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What is the policy?

Our policy is to ensure that feedback is meaningful for both buyers and sellers. We do not allow feedback that is harmful, inappropriate or irrelevant as this reduces trust between buyers and sellers, and undermines the feedback system. You’ll find more detail below on situations in which we remove feedback. In each case, we make sure we have factual evidence to support removal.

While we’re committed to protecting sellers’ businesses, it’s worth remembering that buyers do not expect to see 100% positive feedback and that eBay is not in a position to contradict buyers’ opinions or judgement of items. We recommend that sellers reply to negative or neutral feedback with a thoughtful, well-written response that demonstrates how much you care about your buyer’s experience.

How do we remove feedback?

We use automation to proactively remove feedback that goes against our policy but in cases that are not clear-cut, we carry out a manual review. You can contact us to request removal, at which point a team member will review the feedback. Depending on the situation, we may remove the comment, ratings and/or images.

When do we remove feedback?

Harmful, inappropriate or irrelevant comments and images

We remove all feedback that contains any:

Content promoting hatred, violence or discrimination
Profane, obscene, adult, illegal or explicit content
Opinions on any political, religious or social issues
Any implied or explicit threats or intimidation
Personally identifiable information
Links, URLs or other content encouraging sales outside of eBay
Infringement of third-party rights
Meaningless content or images that aren’t of the item purchased
Comments intended for a different item or seller
Negative comments with positive ratings, or positive comments with negative ratings
Personal attacks that could harm the reputation of the seller or their business and could not reasonably be viewed as constructive criticism

Any pictures left in feedback should accurately represent the item purchased and follow our policies, including the Images, videos and text policy, the Offensive materials policy, the Restricted adult items policy, and the Illegal explicit content policy.

See example

Extortion and manipulation

We remove all feedback that:

Is used as a means to extort another member
Is used to manipulate feedback ratings (see our Feedback manipulation policy)

See example

Buyer-related transaction issues

We remove neutral/negative feedback when we can see that:

The buyer asked to cancel after placing their order
The order was cancelled due to an issue with the buyer’s address
The order was cancelled because the buyer didn’t pay
The buyer is raising an issue that was correctly disclosed in the listing
The buyer has been actioned under our Abusive buyer policy
The buyer requested a change to an order after they’d paid (and their feedback relates to this)

See examples

Item delivery issues

We remove neutral/negative feedback when the buyer is referencing:

A delivery issue where tracking shows us that the delivery or handling time expectations were met
A delivery issue where a natural disaster or unexpected event caused a carrier delay
A customs or tax issue outside the seller’s control that we could identify

See example

Returns issues

We remove neutral/negative feedback when any of the following occurred and this is what the buyer is referencing:

The item was returned used or damaged and the seller deducted an amount from the refund
The seller declined a change-of-mind return request, as the listing didn’t offer returns
The buyer changed their mind and was liable for the cost of an eBay return label
The seller offers free returns, handled the return and issued a refund

See example

eBay site or programme issues

We remove neutral/negative feedback when:

The comment is about not being able to retract a bid
The problem was caused by a technical issue on the eBay site that we could identify
An eBay Money Back Guarantee case or payment dispute was closed with the seller having met their obligations to the buyer
The item was posted on-time with eBay International Shipping or the Global Shipping Program and there was a delivery-related issue

See example

Tip
If you think feedback goes against our policy, you can contact us within 90 days of the transaction to request removal.

We regularly review our policy to make sure we’re keeping up with industry standards and being fair to everyone in our community. The enforcement of our Feedback policy, which protects buyers and sellers, is dependent on both parties adhering to all other relevant eBay policies.

Activity on eBay is required to follow this policy, the eBay User Agreement and all applicable laws, as well as respect the rights of third parties. If it doesn’t, eBay may take action consistent with applicable laws and the eBay User Agreement, and may even be legally required to do so. Such actions may include, as an example only: Removing the listing or other content, issuing a warning, restricting activity or account suspension.

Why does eBay have this policy?

This policy helps protect the integrity of the eBay feedback system, and builds trust between buyers and sellers.