Carousell has introduced a new policy which limits the number of listings an account can have at any time.
Headquartered in Singapore, Carousell is an online marketplace for buying and selling new and secondhand items. Previously, a user on Carousell could list any number of items under any category, which would show up in searches.
Under the new policy, a general quota of 30 active listings at a time per user will be implemented. This will apply across all categories except Property, Autos, Jobs and Services. Users with more than 30 listings will have the rest of their listings labelled “inactive” from August 25.
Carousell explained that this policy will encourage more active curation of quality listings and users can consequently find what they want more easily and sell quicker.
Sellers with less than 30 listings will have their listings automatically marked as “active” and they will be shown to buyers. For sellers with more than 30 listings, the 30 most recent listings will be labelled “active” by Carousell, while the rest will be labelled “inactive” and hidden from buyers.
Users can see if their listings are active or inactive by going to their own profile and clicking on “Manage quota”.
Other than managing and choosing which listings to make “inactive”, sellers with more than 30 listings can opt to purchase the Caroubiz package which allows an increase in general quota among other features. The Caroubiz packages start from S$9.98 a month.
Netizens seem to be split on what they think of this new policy.
Some netizens agree that the policy will be useful, and one person explained that this can help to prevent sellers who repost their goods multiple times.
Other netizens agreed as casual sellers will not have more than 30 listings. They clarify that if users are using Carousell for their business, then it is fair that they would have to pay for the Caroubiz package to use the platform.
Another netizen pointed out that this would help to filter the listings found, making it more productive for buyers.
However, other netizens disagree with the new policy. Some pointed out that certain items are harder to sell because they may belong to a niche market. Without selling off some of their listings, sellers will not be able to list anything new under the general quota.
Another netizen pointed out that some sellers do not want to intentionally keep more than 30 listings and that it was unfair for Carousell to “penalize sellers just because their items can’t sell fast”.
More information about Carousell’s new policy can be found here.