Does it matter how long you've been a buyer before selling?

[swbluto]

Does it matter how long you've been a buyer before you make your first sale? I know that the day of the first sell is important for eBay for setting the 45day/90day "seller timers", but does it matter how long you've been an ebay buyer before the first sale? Seems like to me that people are easily banned from selling regardless of how long they've been a buyer on the site, and it seems to me that eBay doesn't put any scrutiny on buyers but it does put plenty of scrutiny on new sellers, regardless of how long they've been a buyer.

That is, making your first sale on day 33 vs. day 3 seems to make little difference.

[jeffweico]

Well, if you have an account that has been buying regularly for 3 years and turn it into a seller account, then it PROBABLY makes a difference in the way they look at the account. It would not mean the account is out of the woods and that the seller can sell anything they want to, but those accounts probably DO get less scrutiny than new accounts.

Some people believe that waiting for a month to list your first item is a good idea. I do not subscribe to that theory. But I DO think it is a good idea to list ONE ITEM at first and then list some more a few days later. Most people who are eBay newbies do NOT start a seller account at eBay and list 50 items on their first day. So I DO believe it pays to be cautious - but not terrified - with new accounts.

[pzlv]

Like Jeff said, I follow the same general guidelines. Have stuff ready to go in advance, first sale should be something trivial and small, not even trying to profit from it. Starting slow is boring, but it's safer and if you're going to spend time/money creating a stealth account you want it to be secure and not waste your time/money by getting it banned due to greed/impatience. :D