eBay feedback for sellers: what to leave buyers, and how to get unfair feedback removed
Feedback works differently for sellers and buyers on eBay. You can only say nice things about your buyers — but you do have ways to deal with feedback that’s unfair to you.
Leaving feedback for buyers
Sellers can only leave positive feedback for buyers. eBay recommends leaving it as soon as the buyer has paid: buyers who get feedback are more likely to leave feedback for you in return.
To leave it: go to Orders in Seller Hub (or Sold in My eBay), choose one or several items, select Leave feedback, choose Positive, add a comment and submit.
Feedback examples
Automate it
In Selling preferences → All listings and orders → Automate feedback, select Automatically leave positive feedback and choose when: after the buyer pays, or after they pay and leave you positive feedback. eBay supplies default comments.
When a buyer leaves negative or neutral feedback
eBay’s Feedback policy says buyers don’t expect sellers to have 100% positive feedback, and eBay won’t overrule a buyer’s honest opinion of an item. But it removes feedback in specific cases, including:
- Wrong item or seller — comments meant for a different item or seller (eBay’s example: feedback about a “shirt” on a photo frame listing).
- Mismatched ratings — negative comments with a positive rating, or the reverse.
- Extortion or manipulation — for example, a buyer threatening negative feedback unless you include extras for free.
- Buyer-caused problems — the buyer asked to cancel after ordering; the order was cancelled because of the buyer’s address or non-payment; the buyer asked to change the order after paying.
- Issues disclosed in the listing — eBay’s example: a stain on a dress that the description clearly mentioned. If the listing didn’t mention it, the feedback stays.
- Abusive buyers acted on under eBay’s Abusive buyer policy.
- Personal attacks, links to sales outside eBay, and other harmful or irrelevant content.
eBay removes much of this automatically. For anything else, request removal through Seller Help. If it qualifies, you get an email and it’s removed within 24 hours; if not, eBay explains why.
If it can’t be removed
Reply to it. eBay recommends a thoughtful, well-written response that shows you care — future buyers read the reply as much as the complaint. Keep it short, polite and factual, and offer a fix:
Feedback also feeds into your seller performance — see eBay sales dropped for how seller level affects visibility.