The planning tool
A new eBay account is a budget: 10 items, $500, one month. Most beginners spend it in the order they find things in the closet. This planner spends it in the order an account needs — proof first, money second, the slow-paying items last.
List up to ten things from around your house. The planner ranks them the way a new account should: tracked and quick-selling first, the cap watched for you, and anything that belongs in month two held back — with what each one keeps and when its money arrives. Three examples are filled in; replace them with your own.
The ranking rule, printed so you can argue with it: tracked beats untracked (it is the difference between a 6-day and a 21-day wait), quick prices beat big prices (a sold $25 item raises your limits; an unsold $300 item just occupies value), and anything over $1,000 or high-scrutiny waits (the 30-day hold is a month-two experience). Fees on each line are the category rate on the item price, checked October 21, 2026; run any single item through the decoder for its shipping, label and exact payout date.
The First 30 Days Kit turns one decode into the whole month: the day-by-day calendar (limits, holds, when cash actually arrives), the First-10 listing worksheets, the hold-avoidance checklist, the limit-raise playbook for days 30/60/90, and the fee-proof pricing sheet for the common categories.
Included in the $39 First 30 Days Kit
Because in month one its job would be to sit in the longest hold while eating most of your $500 cap. In month two — limits raised, holds shorter, record established — the same item is a good listing. Timing is the whole strategy.
Then the item cap binds before the dollar cap, and ranking matters more, not less: pick the ten most likely to sell, not the ten you most want gone. The rest are month two's inventory, already photographed.
The arithmetic (fees, keeps, hold branches) stays true. The cap does not — once your limits rise, the binding constraint becomes your time, and the decoder's per-sale view matters more than the plan.