eBay Feedback

Once the transaction has is completed and the item dispatched, the counterparties can leave feedback for each other, commenting on how the trade went. Feedback has three elements:

• A comment, e.g. Great eBayer, highly recommended!!!!
• A mark. Buyers can mark a transaction as a positive (+1), negative (-1) or neutral (0) experience. Sellers can only leave positive (+1 feedback).
• Detailed seller ratings. An item’s buyer can mark a transaction out of 5 on several criteria, including postage costs, delivery time, and description accuracy.

The feedback information for individual transactions is collated over time to provide three metrics to users.

• Feedback score. The sum of all the individual feedback marks awarded.
• Feedback percentage. The percentage of positive feedback.
• Average detailed seller rating. The average of the detailed seller rating marks.

Its feedback system is one of the reasons why eBay has become a global success. It reassures buyers that they are not dealing with a stranger but with a community member with trading history.

Feedback, however, is a blunt tool. Whilst it does indicate good customer service, all active traders above a certain size will have feedback of 98%+ which leaves little room for comparing relative performance.

As well as encouraging buyers to trade with you, healthy feedback score can affect your eBay search performance. If a seller has a poor feedback score or detailed seller rating, then their listings will be displayed lower in the search results.

Seller performance

Your performance as a seller is tracked by eBay and can be seen from Seller Hub > Performance.

Maintaining a good seller rating and feedback rating is important for four reasons:

• Sellers with better performance metrics will perform better in eBay’s best match search algorithm
• Top rated sellers are eligible for eBay ‘Premium Listings which qualify for a 10% fee discount
• Your feedback profile forms part of your brand on eBay and the broader web.  Great feedback with reassure buyers and increase conversion rate
• Below standard sellers pay an additional 4% final value fees

Seller Rating

Seller Rating is eBay’s measure of the quality of a seller.  There are three levels of seller rating.

• Top rated. Providing an excellent level of service to customers
• Standard.  Meeting minimum standards
• Below standard. Your seller level can fall to Below Standard if your transaction defect rate is above 2% or if your percentage of cases closed without seller resolution is above 0.3%.

A different seller rating is given for each region the seller trades in.  For the UK these are:

• UK + Ireland
• EU
• Global

All sellers should aim for Top rated seller level.  If your account is ‘Below Standard’ the account may have restrictions placed on it as it is below the minimum standard that eBay expects.  Four metrics affect your seller rating:

• Transaction defect rate
• Cases closed without seller resolution
• Late delivery rate
• Tracking uploaded on time and validated (Top-rated sellers only)

Transaction defect rate

The transaction defect rate is the percentage of your transactions that have one or more of the following defects:

• eBay Money Back Guarantee and PayPal Purchase Protection cases closed without seller resolution
• Seller-initiated transaction cancellation

To be a top rated seller requires a transaction defect rate of < 0.5% and standard sellers < 2%

eBay does not count more than one defect per transaction.

Late delivery rate

For top Deliveries will be considered late only when:

• Tracking shows the item was delivered after the estimated delivery date, and there’s no acceptance scan within your handling time
• The buyer confirms the item was delivered after the estimated delivery date and there’s no tracking that shows it was on time

Cases closed without seller resolution

Cases closed without seller resolution are cases where eBay was asked to review the case, and the seller was found responsible.  Standard and top rated sellers must keep their rate < 0.3% of sales.

Tracking uploaded on time and validated

Top rated sellers must send 95% of their orders via a tracked service.  This is defined as transactions where you upload tracking details within your stated handling time. The carrier scanned the shipping label either before or after your handling time and is on time and validated.

Sales

To be an eBay Top-rated Seller, you must have at least 100 transactions and £1,000.00 in sales during the past 12 months in your business account