Frequently Asked Questions

How am I protected from abusive buyers?

If eBay finds a buyer's behavior is abusive, we will take action on the buyer and remove negative and neutral feedback and defects, including opened cases in service metrics.

What if something happens that is outside of my control?

We will protect you by removing negative and neutral feedback and defects when things happen that are outside your control, such as weather or carrier delays, or when the item arrives late but tracking shows you shipped on time.

Protections for Top Rated Sellers

Top Rated Sellers sellers are eligible for these protections when all the following criteria are met:

Your seller performance level is Top Rated Seller at the time of the protection
You reside in the US (including US territories) or Canada
You don't have a "Very High" rating in any of your service metrics
The item was listed on eBay.com
The listing offered 30-day or longer returns

A buyer falsely claims an item was not as described

An item is returned after it was used or damaged by the buyer

Protections for all sellers

Abusive buying activity

When we determine that a buyer has violated the abusive buyer policy, we will remove any associated negative or neutral feedback and defects, including any open cases in service metrics. For abusive buyers, we may also limit their ability to request returns on eBay. In serious cases or repeated abusive behavior, we may suspend the buyer's account.

You can assist us by reporting the buyer - opens in new window or tab and clearly describing what they are doing. This will help us 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 retracted their bid or didn't pay

A buyer demanded something not offered in the original listing

Events outside your control

An item arrived late but tracking shows that you shipped on time

Severe weather or carrier disruptions caused the item to arrive late

Other protections

Seller performance standards

Fair performance evaluation

Our monthly seller performance evaluations are intended to look at your performance as fairly and accurately as possible. For example:

We adjust the evaluation period according to how much you sell to make sure we're getting a fair sample
We take into account how many different buyers are involved when determining whether any transaction issues will affect your account standing
You won't be subject to consequences for service metrics when your rate is under 1% in a specific category or if you have had fewer than 10 'item not as described' or 'item not received' requests from unique buyers
If you are Top Rated, this will be shown in your feedback profile. Otherwise, other eBay members can't see your seller level

For full details of how performance is evaluated, please read our Seller standards policy and Service metrics policy.

eBay Top Rated Seller grace period

If you are a Top Rated Seller and fall below the sales and tracking requirements for Top Rated Seller status, you may qualify for the Top Rated Seller grace period. During the Top Rated Seller grace period you retain your Top Rated Seller status and benefits, and you have two evaluation cycles to get your transaction count, sales amount, and/or tracking requirements back to minimum requirements.

You're eligible for the grace period if you fall below Top Rated Seller standards due to any of the following:

You have fewer than 100 transactions with US buyers over the most recent 12-month period
You have less than $1,000 in sales with US buyers over the most recent 12-month period
You've uploaded shipment tracking within your promised handling time for less than 95% (but not less than 90%) of transactions with US buyers in the last 3 months

You're only eligible for the Top Rated Seller grace period when:

You otherwise have a Top Rated Seller performance rating; and
You've been a Top Rated Seller for the last 3 (or more) consecutive months immediately preceding evaluation

If you don't meet sales and tracking requirements and performance standards after the grace period ends, you will lose your Top Rated Seller status and benefits.

Learn more about becoming a Top Rated Seller.

eBay Money Back Guarantee requests

eBay Guaranteed Fit

Protections for payment disputes

If a buyer files a payment dispute and the transaction is eligible for protection under our Payment dispute seller protections, we'll 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 our prohibited and restricted items policies
Items that are excluded from eBay Money Back Guarantee. Some examples include vehicles (see eBay Vehicle Protection - opens in new window or tab), real estate, Websites & Business for Sale, Classified Ads, services, digital content, intangible goods, and some Business Equipment categories (see eBay Business Equipment Purchase Protection)

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
Ship the order using a slower service than the one selected at checkout
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 our 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 we determine that you're responsible for refunding the buyer, we won't remove negative and neutral feedback and it will count as a "case closed without seller resolution"

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