Global standards overview
Global seller performance standards help highlight sellers who consistently offer excellent service for their international transactions. Sellers from all eBay sites are required to meet the same minimum standards, ensuring that sellers globally are both setting and meeting buyer expectations worldwide. If you sell on other eBay sites or offer international delivery, your transaction will count towards 1 of the 4 regional seller standards programmes based on the country the item is delivered to. Go to your seller standards dashboard - opens in new window or tab to see your status for each of the seller standards programmes.
- US seller standards programme: Determines your status on eBay.com. You're evaluated based on transactions which are delivered to the US.
- UK seller standards programme: Determines your status on eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie. You're evaluated based on transactions which are delivered to the UK and Ireland.
- German seller standards programme: Determines your status on eBay.de, eBay.at and eBay.ch. You're evaluated based on transactions which are delivered to Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
- Global seller standards programme: Determines your status if you are selling in one of the markets outside of the US, UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. You are evaluated based on all of your transactions which are delivered worldwide, except for those that are delivered to the US, UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Note: If you reside in a country other than the US, UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria or Switzerland, then the Global standard will be your domestic standard.
Individual transactions only count towards either the Global programme or one of the other regional seller standards programmes, never both.
As an eBay seller, providing excellent customer service should be your top priority. You're expected to:
- Promptly resolve customer issues.
- Manage inventory and keep items well stocked.
- Charge reasonable P&P costs.
- Specify P&P costs and handling time in the listing.
- Follow through on your return policy.
- Respond to buyers' questions promptly.
- Be helpful, friendly, and professional throughout a transaction.
- Make sure the item is delivered to the buyer as described in the listing.
For more information on meeting buyers' expectations, see our selling practices policy.
Keep in mind, too, that if you don't meet buyers' expectations, it can lead to:
- Not meeting the late delivery rate requirements.
- Exceeding minimum defect rate requirements.
- A bad experience for you and the buyer.
- Low detailed seller ratings (DSRs).
- Negative or neutral Feedback from buyers.
- Cases opened by buyers for items not received or items not as described.
Transaction defect rate
The transaction defect rate is the percentage of a seller's transactions that have any of the following transaction-related defects:
- eBay Money Back Guarantee cases for an item not received or not as described.
- Seller-initiated transaction cancellation.
Sellers need to maintain a defect rate of 2.00% or lower to meet minimum global seller performance standards, and a defect rate of 0.50% or lower to meet global eBay Top-rated seller standards.
Any case or return that is referred to eBay for review and is found in your favour, or found to be no fault of the buyer or seller, won't count against your performance rating.
The transaction defect rate won't affect your seller status until you have transactions with defects involving at least 4 different buyers as an eBay Top-rated seller or 5 different buyers as an above standard seller, within your evaluation period.
Top Rated Sellers in the global program need to maintain a late shipment rate of less than 5%.
Notes:
- Sellers can have a maximum of 0.3% of eBay Money Back Guarantee cases closed without seller resolution over the most recent evaluation period.
- Sellers with 400 or more transactions over the past 3 months are evaluated on their transactions with global buyers from the last 3 calendar months. For all other sellers, the rate is calculated from transactions with global buyers over the last 12 calendar months.
To improve your seller performance ratings, follow these best practices for all your transactions, which can also help you achieve eBay Top-rated seller-status. You can also review these tips on becoming a better seller.
What happens if your seller level is Below Standard?
If you don't meet our minimum performance standards, we may put limits on your selling activity until your performance improves.
The consequences of falling Below Standard can include:
- Your items may be placed lower in search results
- We may limit or restrict you from selling on your account and related accounts, or from registering a new account
- Funds from your sales may be held
- You may be charged higher final value fees. See our Fees for business sellers article for more information
- You will be blocked from using the Promoted Listings tool, and will not be able to create new campaigns or edit existing campaigns
- We may downgrade your eBay Store to the Basic level if you've been Below Standard for more than 60 days
Usually, we will only apply permanent selling restrictions when your account has been evaluated as Below Standard for at least 2 consecutive months. However, we may take action at any time if we have urgent concerns about your account; for example, if we've detected fraud or if your selling practices pose a threat to the buyer experience. The actions we take will be proportional to the nature of the issue we have identified and what is reasonably required to protect the interests of all eBay users and eBay as provider of the services.
If your account isn't meeting our minimum performance standards, you should:
- Resolve all issues on the account before buying or selling with other accounts
- Review your listings to make sure that you're describing your items accurately. Use pictures and include specifics in your listing so your buyers know exactly what to expect
- Make sure that you respond promptly to requests from buyers
Learn more about using multiple accounts. For guidelines on meeting buyers' expectations, see our selling practices policy.
Seller protection
We have safeguards in place to protect your ratings and help you in case you have a problem. For example, we consider a buyer's pattern for opening requests and cases and leaving low detailed seller ratings, and we protect you when necessary. We also protect you against delayed deliveries in high-growth emerging markets worldwide. Learn more about how we protect sellers - opens in new window or tab.