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Seller performance and feedback policy

Policy overview

Most sales go smoothly. When you follow our selling best practices and make sure the items you list are in stock, work with a customer when an issue arises and post within your stated dispatch time, your buyers will have a great experience and are more likely to buy from you again.

Occasionally, there may be an issue with a transaction. When certain transaction problems happen, you can track them in your Seller Dashboard.

This policy outlines when we adjust your performance evaluation and Feedback.

How is selling performance measured?

Seller standards focus on what matters most to buyers: getting the item they ordered on time and effective customer service to respond to any requests for help.

This is measured using 3 metrics:

  • Defect rate

  • Cases closed without seller resolution

  • Late delivery rate

Learn more about seller performance standards.

Can defects, late deliveries or Feedback be appealed?

We automatically remove defects, adjust your on-time delivery rate and remove Feedback in the instances outlined in the guidelines below. 

Things to keep in mind:

  • Although automatic adjustments happen daily, please allow up to 2 days for them to show in your seller standards dashboard or your Feedback profile.

  • Appeals aren’t considered if tracking shows the item is still in transit, there is an open eBay Money Back Guarantee request or if a refund hasn't been issued for a returned item.

  • You may qualify for automatic 5-star detailed seller ratings and other protections outlined in our Seller Protection Policy.

Sellers who violate our policies or are found to be manipulating our seller performance standards may be subject to a range of actions, including the reinstatement of previously removed defects, Feedback and late deliveries; ineligibility for further removal of defects, Feedback or late deliveries; limits on buying and selling privileges; and account suspension.

What are the guidelines?

Automatically removed 

Automatically Removed

We automatically remove defects, adjust your late delivery rate and remove Feedback when:

  • The buyer didn't pay for a purchase and an unpaid item case is recorded against the buyer.

  • The defect, Feedback or late delivery was the direct result of an eBay site issue or programme error.

  • The delivery estimate shown in the listing was shortened and tracking shows the item was delivered by the carrier’s longest delivery estimate.

  • We take action against a buyer for violating the Buying Practices policy.

  • We take action to close an eBay Money Back Guarantee case or appeal request in favour of the seller.

  • We instruct you to hold a delivery or take action to cancel the transaction.

Not eligible for removal 

Not Eligible for Removal

The following scenarios aren’t eligible for removal:

  • We may remove a Feedback comment that violates eBay policy, such as containing profanity or links, although the Feedback rating or any defects themselves aren't necessarily removed.

  • On-time delivery appeals for transactions without tracking available to verify on-time order fulfilment or delivery.

Manual review

There are some circumstances where a defect, Feedback or late delivery can be manually reviewed. Sellers may appeal in these cases and must make the request within 90 days of the transaction. 

Examples include:

  • You upload tracking that confirms the item was dispatched within the handling time or the item was delivered by the estimated delivery dateand the on-time delivery rate wasn’t automatically updated because the tracking information isn’t integrated with eBay.

  • In cases where there is an attempted delivery, we consider this to be delivered for the purposes of adjusting the on-time delivery rate or removing Feedback.

  • The Feedback comment contained inappropriate content (such as swear words) as described in our Member-to-member contact policy. While inappropriate comments will be removed, the rating will remain.

Why does eBay have this policy?

We adjust seller performance metrics when we have objective information available in our system, or by using carrier tracking information that shows the seller fulfilled all elements of the transaction and the defect, Feedback or late delivery was not accurate.

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