Step-by-Step Guide: How to Remove Negative Feedback on eBay

If you've ever sold or bought anything on eBay, you know how important feedback is on the platform. Feedback contributes to buyer purchase decisions, affects your eBay Store's reputation, and shows how you handle problems when they arise. When you receive a negative feedback as a seller, it can harm your reputation, erode trust with buyers, and ultimately have a detrimental effect on future sales. Nevertheless, negative feedback is an inevitability of selling online, yet not every feedback is necessarily set in stone. In some cases, you may be able to remove a negative feedback from your account and revive your feedback score. In this guide, we'll take a look at how to remove negative feedback on eBay and discuss proven strategies for preempting and even avoiding negative feedback altogether, so you can take charge of your feedback score and better manage your reputation on eBay.  

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Understanding eBay's Feedback System

While many things have changed on eBay in recent years, its feedback system has remained virtually unchanged since the site launched in 1995. Before we dive into how to remove negative feedback on eBay, we'll take a moment to understand the ins and outs of eBay's feedback system as a whole, and see what sets it apart from feedback systems on other ecommerce marketplaces. We'll begin by understanding what feedback is on eBay, learn how negative feedback affects your Seller Rating, and understand the difference between buyer feedback and seller feedback.

What is Feedback on eBay?

The idea behind eBay's feedback system is simple – give eBay users a way to rate one another and to gauge what their buying or selling experience might look like before deciding to do business with another user. Users can leave three rating levels with their feedback – positive, neutral, or negative – and a comment to accompany their rating. Additionally, users can add a follow-up comment to their feedback, and, in certain cases, remove or revise the original comment and rating entirely.

How Does Negative Feedback Affect Your Seller Rating?

While it can certainly have wide-reaching effects on your eBay selling account, negative feedback does not affect into your Seller Rating and is not factored into it directly. Furthermore, unlike on some ecommerce marketplaces, your feedback score does not affect your eBay listings' visibility in buyer searches. Where you will see the effect of negative feedback is likely in your overall sales volume – buyers simply don't want to purchase from sellers who have a high rate of negative feedback, since they view it as an indicator of what their purchase could look like if things don't go to plan. The rare negative feedback will likely have little effect on your sales, but a high number of negative feedbacks will lower your overall feedback score, which may very likely harm your sales in the future.

Types of Feedback on eBay

Every transaction conducted on eBay includes two parties: the buyer and the seller. As such, each party has the opportunity to leave feedback for the other party in the transaction. Below, we'll go over what feedback is for buyers, what feedback is for sellers, and help you understand the key differences between the two types of feedback.

1. Feedback for Buyers

Whenever you sell an item on eBay, you have the option of leaving feedback for your buyer. When leaving feedback for buyers, sellers can only leave a positive rating and a comment – there is no way to leave a negative feedback for a buyer on eBay. You can also choose to automate your feedback to buyers through eBay by enabling its automatic feedback feature, which leaves your buyers feedback if they've completed the transaction and left you positive feedback.

2. Feedback for Sellers

On the other side of the transaction, buyers can leave feedback for the seller they purchased from and rate their overall buying experience. Feedback ratings for sellers can be positive, neutral, or negative. Along with a feedback rating, buyers will also rate sellers on four Detailed Seller metrics: Accurate description, Shipping speed, Reasonable shipping cost, and Communication. This rating is not displayed as part of the feedback for the order. Instead, it is factored to the average of each one of these metrics, which are displayed separately from buyer feedback on your eBay account's feedback page.

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How to Remove Negative Feedback on eBay as a Buyer

As discussed above, there are two types of feedback on eBay: buyer feedback and seller feedback. How you'll go about removing negative feedback on eBay will depend on whether you're a seller or a buyer. In this section, we'll go over how a buyer can remove negative feedback they've left for a seller, explain the difference between revising feedback and removing it altogether, and go over how to remove feedback they received from a seller they bought from.  

Removing or Revising Feedback You Left for Sellers

If a buyer has left feedback for a seller and wishes to change it, they have two options: feedback removal or feedback revision. Feedback removal is when a buyer deletes their feedback for the transaction entirely, resulting in no feedback left. Feedback revision is when a buyer goes back and edits their feedback and rating score for the transaction to better reflect their buying experience.

In order to be able to do either one, a buyer must request what's known as a Feedback Revision Request from the seller. On eBay, buyers cannot go back and edit their feedback without the consent of the seller, and without the seller explicitly inviting them to do so via a Feedback Revision Request. Sellers on eBay have only 5 Feedback Revision Requests available to them per year, so unless the original feedback rating is negative or neutral, there's no reason to request a Feedback Revision Request from the seller.

Aside from removal or revision, buyers can also go back to the feedback they left and add a follow-up comment, which will be displayed alongside the original feedback. While this option doesn't allow buyers to change the rating or the original comment, it does give them an opportunity to provide more context to their feedback and add more information.

Removing Feedback a Seller Left for You

As mentioned above, sellers can only leave positive feedback for their buyers on eBay. As such, since there is little reason for buyers to remove feedback they've received from sellers from their profile, eBay doesn't give buyers the option of removing feedback left for them by sellers. It does, however, allow buyers (i.e. users without active listings) to make their feedback private, so it won't be visible to other users. Remember that sellers cannot leave negative feedback for buyers, and feedback with a positive rating and a negative comment will likely be removed by eBay without any intervention. If such feedback is not automatically removed, the buyer simply needs to reach out to eBay for assistance, and the feedback will be promptly removed.

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How to Remove Negative Feedback on eBay as a Seller

Unhappy buyers and the negative feedback they inevitably leave is a reality of selling online – you simply cannot please everyone all the time no matter how hard you try, even if you do everything right. In recent years, eBay has taken note of this and no longer factors buyer feedback into your overall account health. That said, the effects of negative feedback certainly don't disappear with a change of eBay policy. For potential buyers, other buyers' experiences will likely factor into their purchase decisions, which is why a relative handful of negative feedback can dry up your sales in the blink of an eye.

Nevertheless, feedback is not set in stone, and there are methods you can employ to mitigate the damage and even reverse it altogether. Below, we'll examine the steps you can take to remove negative feedback on eBay as a seller, from working things out with the buyer to contacting eBay in a bid to have it removed.

Contacting the Buyer to Resolve the Issue

When you receive a negative feedback as a seller, your first order of business should be reaching out to the buyer, especially if the negative feedback blindsided you by coming from a buyer who hadn't been in contact with you before. In most cases, buyers leave negative feedback out of frustration with their buying experience, and unfortunately, some don't reach out to the seller and give them a chance to resolve the issue prior to leaving a public review that could harm the seller's business.

If the buyer has not reached out to you before leaving you negative feedback, the best thing you can do is reach out to them and try to resolve the issue to their satisfaction. Unfortunately, this can sometimes mean accepting a return that's out of policy, accepting responsibility for a courier mistake, or apologizing for any number of things that are not actually your fault. In our experience, however, this is the best thing you can do in the eyes of the buyer. Even if it's not your fault, it is your responsibility as a seller.

Apologize for the buyer's negative experience, offer solutions, and ask them what you can do to make things right. It's against eBay policy to bribe buyers with offers of discounts to remove or revise their feedback, however, and we strongly caution against saying anything that could be construed as such. If you approach things professionally, most buyers will be receptive if when you ask them to remove their feedback, provided you've taken responsibility for the problem and extended a gesture of good will, like a partial or full refund, before you do.

Send the Buyer a Feedback Revision Request

If the buyer has agreed to revise or remove their feedback, all that's left to do is send them a Feedback Revision Request. The buyer can then accept the offer to remove or revise the feedback, or choose to decline it. The revision request is valid for 10 days, and eBay will remind the buyer after 7 days if they've not revised/removed their feedback or declined your request for revision. After 10 days, the request will expire, and the buyer will no longer be able to revise or remove their feedback.

Sellers on eBay only have five revision requests per calendar year, so its best to use them wisely, especially at the beginning of the year. If you're out of revision requests to send, or if a buyer declines to revise or remove their negative feedback, you can respond the feedback publicly and explain your side of the situation, so future buyers can see how you handle situations when things don't work out as expected. Remember to always respond factually and politely, take responsibility for the problem, and never use accusatory language; this is your opportunity to appeal to buyers in the future, not to resolve the issue with a disgruntled customer.

Contact eBay Customer Service for Assistance

In some cases, eBay seller support may be able to remove a negative feedback from your feedback history. This is only possible if a feedback is in violation of eBay's feedback policy. Instances of a negative feedback that's irrelevant to the item or buying experience, feedback that expresses opinions on political or social issues, or uses profane or threatening language are good candidates for removal by eBay. If you think a feedback left by a buyer might be in violation of eBay's feedback policy, get in touch with eBay and see if they are able to remove it for you. Feedback removed by eBay is not counted as a feedback revision request, so it won't toward your Feedback Removal Request quota if the feedback is removed.

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Tips for Preventing Negative Feedback on eBay

While there is no way to prevent negative feedback on eBay entirely, there are several steps you can take to minimize the chances of receiving poor feedback from your buyers, both pre- and post-sale. In our experience, taking care to create informative, honest listings for your buyers and making the effort to resolve problems that arise is enough to prevent the vast majority of negative feedback. In this section, we'll discuss various methods for preventing negative feedback through high-quality listings, effective communication with buyers, and top-notch customer service, and go over how to prevent negative reviews by resolving issues promptly and professionally before they result in bad feedback.

Provide Accurate Descriptions and High-Quality Photos

No matter what you sell on eBay, ensuring that your listing is accurate, honest, and depicts your item truthfully is the most important thing you can do to avoid negative feedback. This is especially true if you're a reseller selling secondhand or vintage goods on eBay. Make sure to disclose every single defect honestly in the item description, and provide high-quality pictures to clearly show any signs of wear or damage. Buyers need to know what they're purchasing from you before they pay, and not have any unpleasant surprises when they receive their item in the mail.

Communicate Effectively with Buyers

Inevitably, even with perfectly detailed listings, problems will arise. Parcels get lost, damaged, or misdelivered, and customers may end up disappointed with their purchase for any number of reasons. To prevent these issues from spiraling into negative feedback, your best course of action is to make sure that your buyers receive prompt and effective communication from you, and that they know that they have somewhere to turn if something is wrong with their order. An automated message to check in with your buyers once they've received their order can pre-empt the vast majority of negative feedbacks, and give you the opportunity to communicate with buyers and resolve any problems before they turn into return requests or resolution center disputes.

Offer Excellent Customer Service

Ultimately, buyer feedback is mostly a reflection of the customer service you provide to your buyers, especially on occasions where things go wrong. Most buyers understand that things outside of your control, like shipping delays or damage in transit, can happen, and the majority would be happy to give you the opportunity to resolve these issues before resorting to leaving you negative feedback. For this reason, it's important to work with your buyers and offer them excellent customer service by resolving any issue to their satisfaction, even if it means taking a hit to your profit on the order.

Resolve Issues Promptly and Professionally

An important part of truly excellent customer service is handling your communications with buyers in a timely and professional manner. This means answering buyers promptly, and offering professional replies and solutions to any issue that they encounter. One of the biggest hurdles for sellers is effectively managing all their communications, especially if they sell on more than one eBay Store. For this reason, many sellers opt to enlist the help of an ecommerce helpdesk, which helps manage buyer communications more efficiently by centralizing them all in one place.

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Final Thoughts: Removing Negative Feedback on eBay

When you sell on eBay, receiving negative or neutral feedback is an inevitability. You can never satisfy all of your buyers 100% of the time, and, eventually, one of those unhappy buyers is will choose to leave you negative feedback. While negative and neutral feedback no longer affects your seller rating directly, it can have a detrimental effect on your eBay Store's reputation and future sales. As such, sellers immediately try to find out how to remove negative feedback on eBay as soon as they receive their first critical review. There are several approaches to removing negative feedback – trying to resolve the issue with the buyer and requesting them to revise it is likely your best bet, but there's no guarantee that the buyer will be receptive to your request. The other option, if you think a review violates eBay's feedback policy in its language or content, is trying to contact eBay and requesting to have it removed.

The truth is, however, that there is no single winning strategy for how to remove negative feedback on eBay; sometimes, unfortunately, negative feedback is there to stay. Even if you're unable to remove a negative review from your eBay account, remember that it's just one buyer's opinion on one transaction. It doesn't affect your seller rating, and you can always respond to the feedback publicly and tell your side of the story to future buyers. Additionally, if the buyer has been particularly difficult and you no longer wish to sell to them, you can choose to block them so they can no longer buy from you in the future. If you believe the buyer's behavior has violated eBay's policies, you can also report them to eBay in accordance with the abusive buyer policy.

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FAQs for Removing Negative Feedback on eBay

Now that we've examined how to remove negative feedback on eBay and how to (hopefully) avoid receiving it in the first place, we'll take a moment to go over some frequently asked questions about eBay feedback and how to remove or revise it.

Q: How long do I have to remove or revise a feedback?

If you've received a negative or neutral feedback on eBay, you can send the buyer a feedback revision request for 30 days after they've left their feedback. Once sent, the buyer has 10 days to either revise the feedback or decline the feedback revision request. If the buyer does not respond to the request after 7 days, they'll receive a reminder from eBay. After 10 days, the revision request expires, and the buyer can no longer edit their feedback through that request.

Q: Can I remove feedback that I left for a seller?

If you're a buyer who wants to remove or revise feedback you left for a seller, you need to reach out to the seller and request that they send you a feedback revision request. You have 30 days from the day you left your feedback to do this, as feedback is only eligible for removal or revision within 30 days. If the seller agrees and sends you the request, you'll have 10 days to remove or revise the feedback through the feedback revision request. After 10 days, the request will expire, and you'll no longer be able to amend your feedback.

Q: What should I do if a buyer refuses to revise or remove their negative feedback?

Even if you do everything right, go out of your way to resolve problems, and compensate your buyer for any inconvenience, some buyers won't be open to removing or revising their negative feedback. In cases like these, your best course of action is to publicly respond to the buyer with a reply to their feedback. Your response should always begin with an apology, and include the steps you took to rectify the situation. Look at this opportunity as a way to demonstrate to future buyers how you handle problems and tell your side of the story, rather than your last chance at communication with the buyer.

Q: Can I get a negative feedback removed by reporting it to eBay?

In some cases, you'll be able to get negative feedback removed by reporting it to eBay. eBay will remove feedback that uses profane language, includes threats, is irrelevant to the purchase, or is otherwise in violation of eBay's feedback policy. If you think a feedback you received might be eligible for removal, contact eBay to see if they'd be willing to remove it from your account.