Seller standards policy

Every month we take a look at how much you've sold recently, and how many of those sales resulted in a poor experience for the buyer, such as not receiving the item they ordered. We measure individual performance on areas within your control – fulfilling orders on time and resolving any buyer issues promptly. We also have some safeguards in place to protect sellers and ensure fair evaluation.

It's important to check your Seller Dashboard on a regular basis so you can see how your performance is tracking, and, if needed, take action before the next evaluation. Use the button below to see your current seller level, as well as what it would be if we evaluated you today.

View Seller Dashboard - opens in new window or tab

If your current or projected seller level has dropped to Below Standard, it's important to focus on minimising cases closed without seller resolution and order cancellations as soon as possible – this will help to improve your performance on these metrics at the next evaluation. For more help, read our article on Monitoring and improving your seller performance.

What is the policy?

All sellers are required to maintain the following minimum performance standards for their listings on eBay.co.uk within their evaluation period:

• Cases closed without seller resolution: No more than 2 (or 0.3% of transactions)
• Transaction defect rate: No more than 2% of transactions

We evaluate your performance on the 20th of each month based on your recent sales, and assign you one of the following seller levels:

• Top Rated means you're exceeding our performance expectations, as well as having an established sales history and complying with other eBay policies
• Above Standard means you're meeting our expectations
• Below Standard means that your performance has fallen below our minimum standards and as a result, we may place limitations on your selling activity, including charging higher final value fees, until your performance improves

If you are Top Rated, this will be shown in your feedback profile. Otherwise, other eBay members can't see your seller level.

Different performance thresholds may apply on other eBay sites or if you're selling to international buyers. To understand how your performance is evaluated when selling internationally, please read our Global seller performance policy.

How we calculate your seller level

On the 20th of each month, we take a look at your recent transactions to work out your:

• Cases closed without seller resolution
• Transaction defect rate
• Late delivery rate

To make sure we're getting a fair picture, we'll adjust how far we look back (the "evaluation period") depending on how much you've sold recently:

• If you had more than 400 transactions in the past 3 months, we'll count all those transactions
• If you had fewer than 400 transactions in the past 3 months, we'll count all your transactions from the last 12 months

To help understand how evaluations work, please see our calculation examples below.

Cases closed without seller resolution

Transaction defect rate

Late delivery rate

Calculation examples

Sales volume vs. transaction defects
These examples illustrate how we compare your rates of transactions with defects against our minimum requirements to determine your seller level.

Transaction defects vs. unique buyers
These examples illustrate how we also consider the number of unique buyers when calculating your seller level. This ensures you're protected from having your evaluation skewed by just one or two buyers.

Requirements to become Top Rated

To become a Top Rated seller on eBay.co.uk, you need to be an active seller who's performing well above our minimum standards, as well as having an established sales history and complying with other eBay policies.

We'll automatically upgrade you to Top Rated status on the 1st of the following month if you meet all of the criteria below at your seller performance evaluation.

eBay Premium Service

Once you've reached Top Rated status, you can choose to provide eBay Premium Service for some or all of your listings. Any qualifying listings will show the eBay Premium Service badge to let buyers know that you offer high levels of customer service.

For your listings to qualify for eBay Premium Service, they must:

• Offer a free domestic delivery option within 3 working days*
• Offer an express delivery option within 2 working days for no more than £10
• For items over £20, all of the delivery services must be designated tracked services, and valid tracking must be uploaded within the dispatch time. This includes auction-style listings and Best Offers where the final price is over £20

Returns must be based on your item's location in order for your listings to qualify for eBay Premium Service:

• If the item location is in the same country as the eBay site you listed on, you need to offer 30-day domestic returns
• If the item location isn't in the same country as the eBay site you listed on, you need to offer 30-day international returns

For more information, see our Seller Centre page on eBay Premium Service - opens in new window or tab.

*Items listed under the Authenticity Guarantee programme - opens in new window or tab must be received by the authentication centre within 3 working days with tracking information.

What happens if you are Below Standard

If your evaluation on the 20th of the month shows that you are not meeting our minimum standards, we may put limitations on your selling activity until your performance improves. To see what you can do to bring your level back to Above Standard, read our article on Monitoring and improving your seller performance.

Some limitations are applied straight away after the evaluation, while others take effect from the 1st of the following month. If your seller level improves at a future evaluation, the same time frames will apply for limitations to be removed.

Directly after the evaluation:

• Your items may be placed lower in Best Match search results
• Your selling limits may decrease
• You'll be blocked from using Promoted Listings, and won't be able to create new campaigns or edit existing campaigns
• Funds from your orders may be placed on hold until tracking information shows that the item is on its way to the buyer
• You'll be unable to deduct an amount from the buyer's refund if an item is returned used or damaged

From the 1st day of the month following the evaluation:

• You may be charged higher final value fees. For full details, please see our fees pages:
  • Final value fees for business sellers

If your account has been evaluated as Below Standard for more than 2 consecutive months:

• We may downgrade your Store to the Basic level
• We may place selling restrictions on your account and related accounts, or restrict you from registering a new account

In addition to the above, 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.

Fair evaluation, seller protections and appeals

Our seller standards are in place to protect the interests of all users, and our evaluations are intended to look at your performance as a whole. We don't want your seller level to be skewed by just one unfortunate transaction or difficult buyer, and we want you to be able to focus on providing great service to trustworthy, reliable customers.

Fair evaluation

To evaluate your overall performance as accurately and fairly as possible:

• We adjust the evaluation period according to how much you sell to make sure we're getting a fair sample (see How we calculate your seller level)
• We only count transactions where the buyer has paid
• There can only be one defect per transaction
• For your transaction defect and late delivery rates, we take into account how many unique buyers are involved

Seller protections

We have safeguards in place to protect your ratings and help you in case you have a problem. For example:

• If we determine that a buyer has violated our Abusive buyer policy, we'll automatically remove any associated defects
• We remove defects and/or late deliveries when things happen that are outside of your control, such as severe weather or carrier disruptions
• We won't count a late delivery if an item arrives after the estimated date, but tracking shows you sent it on time

While these protections are available to all sellers, some of our other protections are dependent on meeting specific eligibility and/or seller performance criteria. Learn more about our seller protections.

Appeals

You can appeal a case closed without seller resolution within 30 days of eBay's decision on the case. For more information, please refer to the eBay Money Back Guarantee policy.

Transaction defects may be eligible for removal in certain circumstances. If the removal of a defect means that you are again meeting the minimum standards, your seller level will be adjusted at the next evaluation.

You can appeal a late delivery if you uploaded valid tracking information showing that the item arrived by the expected delivery date, or that there was a carrier scan within your stated dispatch time.

Learn more about appealing a defect or late delivery.

Tip
Visit Seller Help to resolve any incorrect defects or improper feedback.