eBay Top Rated Seller Benefits
What the badge actually does for your listings, and the requirements to earn and keep it.
By Marginory teamContent reviewed
What the status actually does
- Displays a visible trust badge on your listings and profile
- May contribute to improved search placement relative to comparable listings
- Can unlock eligibility for certain seller protections in disputes
Typical requirements
- Minimum account tenure and a baseline transaction volume
- Low rate of cancellations and "item not as described" cases
- Fast, trackable shipping with on-time delivery performance
- Sustained good standing over a rolling evaluation period
Exact thresholds are set by eBay and reviewed periodically — check your Seller Hub for your current standing against requirements.
Specific Top Rated requirements and the Top Rated Plus discount
- Account active for at least 90 days
- 100+ transactions AND $1,000+ in sales to US buyers over the trailing 12 months
- Compliance with eBay's Selling Practices policy
- A defect rate well above the 2% minimum-standard threshold (2% is the baseline "above standard" cutoff; Top Rated requires performing meaningfully better than that floor)
Top Rated Plus is a higher tier on top of Top Rated — it additionally requires same-day or 1-business-day handling time and offering 30-day free returns. Meeting Top Rated Plus gets you a 10% discount on the Final Value Fee.
The 10% discount has exclusions: it does notapply to the per-order portion of the Final Value Fee, and it does not apply to listings in categories eBay flags as "Very High" for item-not-as-described return rate.
Worked example: $50 sale, most categories (13.6% Final Value Fee)
This is 10% off the fee amount, not 10% off the sale price — the discount saves $0.68 per $50 order here, not $5.00. It compounds across volume but doesn't change the underlying category rate.
Top Rated Plus badging also displays more prominently in search results and listing pages than standard Top Rated status. Source: export.ebay.com/en/growth/seller-performance/seller-levels/ · Last verified 2026-08-24.
Maintaining the status
Because it's evaluated on a rolling basis, consistent fulfillment practices matter more than a one-time push. Ship promptly, communicate proactively about delays, and resolve buyer issues quickly to keep your defect rate low.