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Seller performance standards
Standards overvieweBay expects sellers to consistently provide service that results in a high level of buyer satisfaction. This includes setting and meeting buyer expectations by providing excellent customer service from beginning to end. You can see how you're performing both domestically and across various international markets in your seller standards dashboard. Specifically, you can view how well you're meeting buyer expectations with buyers from the United States, United Kingdom, German, and global markets. Learn more about our global seller performance standards. As a seller, you're expected to:
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:
Transaction defect rate requirementsThe transaction defect rate is the percentage of your transactions that have one or more of the following defects:
To meet our minimum standard, you can only have up to 2% of transactions with one or more defects over the most recent evaluation period. To qualify as a Top Rated Seller, you can only have up to 0.5% of transactions with one or more defects over the most recent evaluation period. Only your transactions with US buyers count toward your seller performance rating on eBay.com. The defect rate won't affect your seller performance status until you have transactions with defects with at least 5 different buyers, or at least 4 different buyers to impact Top Rated status, within your evaluation period. You can have a maximum of 0.3% of eBay Money Back Guarantee or PayPal Purchase Protection closed cases without seller resolution over the most recent evaluation period. That means the buyer reported they didn't receive an item, asked to return an item, or opened a PayPal Purchase Protection case, you weren't able to resolve it, the buyer asked us to step in and help, and we found you responsible. Sellers with 400 or more transactions over the past 3 months are evaluated based on the past 3 months and sellers with fewer than 400 transactions are evaluated based on the past 12 months. Buyers won't see your defect rate. Keep in mind that buyers still see your Feedback rating and all 4 detailed seller ratings. You'll be recognized for on-time shipping if tracking shows your item was either shipped within the stated handling time or delivered by the estimated delivery date. If there's no tracking available, we'll check with your buyer. If your buyer confirms the item was delivered on time—you'll be recognized for on-time shipping. Shipments will be considered late only when:
If you would like to see a summary of the new standards, please see the fall seller update. Cases closed without seller resolutionFor the eBay Money Back Guarantee, when a buyer initially starts a return because the item didn't match the listing description or reports that they didn't receive an item, the transaction issue is called a 'request'. If the buyer and seller can't resolve the problem, and the buyer or seller asks us to step in and help with the transaction, the request then becomes a 'case.' For PayPal Purchase Protection, the transaction issue is a 'case' throughout the process. The number of cases closed without resolution is an important indicator of how well a seller may be meeting buyer expectations on eBay, and is a measure of overall seller performance. A case closed without seller resolution is any case the seller is unable to resolve with the buyer prior to the buyer asking us to step in and help with a request, or escalating a case to PayPal for review, and eBay or PayPal determines the seller is responsible. Here are the minimum case requirements all sellers are expected to meet. The percentage requirement applies after the account has exceeded the maximum number of occurrences.
Notes:
You can get more information on cases that impact seller performance. Fair performance evaluationTo measure your overall performance accurately, we look at your performance as a whole. We also consider a buyer's pattern for opening requests and cases and leaving low detailed seller ratings—and protect you when necessary. 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:
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:
Learn more about using multiple accounts. For guidelines on meeting buyers' expectations, see our selling practices policy. | ![]() | Contact usHave a question? We can help. Ask eBay membersGet help from other eBay members. Visit the Answer Centre to post a question. Related Help topics |