When you sell on eBay, the marketplace protects you from abusive buying behavior and from events outside your control.
Frequently Asked Questions
How am I protected from abusive buyers?
What if something happens that is outside of my control?
When eBay determines that a buyer has violated the abusive buyer policy, it will remove any associated negative or neutral feedback and defects, including any open cases in service metrics. For abusive buyers, eBay may also limit their ability to request returns on the marketplace. In serious cases or repeated abusive behavior, eBay may suspend the buyer's account.
You can assist us by reporting the buyer and clearly describing what they are doing. This will help eBay investigate potential policy violations and take actions to protect you.
See the abusive buyer policy for examples of buyer behavior that isn't allowed.
An item is returned after it was used or damaged by the buyer
A buyer retracts their bid or doesn't pay
A buyer demands something not offered in the original listing
An item has arrived late but tracking shows that you shipped on time
Severe weather or carrier disruptions have caused the item to arrive late
Seller performance standards
Fair performance evaluation
eBay Top Rated Seller grace period
If eBay closes an eBay Money Back Guarantee case or appeal after having determined that you've met your obligations to the buyer, it will remove any related negative or neutral feedback and defects.
eBay Money Back Guarantee requests
If a buyer reports that an item hasn't arrived
If a buyer reports that an item isn't as described
If a buyer doesn't ship a return
Duplicate claims
eBay Guaranteed Fit
When a buyer opens a return for a vehicle part or accessory covered by eBay Guaranteed Fit and selects the reason "Doesn't fit my vehicle", eBay will cover the cost of an eBay return label. If the item doesn't qualify for an eBay return label, you'll be responsible for providing a way for the buyer to return the item.
Protections for payment disputes
If a buyer files a payment dispute and the transaction is eligible for protection under eBay Payment dispute seller protections, eBay will cover the amount of the dispute, waive the dispute fee, and remove negative and neutral feedback related to the transaction.
Learn more about seller protections for payment disputes.
Eligibility for protections
Most transactions on eBay are covered by seller protections. However, the following types of items and listings are not covered:
- Items that violate any of eBay prohibited and restricted items policies
- Items that are excluded from eBay Money Back Guarantee. Some examples include vehicles (see eBay Vehicle Protection), real estate, Websites & Business for Sale, Classified Ads, services, digital content, intangible goods, and some Business Equipment categories (see eBay Business Equipment Purchase Protection)
Loss of protections
If you do any of the following, you may lose your eligibility for seller protections:
- Operate with a false identity
- Fail to follow through with your service promises (such as not honoring your return policy)
- Have a history of serious policy violations, such as selling counterfeits, using prohibited forms of drop shipping, or taking sales off eBay
- Abuse or fraudulently use the seller protections – for example, you have a history of:
- Reporting buyers for false “Item not as described” requests when you had not described the item correctly
- Unfairly deducting too much from the buyer's refund when an item is returned in a different condition. In these cases, the deduction should only be used to recoup the actual lost value of the item
- Misusing or manipulating the eBay Guaranteed Fit program
See the eBay Seller protections abuse policy for more information.
If eBay steps in to help with a return or item not received request:
You'll no longer be able to deduct an amount from the buyer's refund when an item is returned, used or damaged by the buyer.
If eBay determines that you're responsible for refunding the buyer, eBay won't remove negative and neutral feedback and it will count as a "case closed without seller resolution".
Learn more about the Seller performance and feedback policy.