Seller Rating question

[westshore2000]

Today is August 20, 2025.    eBay evaluation day.  My dashboard reads "Your current seller level on eBay.com is Above Standard. Your next evaluation is on September 20, 2025. If we evaluated you today, you would be Top Rated."  Taken at face value, the rating should be Top Rated today.  This being the case,  how is this possible? 

[comics-scifi-collectibles · Accepted solution]

@westshore2000  Congratulations on becoming Top Rated.   The account status change will go into affect on the 1st of Sept.  

If you wish to have the Top Rated badge show on your listings and receive the 10% discount off of sellers fees then you need to offer same or one day handling and Free Returns

Here's more on the Top Rated VS Top Rated PLUS>

Top Rated seller requirements
Seller performance evaluation	Cases closed without seller resolution: No more than 2 (or 0.3% of transactions) Transaction defect rate: No more than 0.5%, associated with no more than 3 different buyers Late shipment rate: No more than 5 (or 3% of transactions) Upload tracking: At least 95% of transaction have tracking uploaded within handling time and validated by carrier
Selling activity	Your eBay account has been active for at least 90 days You have at least 100 transactions and $1,000 in sales with US buyers over the past 12 months You're complying with eBay's Selling practices policy

eBay Top Rated Plus requirements and benefits

Once you've reached Top Rated status, you can qualify your listings for these exclusive Top Rated Plus benefits if you offer same- or 1-business-day handling time and 30-day or longer free returns:

• The Top Rated Plus seal will be displayed prominently in search results and in the listing description
• A 10% discount on your final value fees, which is calculated on the total amount of the sale, including shipping and tax
  • The discount does not apply to the per order portion of the final value fee
  • The discount does not apply to any additional final value fees applied to sales in categories where you're rated as Very High in your service metrics for 'item not as described' returns

Please note, the 10% final value fee discount is only available to sellers resident in the country in which they're Top Rated. For example, if you're selling through eBay.com, you must be resident in the US to qualify for this discount.

Free returns must be based on your item's location in order for your listings to qualify for Top Rated Plus:

• If the item location is in the same country as the eBay site you listed on, you need to offer 30-day free domestic returns
• If the item location isn't in the same country as the eBay site you listed on, you need to offer 30-day free international returns

In some product categories, we'll extend the discount benefit (but not the seal) even if you don't offer 30-day free returns.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-standards-policy?id=4347&st=3

[westshore2000]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I appreciate your kind words.  I will note that I have reviewed the information provided.  There is lots of information and it is relevant.  However, the takeaway is that any of a number of metric(s) can trigger a ratings change.  If this so and it's put into play, then it should not be difficult to clearly state the issue.  After a lot of digging, I discovered the cause goes back to August of 2024, triggered by the number of sales over ( I believe) the past 30 days.   Too few sales triggers a 12 month range vs a 30 or 90 day range.  Fortunately, as of the end of August that issue will be removed.  These are challenging times in the retail arena.  Thanks again for your time and information.