Why does seller performance matter?
Buyers should have a great experience on eBay, every time. If an order is canceled unexpectedly or an issue isn't resolved, it can significantly affect that person's trust in the seller, and make them less likely to come back to eBay. And although most sellers are great at sorting out problems with orders, avoiding situations where the buyer doesn't receive the item they were expecting is even better.
For these reasons, eBay has some minimum expectations for all sellers on eBay, and it monitors each seller's level of service relative to others with a similar selling profile. The performance metrics eBay provides are intended to encourage good selling practices which establish buyer confidence in you and in eBay.
How do seller evaluations work?
On the 20th of each month, eBay looks back at the past 3 months or 12 months, depending on how many transactions you had, and calculate your performance on the areas detailed below.
Based on these, you're assigned:
- A seller level which indicates your individual performance, and
- A service metrics rating which indicates how well you're preventing buyer issues, compared to sellers with similar sales activity
Seller levels
| Seller level | What it means | How it affects your account |
|---|---|---|
| Top Rated | You're meeting higher standards, as well as some other requirements | Other eBay members see “Top Rated” on your feedback profile |
| Above Standard | You're meeting or exceeding eBay's minimum standards | You can carry on selling on eBay as normal |
| Below Standard | You're not meeting one or more of the minimum performance requirements for sellers | eBay may place limitations on your selling activity — including higher final value fees — until your performance improves |
For full details, please see the article Seller levels and performance standards
Service metrics ratings
| Rating | What it means | How it affects your account |
|---|---|---|
Low | You're performing better than most of your peers in making sure that buyers receive their orders promptly, and in setting and meeting buyers' expectations about your items | You can carry on selling on eBay as normal |
Average | You're performing as well as your peers, but you may have opportunities to reduce preventable requests | You can carry on selling, but you should consider taking some time to review your metrics in depth |
High | You're not performing as well as your peers in ensuring your buyers received their orders as expected | Focus on minimizing “Not as described” returns and “Item not received” reports as soon as possible — this will help to reduce your percentage rates at the next evaluation |
Very High | Your rates of “Item not received” reports or “Item not as described” returns are significantly worse than those of your peers | eBay may place limitations on your selling activity — including higher final value fees — until your performance improves |
Note:
- Some service metrics may not be shown in your dashboard if you haven't had enough transactions
- If you sell in multiple categories and/or offer international shipping, you may have multiple “Item not received” and “Item not as described” ratings, because those transactions are compared with different peer groups
For full details, please see the article Service metrics policy
Monitoring your performance
Two different seller dashboards help you monitor how you're doing on some key basics and identify areas where you can improve:
What can you do now?
Check your service metrics to see how your peers are performing
See how you measure against other sellers by looking at your service metrics for a true apples-to-apples comparison with the rest of your peer group. What can you improve to be on a par with them?
You can compare reasons for your returns directly with your peers. If you drive a higher than peer group service metric, for example, “Items not received”, you may want to extend your delivery time so that you have more time to fulfill orders. If your items often arrive damaged, pay more attention to packing them securely for shipping. Whatever the reason is, find a way to minimize returns and increase your buyers’ satisfaction with your items.
Make sure you check your service metrics dashboard often so you can continue to improve your business operations.
Your peers are sellers who sell similar items at similar prices on the same eBay site, have a comparable volume of transactions, similar estimated delivery dates and use the same postage category.
Check eBay’s suggestions in your Service metrics dashboard
If your designation is Below Standard, eBay will suggest actions on how to get back on track. Use Best practices to improve your service and your seller level.
Review feedback from buyers
Your buyers can rate their experience with you and leave feedback. Review these regularly and respond to them quickly. Try not to take feedback personally — it’s a useful tool for your business’ growth and it highlights the areas where you need to improve.
While it doesn’t affect your seller performance, both positive and negative feedback are visible to other users in your feedback profile — so it's important to you.
If you believe feedback you received from a buyer isn’t accurate or fair, you can try to resolve the situation by replying to the feedback or by requesting a feedback revision.
Note: You can only request a revision for feedback that is less than 30 days old. You can make 5 feedback revision requests per calendar year.
You can find more information about feedback you receive from buyers and leave for buyers in our section All about feedback.
Learn more about service metrics and performance standards
In this articles, you will find tips on reducing “Item not received” or “Item not as described” requests and ideas on how to improve your service metrics ratings and how to increase your seller level, as well as best practices and more details about eBay policies:
- Service metrics policy
- Seller levels and performance standards
- Seller performance and feedback policy
- Shipping Performance Policy — Item Not Received Rate
- Service standard policy — bad buyer experience rate
- Global seller performance policy
- Top Rated seller
- Item not received issues
- How returns work
- Appeal a defect
Top 5 things to improve in the nearest future
Take the time to improve your listings
Accurate and complete listings can reduce “Item not as described” returns. Moreover, this may also help increase listing visibility, boost sales and reduce the number of questions you receive from buyers. Here’s what you can do:
- Set proper expectations for the buyer: make sure your listing title and item descriptions are accurate, and include plenty of photos, making sure to highlight any flaws
- Provide as many item specifics as you can so the buyer knows exactly what they’re purchasing
- Add a video. It is a free feature available to all sellers in the eBay app, the mobile browser, and the web browser
Get more tips on listing optimization
Tip. If you sell a lot, use the categories in your service metrics dashboard to help you prioritize which listings to review. It's also a good idea to check the listings of your best-selling products regularly, since they make up a high proportion of your sales.
Streamline your shipping
Streamlining shipping can reduce late shipments and “Item not received” reports. Online shoppers want quick and reliable delivery, so it's important to set the right expectations and fulfill accordingly. Updating your shipping options may also help make your listings more competitive and reduce questions from buyers. Here’s what you can do:
- When stating your handling time, make sure it’s something you can manage. Failing to ship on time can lead to your item arriving late
- Send your items on time. Late delivery rates are determined by the percentage of transactions that you either sent after the dispatch time stated in your listing, or were not delivered by your estimated delivery date
- Use one of the shipping carriers integrated with eBay if possible, and upload tracking details within your handling time. This lets the buyer know where their item is, and it helps to protect you in case they claim they don’t receive their item. If you buy and print an eBay shipping label, tracking information is uploaded automatically
Keep stock levels updated
Canceling a buyer's order because you can't send the item will result in a transaction defect, so it's important to keep your listing quantities in sync with your stock levels. Here’s what you can do:
- Closely manage your inventory. If your stock levels change, end your listing or update the quantity as soon as possible
- Check eBay’s restock advice. Go to the Listings tab in Seller Hub to see which listings are running low
- Enable eBay’s out-of-stock feature. If you use multi-quantity, fixed price listings, this feature automatically hides listings when the stock quantity falls to zero. Learn more
Be ready to handle returns
Offering returns helps buyers feel confident when shopping online. And making it easy for a buyer to return something is great customer service that will keep them coming back to eBay. Even if you choose not to offer returns, under eBay Money Back Guarantee, the buyer can still return an item if it doesn't match the listing.
State your return policy clearly in your listing. If you’re happy to accept returns, you can automatically accept them, issue refunds, and even provide return shipping. This can make the process easier for the buyer and less effort for you.
Resolve buyer issues promptly
When a claim escalates and eBay is asked to step in with an item eligible for eBay Money Back Guarantee, and you’re found to be responsible, this is called a case closed without seller resolution. This is counted as part of your transaction defect rate because a percentage of your transactions have been closed without you resolving them. To help you avoid these cases:
- Work with your buyer to resolve issues promptly. Keep in mind that you have 3 business days to resolve their issue before they can ask eBay to step in to help
- When communicating with the buyer, do your best to be polite and professional in your responses, even when they’re upset or angry. It helps to provide a better customer experience, and it might make it easier to come to an agreement about their issue
Other ways to improve your seller performance
- Charge reasonable shipping cost
- Set up Time Away, whether you're planning a break or managing an unexpected disruption, to avoid disappointing buyers
- Make sure you fulfill any orders and respond to any buyer requests for items sold before your time away start date
- Provide a clear payment policy in your listing. To help you get paid quickly and avoid having to cancel orders because the buyer didn't to pay, set your payment preferences to require immediate payment on Buy It Now and Auction listings
- Make sure the item is delivered to the buyer as described in the listing
- Pack items securely and carefully to reduce the chance of them being damaged in transit
- Provide the buyer with any appropriate proofs of authenticity for the item, and keep copies of them in case eBay needs to ask you to prove that the item is genuine
- Use all the features of Seller Hub to monitor your business
Use these recommendations to improve your customer service and improve your seller level, and eventually boost your bottom line.
You can even achieve the Top Rated status which gives a lot of valuable benefits, such as reduced final value fees and enhanced seller protection.