How does the 300 free listings limit interact with always free to sell clothing?

[anne.craig]

Does anyone have any idea how these will work together?  I've been assuming that I need to count all of my used clothing within the limit - but I've just thought that there are no fees to sell clothing, which I presume includes listing fees.  So where you go over 300 but it includes clothing, how will that be calculated do you think?  I am just trying to get some kind of plan in place, my eBay has been ticking along without too much work on my part but it looks like it's going to be a lot more complicated going forward.  If clothes are in addition to the 300 items it would make a difference to what I can list.  

[kempseykate]

Your best bet would be to open a business acount for your nail varnish, and anything else that you buy to sell.
This would then free up space on your private account.
If you are still near the 300 limit, I would imagine you would need to make sure that non-clothes are listed first, then any extra clothes would be free. But it might get a bit complicated keeping on top of it!

[anne.craig]

I'm a nail polish collector, I have never bought nail polish to sell!  I have a 5,000 bottle collection at home, just clearing out a few really old ones I have never got round to wearing and no longer love, plus a few newer ones I bought for personal use and didn't like in person - perils of online shopping.  

My listings have been operating fairly easily until now - I have at any given time a mix of items including clothing, around 150-170 being sold at auction only with BO.  They're all on auto-relist, eBay claim that it is "up to 8 times", in practice it is usually 3 times before they end them and I have to manually restart.  

I also have a "reserve" of unsold more expensive items, which I only list when I receive a final values fees discount offer, often fortnightly, sometimes less frequently.  I know this is a discount I may not be offered always and don't rely on it, I just feel that at a certain value, I'm not prepared to pay those full fees as it's too much.  

So when I get the offer, I tend to relist everything in my "Unsold" folder, when I don't get the offer, if I have time I relist the items that just expired.  I also try to continue my decluttering regularly, so there will be new listings to be added into this mix.

Generally, I sell about 4 items a month on average, most for just a few £££.  Eg - this week, nothing so far, last week one puzzle (after being relisted for about 5 years) for 99p, the week before one item of clothing for £12, the week before that 2 items (1 book, 1 nail polish) for about £30 total.  That's a fairly typical month for me.   

This won't work going forward though, as just the auto relists of auctions will take me over 300 items/month.  I think I need to end all auto relists and make new listings on a weekly basis, just rotate items around so I don't lose them from unsold and have to make whole new listings all the time.  That way if a fees offer is made I can get my expensive items listed.  

If I can take the clothing out of those rotations, it will make my life easier, though it's all going to be a good bit more time-consuming than I've been used to on this platform.  And the simple fact is that I never know what will sell and what won't, or what items people might want to bundle for discount shipping, so I think my sales will only go down as a result of the change.  That's life I guess.  Shame.

[kempseykate]

" last week one puzzle (after being relisted for about 5 years) for 99p"

Why? Surely you would only have got pennies for that after fees? Most of my low value items are off to the charity shop if they haven't sold after 1-3 months.
I said it before recently, I don't understand this listing low value things over and over. I just want the room. It's different if you are a business seller, because you need to try and make a profit, but if you are just getting rid of stuff you no longer want ...

Maybe the 300 listings will be a good thing, as it will focus the minds of sellers a bit, and the site might be a bit fresher, rather than seeing the same old same old.

[anne.craig]

It was clutter I didn't need, I listed it for more originally, over time reduced it, no effort to leave it there ongoing, finally got rid, I was happy to get pennies for it, buyer was delighted, eBay made small amount in fees, win-win-win.  I'm not a business so it's not about making a profit for me.  Always delighted if I sell something, especially if I get a decent price for it, but it's not about money.  eBay was my lockdown project and I'm just trying to clear out what I don't need, preferrably with some money to show at the end - and those pennies for several things will add up to pounds eventually.  I'm old, I do go for the "look after the pennies" belief.  eBay is never going to fund me buying a house or retiring before I'm 80!  But the shelf space that puzzle occupied is now free, and I can put one of my shiny new hand-made nail polishes there!  Because I bought 4 today, 4 yesterday and 1 the day before.  I'm not really good at the decluttering, so every little helps!

[anne.craig]

OK, just found this under the Fees section re selling clothing:

Free selling for pre-owned clothes
It's now free for UK based private sellers to sell clothes. You won't pay final value fees or regulatory operating fees when these items sell.
As long as you still have an allocation of free listings you won't be charged a listing fee. 

So that indicates clothing is included in having to pay listing fees if you go over the 300.  At least that clears one question up.

[sherbornemaz]

I got caught out last month as I didn't know that the free listings limit per month had changed to 300. Consequently I got charged 35p per item for quite a lot of my re listings which was rather frustrating. I guess eBay has to start getting income from other sources now that selling clothing is free of fees but the advertising is misleading. It isn't free to sell if you have listed over 300 items! 

[johnwash1]

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@kempseykate wrote:

" last week one puzzle (after being relisted for about 5 years) for 99p"

Why? Surely you would only have got pennies for that after fees? Most of my low value items are off to the charity shop if they haven't sold after 1-3 months.
I said it before recently, I don't understand this listing low value things over and over. I just want the room. It's different if you are a business seller, because you need to try and make a profit, but if you are just getting rid of stuff you no longer want ...

Maybe the 300 listings will be a good thing, as it will focus the minds of sellers a bit, and the site might be a bit fresher, rather than seeing the same old same old.

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I'm with @anne.craig on this.  Charity shops round here are quite snooty and don't want my kind of stuff.  And I  don't wish to throw stuff in the bin.

I'm used to ebay and have learned so many tips about how to use the site.  It seems to be getting worse and worse and I would gladly list on Gumtree, Freegle etc if I knew enough about them, but it would be a whole new learning curve.  I used to sell my wife's surplus craft supplies on eBid successfully, but it's not a site where old electronics etc  does well.

@kempseykate  I love your optimism, that the site will get a bit fresher, rather than the same old same old.  You mean the same old listings of Chinese rubbish, I guess.

What's needed is a search function that works as well as it did many years ago,

[theelench]

With the greatest respect and regard for your tireless work helping so many with problems here.

But is "Why" really a question that you (or anyone else) should ask ATM?

I admit it doesn't make much sense to me to go to the trouble of listing something that will only sell for pennies, but with things as they are for some those pennies count, probably in ways that they really shouldn't.

For those caught in the "Heat or Eat" trap and others, those pennies might just make the difference between one, the other or perhaps a bit more of both?

I'm also old (well past retirement age) have the Old State Pension, a small works pension and still do a part-time cleaning job, (looking after the pennies) because I know that my leasehold flat is going to be re-roofed in the near future.  But I was confident that by adding to my savings each year I would be able to pay my share of that bill. 

Now with frozen tax allowances, paying tax on the works pension and BR tax on my job I'm nowhere near as confident about the future.  There are a great many people in similar positions, so perhaps the question of "why" might be better left alone?  

I'm not criticising all your good work, just making a suggestion. 

[johnwash1]

@theelenchnot sure I'm inclined to agree with you.  Selling items for dozens of quid may make sense to keep the heating on.  But doing it for a profit of pennies AND the usual risks of refunds, with no other motivation, that doesn't make much sense to me.  I would suppose there are other ways to bring in a bit more cash for a bit less risk.  Though I admit it shouldn't be my role to tell other people how to live their lives.

This afternoon I took Martin Lewis's advice and changed my electricity from standard variable tariff to a better tariff (with no exit penalty).  Has definitely saved me more pennies than my last 3 days' ebay sales (i.e. zero)!