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What is the policy?

Our policy is to ensure that feedback is meaningful for buyers and sellers. We don't allow harmful, inappropriate, or irrelevant feedback 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 don't expect to see 100% positive feedback and that eBay isn't in a position to contradict buyers’ opinions or judgment of items. We recommend that sellers reply to negative or neutral feedback. Leaving a thoughtful, well-written response demonstrates how much you care about your buyer’s experience.

Receiving negative or neutral feedback doesn’t impact seller performance.

How do we remove feedback?

We use automation to proactively remove feedback that goes against our policy. For cases that are not clear-cut, we can carry out a manual review if you request removal through Seller Help - opens in new window or tab. Depending on the situation, we may remove the comment, ratings and/or images.

If your feedback qualifies for removal, we'll send you an email and the feedback will be removed from your account within 24 hours. If it can't be removed, we'll explain why it's allowed under our policy.

Sometimes buyers raise multiple topics in their feedback. If part of their comment goes against our policy but the rest doesn’t, we may invite the buyer to revise it so it can be published. In this case, both the buyer and seller will receive an email with a detailed explanation and next steps.

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)

Creating, soliciting, or using fake, misleading, or manipulated feedback is not allowed. Feedback should always reflect your actual experience with the product or transaction.

See example

Buyer-related transaction issues

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

The buyer asked to cancel after placing an order, winning an auction, or otherwise committing to buy
The order was canceled due to an issue with the buyer’s address
The order was canceled 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 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

See example

eBay site or program 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 shipped on-time with eBay International Shipping or the Global Shipping Program and there was a shipping-related issue
The item was sold under our Authenticity Guarantee program, was shipped on-time and passed authentication
The item was sold under our Guaranteed Fit program, the buyer requested a return because the item didn't fit their vehicle, and we can see that the seller met all their obligations to the buyer

See example

Tip
If you think feedback goes against our policy, you can contact us through Seller Help - opens in new window or tab 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.