eBay now Automatically Increases Selling Limits when you call in

[GhostOfAmazon]

Not sure how new this is, but I just called eBay on one of my younger stealths, by "requesting limit increase" and the automated system asked me:

"You're calling about your selling limits, is that correct?"

I say: "Yes"

I want to re-iterate: This is a ROBOT LADY talking to me, NOT a human being!

System says: "OK! I can see your account doesn't currently have any limits, aside from the standard eBay selling limits of 25 items, or 1,250, whichever comes first. I can increase that to 50 items, or 2,500, whichever comes first. Is that ok?"

Of course I say "Yes."

System replies: "Ok, great! I've increased your limits to 50 items or 2,500 dollars per month, whichever comes first. You will receive an email shortly confirming this. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

I say no and hang up.

I'm not sure if this is a temporary thing, to keep the lines clear for the holidays, or if it's simply a new feature as part of the seller Fall update/PayPal split, but either way, you can now get AUTOMATIC increases via the eBay robot, without talking to a human being at all. Get on it while you can.

BTW, this account isn't by any means extraordinary: It has 6 feedback, 5 seller and 1 buyer. It's about 45 days old, and has 8 sales total. It's definitely not some old school amazing TRS or anything like that.

Anybody else had this happen to them?

[dealagreeproceed]

LEGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[solefoodbk]

This is very strange.

Whenever I call in its usually goes to a oversea rep then back to USA when its about limit increases.

Whenever I called in last year for limit increases they almost ALWAYS wanted database questions on new accounts (which were all my accounts at the time). This is how I got so good at talking to the reps but if this is true that's pretty amazing and weird.

You would think they wouldn't hand out increases like this, if they do why not just automate it via the website? For security purposes this makes 0 sense but who knows.....

It wouldn't make sense for it to be JUST YOUR ACCOUNT. They obviously have some system set up to take the call you placed. I'm tempted to make a new account to see if this works...

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by solefoodbk

This is very strange.

Whenever I call in its usually goes to a oversea rep then back to USA when its about limit increases.

Whenever I called in last year for limit increases they almost ALWAYS wanted database questions on new accounts (which were all my accounts at the time). This is how I got so good at talking to the reps but if this is true that's pretty amazing and weird.

You would think they wouldn't hand out increases like this, if they do why not just automate it via the website? For security purposes this makes 0 sense but who knows.....

It wouldn't make sense for it to be JUST YOUR ACCOUNT. They obviously have some system set up to take the call you placed. I'm tempted to make a new account to see if this works...

Well, it's not a BRAND NEW account, it does have a little sales history and some positive feedback, as I mentioned, but nothing extraordinary.

My THEORY is that this is a temporary measure due to high call volume. My guess is that if your account is at Standard or above, they will give you the auto increase option. More testing is needed to be sure.

[Haidukken]

I might give it a go later on this week with one or two of my baby accounts, just to see what UK is like. If thats the case and they've put in place some sort of automated system then it might be beneficial for people who are not patient, but 50 limit is NOT that great and usually it's easily achievable within 2-3 weeks anyway.

Interesting tho

[aking]

hmmm nice, definitely worth a try!

[yankee]

I believe it ha been this way in Australia for years now. Calling in or requesting increases did not require talking to people. Maybe they are doing this world wide.

[dealagreeproceed]

just tried on an above standard old account. 100's feedback and was transferred to rep

[jakobrockz]

What was your method of calling in? Did you already have the # for eBay and call in?

Did you use the pin eBay gives you to know which account you're calling about?

The past couple months they've been asking for the pin AND the phone number associated with the account... it used to be only the pin

[dealagreeproceed]

Originally Posted by jakobrockz

What was your method of calling in? Did you already have the # for eBay and call in?

Did you use the pin eBay gives you to know which account you're calling about?

The past couple months they've been asking for the pin AND the phone number associated with the account... it used to be only the pin

clicked increase limits and then it automatically took to me to the call option and gave me the passcode and asked for num. on the acct

[jeffweico]

I tried this on 3 accounts, although none of them had sales or feedbacks. All were over 30 days old and had limits of 5/500.

On the first 2 accounts, I got the same robot that GhostofAmazon did. It asks if you are calling about selling limits and when you say yes, it says there are no restrictions on the account and that your limits are 5/500. No offer of an increase. To be clear, I clicked on the link that gives you 2 options to increase your selling limits. The options are to answer questions or to call in. I chose call in and got their PIN code which I entered when calling them.

On the 3rd account I was transferred to a rep, no automated option. On that account, calling in was the only option available to me. The option to answer questions was simply not there. I do not know if that means there is something wrong with the account. I have pulled that one and will attempt to make some sales on it. I could never sell an account to someone knowing that it might be a weak account. Plus, if I get some sales on it and get past the 21 day holds AND I get a limits increase, it becomes more valuable.

So, given what we know from the posts above, I do not believe this is a way to increase limits on ALL accounts. But it appears this will work for SOME accounts, if they have some sales and feedbacks.

My best guess here is that eBay has, along with their normal selling increases where you get an email automatically, another way of increasing your limits where you are eligible for the increase ONLY if you ask for it. Meaning they do not want to increase them automatically, but if the seller takes the time to call them and they have a decent record, they will give you higher limits. Of course, that is just my theory. We cannot jump to conclusions on the basis of testing a few accounts.

I am confident we will discover the pattern here in the future. But this is nice information to have. It gives us something to go on when we seem to have hit a wall.

I think the people who would benefit the most from this are those who have decent records with eBay, yet have no gotten those automatic increases. If I had any accounts like that, I would certainly be calling in on them.

Lastly, it sounds like a lot of people are not maintaining their phones and are calling in from other numbers. I believe this is a BIG MISTAKE! If you have not maintained the number, then at least spoof your caller ID so that eBay sees the original number associated with the account. That gives them confidence. They see that the seller called in and they consider the number to be a good, working number because it comes up on their caller ID. I know this, because when you call eBay their system says "I see that you are calling in from (xxx) xxx-xxx. Would you like me to use that number to look up your account?" and then when you say yes, it asks you to confirm your ZIP code.

Yes, I know that people may call in from another number for many reasons and it does not mean that eBay flags their accounts. But ANYTHING we can do to give them confidence in our accounts is a step worth taking.

[gonzoman]

I tried it today with an acount that is about a year old. It was stuck on 80 items and $4000 for few months now. Never got the automated option. Rep started asking about what i sell and where i get my items from. I made up a nice story and changed subject quickly when i couldnt provide a direct answer. Told him sbout my buis plan etc. Got a raise to 200 items. He told me i can call again in a month.
I have a feeling that doing it with aged accounts is safer than with new account. Unless of course you get the automated option. I wouldnt go with a rep on a new account.

[jeffweico]

Originally Posted by gonzoman

I have a feeling that doing it with aged accounts is safer than with new account. Unless of course you get the automated option. I wouldnt go with a rep on a new account.

I agree. I don't think that asking for a selling limit increase will necessarily kill a new account, but I would not want to take a chance on it. I don't think the account needs to be a year old, but you should at least receive the first increase automatically.

I would only use this method for an account that was "stuck" as gonzoman pointed out, where there were no serious complaints and you have a good record. If you are selling anything you should not be selling, or have problems with your defect rate, then I wouldn't take a chance on calling in because you never know what might happen when a human being looks at your account.

[sdot10]

Are these accounts done with real info. that could be key. If its a truely stealth account there might be issues.

[gonzoman]

Originally Posted by sdot10

Are these accounts done with real info. that could be key. If its a truely stealth account there might be issues.

In my case - no. ⊗⊗⊗⊗ info all the way. In fact this is the second time i have done it with two accounts in the past two weeks. Both of the same nature. Fully verified. I did call from the original number assigned with the accounts. Both situations the only thing they cared about was the nature of my business and ptoducts

[GhostOfAmazon]

Ok, wow, this got quite a buzz. Here's more in depth info:

All phake info---nothing real. Account was complete stealth.

Accounts limits were DOUBLED. Someone mentioned 50 items is nothing. Agreed. But a 100% increase is nothing to sneeze at.

I ALWAYS use the ORIGINAL # I signed up with AND the pin. I use the option online, as Jeff describes.

It's strange that Jeff got the same robot but no option to increase automatically. What it DOES tell us is that there is obviously some kind of criteria eBay uses to decide if they let you auto increase or not.

Now, I'm not sure when Jeff called, or if it even matters, but I called at 9:30 PM EST on a Sunday. Just for kicks, after I got off the phone I called back and tried to see if it would give me another auto-increase. It wouldn't, and it transferred me to a rep. I was on hold for about 20 mins while waiting to speak to a human being. It's possible, even PROBABLE, that eBay might offer increases in a large degree based on the current call volume to save both eBay and sellers time.

The bottom line is this: if you're afraid of talking to a rep, but want an increase, you MAY have a new option now. Call and see if you're offered an auto increase. If not, just hang up before you're transferred. No problems. We need more data to be sure, but if someone wants to try calling a bit later at night and see if that yields the same results, I'd be interested to hear the outcome.

[jakobrockz]

Tested today on a 80 day selling account with 22 100% positive feedback

I was transferred to a rep... but easily got my limits doubled from 50/2500 to 100/5000 no problem

[yankee]

Originally Posted by GhostOfAmazon

System says: "OK! I can see your account doesn't currently have any limits, aside from the standard eBay selling limits of 25 items, or 1,250, whichever comes first. I can increase that to 50 items, or 2,500, whichever comes first. Is that ok?"

Of course I say "Yes."

System replies: "Ok, great! I've increased your limits to 50 items or 2,500 dollars per month, whichever comes first. You will receive an email shortly confirming this. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

I am most interested in what happens if you said "No"

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by yankee

I am most interested in what happens if you said "No"

It will transfer you to a rep. I tested this on another account last night.

They basically said "the system determined the correct limits" and I got the same limits I was originally offered, only difference is I had to sit on hold for 13 minutes for the privilege.

Bottom line: Take what you're offered by the robot.

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by jakobrockz

Tested today on a 80 day selling account with 22 100% positive feedback

I was transferred to a rep... but easily got my limits doubled from 50/2500 to 100/5000 no problem

What time of day did you call? What timezone?

[stevenice]

very good, I will try with my accounts

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by stevenice

very good, I will try with my accounts

Make sure to use the PIN option and call with the correct phone (the one associated with your account)