Purchase limits: the quota counts the buying account, and the buying account is shared
A cap written for one shopper is met once by an agent account that buys for many, and once by a warehouse address that every customer shares.
Limits per account, per address, per phone
A purchase limit, 限购, caps how many pieces one buyer may take. The wording varies: 每人限购1件 (one per person), 每个ID限购 (per account), 每单限购 (per order). The checkout enforces it, usually by refusing a quantity above the cap or by showing a message that the limit has been reached.
What counts as “one buyer” is up to the platform and the seller. In practice it is often the account, and frequently the delivery address and the phone number as well, so that a second account sending to the same door is still counted. One of Taobao's seller tool guides (a tool guide for sellers, 2 June 2022) lists setting the purchase limit as one of the setup steps.
Why an agent account fills a quota quickly
An agent account is a shared buyer. Every customer whose order reaches the purchaser on a given day may be checking out through the same account, so a cap set with one shopper in mind is shared by all of them. If the item is popular, the cap may have been met for other customers before your order comes up, and the checkout refuses your quantity.
Agents often run more than one buying account, and the archived CNFans pages said nothing about how many it used. Do not assume either way. Ask before paying whether a capped listing can be bought in the quantity you want, and accept the answer.
Address limits meet a single warehouse
Address limits hit agent orders hardest. The archived CNFans home page said goods are “shipped to the CNFans warehouse in China”, and that is true of every customer's order. If a seller counts the limit by delivery address, the warehouse is one address with a cap of one or two, however many accounts the agent uses.
Phone limits work the same way when the warehouse contact number is the one on every order. Neither limit is aimed at agents; they exist to stop one person from emptying a sale. An agent warehouse simply looks like one very busy person.
Limits written into the title or the options
Not every cap is enforced by the checkout. Sellers also write limits into the listing title, an option name or the description: 限购1件 (limit one), 限购2件, or a note that orders above the limit will not be shipped. Those written limits are enforced by the seller after the order, which is worse for an agent order than a refusal at checkout: the purchaser may buy, and the seller may then cancel or ship fewer.
Read the title and the option names for these characters before you pay, and mention any you find in your order note so the purchaser does not buy more than the seller will send.
Campaign prices are meant for one shopper
Platform discounts carry the same idea in their rules. Taobao's marketing campaign rules say campaign resources are there to give real consumers a real saving, and that Taobao watches for use of campaign benefits that is markedly out of line with the rest of the platform. An agent account buying the same discounted item for many customers can look unusual to such systems.
We cannot say how any particular check treats an agent account, and the archived CNFans pages did not say either. It is one more reason why the deepest campaign price on a capped item is the least likely to survive an agent order, and why the ordinary price is the safer basis for a decision.
Ordering within a limit
This site will not suggest ways around a seller's limit. The limit is the seller's decision, and breaking it usually ends with a cancelled order anyway. What you can do is order within it and plan for the purchaser meeting it before you.
- Order the quantity the cap allows and say so in the note.
- Ask the agent whether the capped quantity can be bought, before paying.
- If you need more than the cap, look for a listing without one rather than stretching this one.