How to Get More eBay Feedback: Score, Rules and Examples

If you want to know how to get more feedback on eBay, start with the uncomfortable fact: most buyers never leave any at all. eBay feedback is opt-in on the buyer's side, which is exactly why the sellers who get more of it are the ones doing a handful of specific things, not the ones hoping for the best.

The sellers who grow a thin feedback profile deliver on time, leave feedback for the buyer first, and ask once, politely, after delivery, inside eBay's rules on asking. This guide covers how the score actually works, what you are and are not allowed to do when you ask, seven ways to earn more of it, what to write, twenty real examples, and how to automate the request without crossing into the feedback you are not allowed to chase.

TL;DR

Most buyers never leave feedback at all unless a seller makes it genuinely easy to, which is why the mechanics behind the score are worth understanding before you try to move it. eBay feedback runs on a simple score (+1 for positive, 0 for neutral, -1 for negative) and a percentage shown under your username, and sellers can only ever leave positive feedback for buyers, never neutral or negative. The sellers who grow their score fastest ship on time, leave feedback for the buyer as soon as payment clears, and ask once after delivery rather than offering anything for it, since eBay's own policy bars incentives and specific-rating requests. The rest of this guide covers the rules, seven ways to earn more, what to write, twenty examples, and how to automate it.

How eBay Feedback Works, and Why It Matters

Every eBay transaction can earn a rating, and the two sides of it are not symmetrical at all. After a transaction, a buyer can leave positive, neutral or negative feedback about the seller, while a seller, by contrast, can only ever leave positive feedback for a buyer, since there is no neutral or negative option built into that side of a transaction. Each rating a buyer leaves is worth +1 for positive, 0 for neutral and -1 for negative, and those points add together to form your feedback score, while the percentage shown beneath your username on every listing, say, 99.5%, is simply the share of all those ratings that happened to be positive.

Feedback matters for two connected reasons: the percentage is one of the first things a buyer checks before trusting an unfamiliar seller, and the detailed seller ratings sitting behind that percentage feed, alongside your account's other metrics, into whether you hold Top Rated Seller status. Our guide to eBay star ratings covers that mechanism in depth if you want the full picture. One thing worth retiring from your mental model: PowerSeller status, which some older guides still reference, was discontinued by eBay back in 2021 and plays no part in anything here.

What eBay Allows When You Ask for Feedback

eBay's feedback manipulation policy is specific about where the line sits, and asking a buyer for feedback at all sits comfortably on the right side of it. What sits on the wrong side is offering anything for it, a discount, a free item, a bonus, any form of compensation tied to leaving a rating, and asking for a specific outcome, such as "please leave 5 stars" or "please leave positive feedback." The rule eBay states plainly is that feedback has to reflect a genuine, unbiased experience, which rules out anything that nudges a buyer toward a particular answer rather than an honest one.

In practice that means a polite, generic request after delivery is fine; a request that mentions a reward, names the rating you want, or follows up repeatedly until the buyer gives in is not. If an older guide you have seen suggests wording a message to "encourage a positive review," that phrasing sits on the wrong side of this policy and is worth dropping from any template you are using.

Seven Ways to Earn More Feedback

Ship on time, with tracking, because a buyer who gets their order when they expected it, with a tracking number they can check along the way, has no reason to leave anything but a good rating, and every reason to actually leave one.

Describe the item accurately and pack it well. Negative experiences generate feedback far more reliably than positive ones do, so the fastest way to raise your score is removing the reasons a buyer would bother leaving a bad one: list the item as it actually is, and pack it so it arrives the way it left you.

Message once at dispatch, with the tracking link attached, since a short note when the order ships, nothing more, gives the buyer what they actually need and quietly opens a line of contact without asking them for anything in return.

Leave feedback for the buyer as soon as payment clears, since this is the single most effective habit on this list and also the one most sellers skip entirely. Leaving positive feedback first, promptly, opens the door for a buyer to reciprocate once their order arrives, far more reliably than any message asking them to would on its own.

Ask once, after delivery, and never before, because one polite request, timed to land after the buyer has had the item in hand long enough to actually judge it, beats any number of reminders sent too early or too often.

Include a short note in the parcel, since a handwritten or printed thank-you, with no mention of feedback or ratings anywhere in it, still measurably increases how many buyers bother to respond at all once the order arrives.

Make it easy for the buyer, because a direct link to leave feedback, included in your post-delivery message, removes the only friction still standing between a satisfied buyer and an actual rating.

What to Write When You Ask

Two messages cover most of what you need, both inside eBay's rules: no incentive, no mention of "positive," no pressure.

At dispatch: "Your order is on its way, with tracking attached so you can follow it, and if anything looks off when it arrives, just let me know, happy to sort it quickly."

After delivery: "Hope your order arrived in good shape, and if you have a minute, I'd really appreciate your feedback, it helps other buyers and helps me keep improving. No pressure either way, just let me know first if anything about it wasn't right."

Twenty Positive Feedback Examples

Specific feedback works better than generic feedback in both directions, since a seller who leaves a buyer a specific, genuine line, rather than a stock phrase, is more likely to get a specific line back, and a buyer deciding whether to trust you tends to read a handful of real feedback lines, not just the percentage under your name.

Ten lines a seller can leave for a buyer:

1. Paid immediately after the auction ended, easy transaction throughout.

2. Quick payment and clear communication about delivery preferences, thank you.

3. Prompt payment, no issues at all, would sell to again.

4. Paid within minutes of purchase and was patient while the order was packed.

5. Great buyer, fast payment and friendly messages throughout.

6. Payment cleared instantly, smooth transaction from start to finish.

7. Clear and polite communication, paid right away, recommended seller.

8. Fast payer, easy to deal with, no complications on this order.

9. Paid promptly and flexible about shipping timing, a pleasure to sell to.

10. Straightforward buyer, quick payment, would welcome another order.

Ten lines sellers are aiming for from buyers:

1. Item exactly as described, arrived well packed and on time.

2. Fast shipping and the item matched the photos perfectly.

3. Great communication throughout, kept me updated on dispatch.

4. Item arrived earlier than expected and in excellent condition.

5. Exactly as pictured, carefully packaged, would buy again.

6. Seller answered my question quickly before I even bought it.

7. Smooth transaction, item as described, no surprises.

8. Well packed, arrived safely, exactly what I ordered.

9. Quick dispatch and the item was even better than the listing suggested.

10. Easy to deal with, accurate description, will be back for more.

Automating the Request

The habits above work better run on a schedule than remembered manually, and three things matter in how you automate a feedback request: timing it to land after delivery, not before; skipping any buyer with an open case or a late order, since asking for feedback mid-dispute is both bad timing and risks looking like pressure; and sending the request once, then tracking who has and has not responded rather than asking again.

eDesk Feedback, as eDesk's own feedback tool, sends the request automatically once an order is marked delivered, holds back on any order with an open case, and tracks response status so you can see at a glance who has left feedback and who has not, all without a second request ever going out, and if your eBay cases and messages already run through a single inbox, our guide to eBay helpdesk software covers the rest of what that setup actually looks like day to day. Book a Free Demo to see eDesk Feedback time a request to the right moment automatically.

When Feedback Goes Wrong

Negative or neutral feedback is not something this guide tries to fix, because two other guides already own it in full, and each goes into more depth than a single section here ever could. If you have already received it and want to resolve it with the buyer directly, see our guide to removing negative feedback on eBay, and if the buyer has already agreed to change their rating once you have sorted the issue, our guide to the feedback revision request covers that process and its limits in full.

FAQ

1. How do I get more feedback on eBay?

Ship on time, leave feedback for the buyer first as soon as payment clears, and ask once after delivery with a direct link to leave feedback, since those three habits together do more for a thin feedback profile than any clever template ever will.

2. Can I ask buyers for feedback on eBay?

Yes, eBay allows a direct, genuine request, but what it does not allow is offering anything in exchange for feedback, or asking for a specific rating such as "please leave positive feedback," since feedback has to reflect an honest, unbiased experience rather than one a seller has nudged into shape.

3. Can sellers leave negative feedback for buyers?

No, a seller can only ever leave positive feedback for a buyer, since eBay built no neutral or negative option into the seller's side of a transaction at all.

4. How is the eBay feedback score calculated?

Each rating a buyer leaves is worth +1 for positive, 0 for neutral and -1 for negative, and those points sum to your feedback score. The feedback percentage shown under your username is the share of all ratings that were positive.

5. Can I automate eBay feedback requests?

Yes, a tool such as eDesk Feedback can send the request automatically once an order is marked delivered, skip any buyer with an open case, and track who has responded, so the request goes out once, at the right time, without manual follow-up on your part.

What Should You Do About Your Feedback Next?

If your feedback profile is thin, the fix is rarely a clever message, it is almost always the order of operations: leave feedback for your buyer first, deliver what you said you would when you said you would, and ask once, after the fact, with nothing attached to the ask.

The habit worth building is doing this consistently rather than occasionally, since a seller who leaves feedback first on every order and asks once on every order outgrows one who only remembers to do either when a sale feels worth the effort.

Start for free and let eDesk Feedback time the request for you, or Book a Free Demo to see it running on a live account first.