s limit for ‘Sold Items’ and is removed from the amount of ‘Active Items for Sale’ quota.

If a listing ends without selling or for Multiple Quantity Fixed Price Listings or it ends with none of the available quantity sold, that listing no longer counts against the limit.

You may be able to request a higher account limit by confirming your information, linking your new account to an established account, or contacting us. When you reach a selling limit you’ll be given the option to request a limit increase. We may also evaluate your selling activity on a monthly basis and grant a new limit on your account if you qualify.

You may also review the seller performance standards. These standards provide sellers an opportunity to examine their selling practices to focus on improving performance.

To find your account limits you can follow the chart above or for those like me using the HUB (if your screen looks different than above) Go to MY EBAY > using the drop-down click on SELLING

Once you click on “Selling” browse the page until you spot the box with “Selling Limits”

You may see a “Limit warning” either from “My eBay”

or it can be found when you list an item on eBay from the “SYI” aka “Sell Your Item” form

How limits on certain categories work

In certain categories, for certain sellers, eBay limits the number of  items that can be listed in a calendar month. These limits may apply to a seller’s account if that seller has:

• Registered the account less than 90 days ago
• Not had multiple items in this category before
• Not sold in this category in over a year
• Had eBay Buyer Protection cases opened for more than 3% of your total transactions in the last year

A seller needs to establish a positive selling history in the category they are listing in and show that they are able to meet the needs of the customers before being permitted to list higher quantities.

Starting out with smaller quantities also gives the new seller a chance to become familiar with eBay and to make sure they are following eBay’s selling practices policy.

For a safer buying and selling experience on eBay, some items may be subject to additional limits. For example, eBay doesn’t allow listings for counterfeit items, fakes, replicas, or unauthorized copies. Such items may infringe on someone’s copyright or trademark and are harmful to legitimate sellers, buyers, and eBay.

Some of these limits will be lifted after a seller has established a good selling history, but other types of limits will always remain in place. Sellers who have good detailed seller ratings and are confident in the authenticity and origin of their items may be eligible to have the selling limit increased.

Note: These are item-based limits, as opposed to account limits or category limits.

When a seller lists an item, he/she may see a message letting him/her know that limits are met, or are close to, one of the monthly account limits.

If he/she can’t wait until the next month to continue listing, they can click the link in the message to request higher selling limits. Some sellers may also find this link in the All Selling section of My eBay in the Monthly Limits section.

From time to time, eBay asks members to verify contact information and business practices before they’re allowed to list more items on the website. eBay also sometimes ask members to confirm some information.

eBay may send the seller an email with more information on what the need to do next. Sellers can find the email in the Messages section of My eBay. Once eBay can verify the seller’s information, they’ll review his/her account to see if eBay can allow the seller to list more items.

The seller may be able to request a higher account limit by confirming his/her information, linking a new account to an established account, or contacting eBay. When a seller reaches a selling limit they will be given the option to request a limit increase. eBay may also evaluate a seller’s selling activity on a monthly basis and grant a new limit on the account if they qualify.

Removing Category Limits

Once a seller has been selling activity for more than 90 days, and has sold multiple items in the category, and has a proven track record of providing excellent customer service and following eBay’s rules and policies, these limits will be removed from the seller’s account.

Since the limits are automatically removed, the seller doesn’t need to do anything else.

Raising eBay Selling Limits for Established Accounts

Sellers may be able to increase the limits on the account if she/he has another, more established seller account on eBay. The other account needs to meet all of these conditions:

• been a registered seller for at least 90 days.
• Has no unresolved eBay Buyer Protection cases.
• detailed seller ratings are at least 4.8 in all areas.

If the seller’s account meets all of these conditions, they should follow the instructions on the Request higher selling limits page to confirm that they already have an established selling account.

Increasing eBay Item Limits

Sellers who have been a seller for at least 90 days with good detailed seller ratings and are confident in the authenticity and origin of their items may be eligible to have their selling limit increased.

eBay will consider the following when they determine whether to change selling limits:

• Positive buyer Feedback
• No unresolved eBay Buyer Protection cases with buyers
• Selling history (minimum 3 months) and activity as a seller on the site
• Absence of Feedback questioning the authenticity of the item(s)
• PayPal verification
• History of following eBay policies
• General good standing of the account

If a seller’s account meets the above factors, the seller can contact eBay for an account review an possible raising or lifting of the item limits.

If a seller doesn’t qualify to have these limits increased at this time, they should check back in 30 days. She/he may be able to list more items of this category or type at that time.

These selling limits only apply to certain categories or types of items, so the seller can usually continue listing other types of items as long as they also follow eBay’s policies. Find out more : rules for sellers.

eBay Selling Limit Review

• They apply to ALL new sellers. No unlevel playing field.
• They help guide a seller to selling success faster.
• They reduce the risk of the seller providing an unintentional bad experience for the buyer
• They also help the seller avoid possible unintentional policy violations.
• They help insure that the buyer and the seller have a good experience, one they both want to repeat.
• And they are not all permanent (except for item limits in some cases). Limits can be reviewed automatically by meeting the criteria or manually for more detailed situations.

eBay Item Limit Review

Item Limits are almost always applied to sellers of certain, unspecified brand name items, especially, but not limited to, those that are so popular that they incite third parties to copy them. Points to remember:

• Item limits help keep counterfeits off the site. This includes those items for which the seller either did not know if the item he listed was authentic.
• The path to increasing or lifting item limits is not a clear cut as those for lifting account and category limits. The seller of items that eBay has limited needs to continue selling as many of these items as the item limit allows so they can establish a track record of satisfied buyers and no reports about the their items’ possible lack of authenticity.
• Note also that item limits are ONLY applied to some items that are popular brand name, trademarked or copyrighted items. They are not applied to items that are not covered by current trademark or copyright!

If a seller has a Standard or Above Standard performance rating and an established selling history, or the seller is an eBay Top-rated seller—the seller will see no difference from what they experience today. Funds will be available when the buyer pays.

If a seller has a limited selling history—90 days or less from the first sale, 25 or fewer sales transactions or $250 or less total sales since the first sale—or if they had a Below Standard rating in the Seller Dashboard, the buyer’s payment will first show as pending in their PayPal account.

Funds will be available 3 days after eBay receives confirmation of delivery when uploaded tracking information is posted, or 7 days after the latest estimated delivery date if they did not upload tracking but marked the item as shipped.

If no shipping information is provided to eBay and the seller doesn’t upload tracking information or mark the item as shipped—funds will be available 21 days after the buyer pays.

Payment Holds are lifted when it’s been 90 days since seller’s first successful sale on eBay, seller has had 25 sales transactions and $250 total sales.

If you’re subject to this update, you’ll see new information in My eBay to help manage your cash flow, including the estimated date funds will be available and steps you can take to help get your funds faster.

“How can I get out from under having my payments held by eBay?”