Recent Discussions
BBE Seller Rating?
Greetings to all eBay Community members, I have been an eBay seller since 2012. Right now I am facing a problem for which I see no solution, because every communication with eBay Seller Support only leads to more uncertainty about the future of my store. In August, shipments from the EU to the USA were suspended due to the new customs tariffs. Shipping was restored only at the end of October. Foreseeing that this situation would cause problems, I contacted our store’s eBay account manager on 25.08.2025. The communication took place via WhatsApp to the number provided by the eBay account manager. Her reply on 26.08.2025 was: “Hello good day. eBay has sent a message regarding the US tariff update, and we advise you to speak with your shipping partner to confirm any changes in shipping costs, and to continue communicating with your buyer to keep them informed about this change. If you want to exclude your item to us you can remove your listing in us site and can list your item to other sites on eBay. eBay Account Manager Janine.” The only solution offered was to delete my listings on eBay.com — what kind of joke is this from eBay? When I asked if it is possible to temporarily disable shipping to the USA, I received no answer. There was no other explanation or guidance on how to proceed. As we all know, on eBay.com sellers cannot disable the USA as a shipping destination. Therefore, buyers in the USA were able to purchase items from EU sellers, even though shipping was physically impossible. I also could not find any option to place a banner or notice to warn USA buyers that delivery to the USA was suspended. For every USA buyer who purchased an item, I manually sent an explanation that the order must be cancelled because delivery was impossible. About 50% of buyers understood and some even repurchased the item later when shipping resumed. The other 50% marked these cancellations as defects. As a result, my BBE is currently 25.1%. I have no other violations or issues that would justify shutting down my store, but I fully understand that with this percentage my store will likely be closed within the next month. Already now, even though I have not received an official notification of store restriction or closure, eBay has clearly applied a hidden limitation on my account — after receiving the BBE warning, my store traffic dropped by 80%, and of course so did sales. One eBay representative told me that I “should not have selected ‘out of stock’,” which is completely untrue — I know that this option must not be used. I always selected “buyer asked to cancel order.” I repeatedly looked for information in eBay’s internal seller forums, and several sellers reported the same issue: there was absolutely no guidance available on how to properly handle this situation. This is what the Seller Protection Program states: “We remove defects and/or late shipments when things happen that are outside of your control, such as severe weather or carrier disruptions.” This information is published by eBay itself. And this situation was completely outside my control — shipping to the USA was entirely suspended and only resumed at the end of October. Here is the official information, publicly available to everyone. I wasn’t allowed to add the link here, so I attached a photo where the official postal information can be seen. Why eBay chooses to ignore this, or pretend not to know, I do not understand. Please find included the links with all the relevant references, including information from the Latvian Post website. I am highly knowledgeable in my field, my customers appreciate us, and we strive to be the best in our industry. But I am not an IT specialist or a lawyer, and I cannot be expected to know the correct legal or administrative procedures in such a situation. eBay should have provided clear guidance on how to act so that sellers could avoid exactly the problem I am now facing. I would like to hear the opinion or advice of other EU sellers, because all communication with eBay so far has led to no useful solution. All replies I receive sound something like: “It’s your fault.” Thank you for understanding, and I wish you all a successful day.
Permanent Selling Restriction Due to Bad Buyer Experience (BBE)
Hi, I am writing regarding the recent permanent selling restriction placed on my account under eBay’s Bad Buyer Experience (BBE) evaluation. I have been an active eBay seller for over 8 years with a strong feedback record and no prior violations until December 2025. This situation is very concerning to me. Recently, an order was delivered in damaged condition due to transit issues. The buyer did not contact me prior to leaving negative feedback and opening a return request. I processed a full refund immediately and did not request the item to be returned, which resulted in a financial loss on my end. I also reported the issue to the postal service, and they acknowledged the damage during transit. Despite this, the transaction was counted as a defect. As a result, my defect rate has increased to 6.1% (2 defects out of 49 orders), both linked to the same buyer. I have already submitted multiple appeals, but unfortunately, the restriction remains in place. Given my long history of compliant selling and the circumstances beyond my control, I kindly request a reconsideration of my case. I would appreciate your review and guidance on how this issue can be resolved.Multiple BBE on one order - WHY? Export team what's wrong with you?
DEAR BBE TEAM: This shouldn't be like that. We should get max 1 defect for one order, thats fair and reasonable. Getting multiple defects for one order can crush a small business like mine in a heartbeat. Please make the change and count only 1 defect per order. Its a reasonable request and makes most sense. Like you cant disappoint buyer multiple times just because he bough more items from you... BBE is already bad enough with its ridiculous rules for abroad sellers... BUT WHY ON EARH WOULD YOU PUNISH US EVEN MORE, BY GIVING MULTIPLE BBE DEFECTS ON ONE ORDER!!! Like who is designing this rules? What is their goal? To ruin legitimate businesses with rules like this? On any other eBay seller matrices you can get just 1 defect for one order transaction. Means if the buyer buys 2 items from you within one order and there is an issue with the order you may get just 1 defect, because its only 1 order, not multiple of them. BUT NOT BBE MATRIC! If the buyer buys 2 items from you within one order and there is an issue with the order you will get 2 defects for the same order! MEANS IF SOMEONE BUYS 5 ITEMS FROM YOU IN ONE ORDER YOU WILL GET 5 DEFECTS!!! I got 2 defects for refunding the buyer, because he was not able to do a simple task of creating a return and both defects are just from 1 transaction.BBE restriction because of the new tax import rules in the USA
Hello everyone, I would like to share my four-month experience during a period when I was fully aware that there was approximately a 90% chance that my account could be restricted or suspended due to new import tax regulations in the United States. These regulations temporarily prevented the shipment of orders from the European Union to the U.S. Firstly I want to clarify that i am an EU based VAT registered company, a Top Rated seller, 100% positive feedback, 1,0K items sold for 2 years, 100% shipped and tracked on time orders, as per now all my orders are delivered in time. In August, I proactively contacted Customer Support to inform them about the upcoming challenges that these restrictions could cause to my account. At the end of August for approximately one week, local shipping carriers in my country stopped accepting shipments destined for the United States, which resulted in several delayed orders. Once shipments were accepted again, carriers introduced the option to ship under DDP terms (Delivery Duty Paid), allowing me to cover the import charges before dispatch. I immediately switched to this method, and since then, shipments have been processed smoothly, quickly, and within the expected delivery timeframes. A few weeks later, the situation escalated. Multiple Item Not Received (INR) claims were opened, which increased my Bad Buyer Experience (BBE) metrics. All affected orders had been delayed at U.S. customs, and I had no ability to influence or resolve the customs delays on my end. To ensure customer satisfaction, I reshipped all affected orders at my own expense, and the INR cases were subsequently closed in my favor. Throughout this period, several Customer Support agents repeatedly assured me that I would not face negative consequences. I was told that any defects, negative feedback, or metric impacts resulting from the customs issue would be removed if necessary. And here the problems come... First evaluation: Everything was fine; no restrictions were placed on my account. Second evaluation: I began receiving warning emails indicating that my BBE ratio was higher than that of my peer sellers, although no restrictions were applied at that stage. During this time, I continued communicating with Customer Support, explaining each order and INR case individually, and providing detailed supporting information, including quotations from U.S. government sources and eBay’s official guidance, which states that sellers would be protected under these circumstances. For example, the relevant section from eBay can be found here: “US Tariffs Update – eBay Official Guidance.” Despite this, the responses I received from Customer Support were inconsistent, although most continued to assure me that my account was in good standing and that I had nothing to worry about. At the end of October, I received an “Action Taken” notification after my BBE ratio exceeded the peer benchmark for the third time (approximately 3.8%). However, no actual restrictions were applied. In the following evaluation, my BBE ratio dropped to 1.6% due to closed transactions, and the account was marked as compliant. This made me believe that the situation was improving. Unexpectedly, shortly afterward, a buyer opened a new INR request despite the item already being marked as delivered. The claim was closed in my favor, and the buyer has not communicated since. However, at the latest BBE evaluation this INR request was still counted against my BBE metrics, increasing the ratio to 2.3%. I still have orders from August evaluated! So at this evaluation period I received the following message from eBay, on 2.3% INR ratio: Dear Seller, eBay regularly evaluates the accounts of eBay sellers. In relation to your account, we have noticed that its performance does not meet the requirements of eBay's BBE Policy Your account's BBE rate is higher than that of peer eBay sellers. You can visit the Seller Dashboard to check your current account performance. In accordance with the eBay BBE Policy and the eBay User Agreement, eBay has determined that in order to protect the eBay community, the following restrictions will apply to your eBay account: (a) Your selling privileges are restricted; and (b) Your listings have been ended; and (c) Your payouts have been on hold. The safety of the eBay community is a top priority for us. We appreciate your understanding in this matter. We look forward to your cooperation, eBay team So, now my account will be restricted, and I don't know if there is any chance to get it back. I've contacted Customer Support multiple times through "Contact Us" - 4 days without response. I've chatted with an agent - the answer was "Thank you for sharing the information. I require to transfer your query to our dedicated team and they will get back to you via mail in 24-48 hours. Please allow me to transfer your concern to them." - still no response I've asked a callback, an agent called me back - he hasn't even understand me what I am asking, he asked me where I have saw that my account will be restricted, so he asked me to spell him the export.ebay.com link (the link to the CBT Dashboard), and after his "review" his conclusion was that my account is in 100% perfect condition (it is by feedback and Seller Dashboard, but not by CBT dashboard), and I shouldn't worry about that it will be restricted. I've seen few posts with similar problems here, so I think we must be active to share our situations regarding these new Import Tax Rules and unfair BBE evaluation at this point, so if there is any minimal chance to eBay lookup at this and take any actions.... If someone has reinstated his account after this, I will be very thankful to share any inLong-time eBay Seller – How Can I See My Total Sales Over the Years?
Hi eBay Community, I've been a seller on eBay since 2012 under the store name gemstonehouse2012, and it's been an incredible journey with many ups and downs, and amazing memories! I specialize in gemstones and crystals, and over the years, I’ve built a feedback score of 8133 with 100% positive feedback. But here's something I’ve always wondered: How can I check the total number of items I’ve sold on eBay since I started? I know the feedback score doesn’t show the full picture, especially since many buyers don’t leave feedback. I’ve looked through Seller Hub and my account history, but haven’t found a clear total count. Is there a way to pull up that data? Maybe a report or a hidden spot in Seller Hub I’m missing? Also, for fun, If you're a longtime seller too, how many items have you sold and how long have you been on eBay? I’d love to connect with others who’ve been here for years. Looking forward to your tips and stories! Thank you GemStoneHouse2012
INR Restriction - Evaluated Wrong and Account Blocked
Hi I have been evaluated wrong and my account has been restricted to sell on eBay US & Canada. On the 9th of April 2025, my account was due for its next performance evaluation. However, the evaluation was not updated on time and only appeared on my dashboard on 11th April 2025, and even then, it appears to have been incorrectly assessed. According to eBay’s published policy, INR Evaluation Window 1 should include all paid transactions within a 31-day period starting 45 days before the evaluation date. Based on this, the correct evaluation window for a 9 April assessment should be: ➡️ 24 February 2025 to 26 March 2025 However, my account appears to have been assessed based on the period 6 January 2025 to 5 April 2025, which includes older transactions that fall outside the correct window. After reviewing my own reports: Almost all INR transactions had a paid date before 24 January 2025, meaning they should not be included in the most recent evaluation. Only one INR case falls within the valid timeframe, which would significantly lower my INR rate and bring it in line with the threshold needed to lift the restriction. I am following up repeatedly with customer service but not getting the issue resolved, and they only reply to me explaining the policy. They look like standard copy-paste responses, which do not concern my issue. Please help, as it is getting very frustrating chasing after customer service only to receive a response after also 24-36 hours, which has nothing to do with the issue.
BBE Policy
My concern is about BBE policy. I do not think the BBE policy is good for seller. My account is top rated. Feedback rating is 4.8 out of 5 but still my account is restricted just because of BBE. 2 or 3 customer left the positive feedback with low rating for item not as described and these feedback counted in BBE count. Returns got closed in my favor but they still being counted in BBE policy. I took the help of ebay but they said it automated process and ebay is not able to help. I just need to wait. It become very difficullt for seller to survive.Are you aware that stockouts may negatively impact your performance?
Replenishing stock levels for in-demand items you offer is just as important as identifying new products to sell. When your item stocks out, not only do you miss out on sales opportunities, but you also risk poor customer experiences that may affect your feedback score and performance metrics. To avoid stockouts: Use a third-party inventory management tools to keep your inventory numbers up-to-date. This is especially important if you sell across multiple channels. Use your sales reports to stay on top of restocking. If your items are selling faster than usual, restock earlier. View your active listings in Seller Hub, and sort by quantity available to identify items that are currently or soon to go out of stock. Compare quantity available and page views and if you find that you have a high number of page views but low inventory, you might need to restock soon. If you’ve recently restocked, be sure to edit your quantity available. Avoiding out-of-stock cancellations Even more detrimental than a stockout is an out-of-stock cancellation. This occurs when a buyer makes a purchase, but the seller then cancels the order because the item is out of stock. Not only do out-of-stock cancellations provide a poor customer experience, they can potentially damage your brand reputation and negatively affect your seller standing. To avoid out-of-stock cancellations, enable the out-of-stock option in your selling preferences. This setting will hide your listing from search results until you replenish the inventory. Handling out-of-stock cancellations If you have to cancel an order because it is out of stock, make it right for your buyer by letting the buyer know when the item will be back in stock. If the buyer does not want to wait, offer a cancellation and full refund. If the buyer is willing to wait, offer free expedited shipping when the item is back in stock and communicate the expected timeframe. Consider sending a coded coupon for a discount on their next purchase as a thank-you for their understanding. Read more on how to never be out-of-stock again by visiting our seller center - https://sellglobal.ebay.in/seller-center/never-be-out-of-stock-again/ Regards, eBay INCBT TeameBay sellers need to Know About Feedback and Its Importance
Buyers do their research before purchasing online. A Feedback system lets sellers build their reputation, and product reviews allow buyers to share experiences of the items. Feedback is the output of the service provided on the basis of Information, Commitment & Communication. What is it that you should know about Feedback as a seller? eBay requires sellers to maintain a detailed seller rating (DSR) average of at least 4.1. You have up to 60 days after the sale is confirmed, to leave and receive Feedback. You can’t change feedback you left for a buyer, but you can add extra comments. You can only reply once to a feedback comment, and you can’t edit or retract that reply. Repeat Feedback from the same member is counted, only if items were bought or sold in different weeks* (*eBay defines a week as Monday through Sunday, Pacific Time.) By meeting certain requirements, you stand to qualify for Automatic 5-Star DSR Ratings under Shipping & Handling Charges, Shipping Time and Communication. Did you find leaving feedback time consuming - Save time by following the steps: Go to “Automation Preferences” in Seller HUB Choose an option for when you want feedback to be left for buyers: Buyer has paid for this item: automatically leaves feedback when you mark a payment as received. Buyer has paid for this item and left me positive feedback: automatically leaves feedback when you mark a payment as received and the buyer left you positive feedback. Select Apply. Did you know that you can improve your feedback reputation through eBay’s Feedback Revision? – eBay’s Feedback Revision requests is a great option for both buyers and sellers, to help rectify a genuine error. Some important points to keep in mind: You may send 5 Feedback revision forms per calendar year and 5 more for every 1,000 Feedbacks received on a rolling 12 months. Only one feedback revision request per transaction. You can only request a revision for feedback (negative/neutral) that is less than 30 days old transaction. Buyer has 10 days to respond, failing which the revision request will expire. Note: Requesting for a Feedback Revision does not guarantee you a revision in return. Make sure to talk to the buyer before sending the form, as there is no way to follow up if they refuse the request. Worried about a wrong negative feedback and would want eBay to help with Feedback Removal? Although feedback is permanent, there are certain circumstances where Feedback removal may occur. Click here to know more about the guidelines. Regards, eBay INCBT Team
