The short version
- Most buyers never leave feedback at all. eBay's own figures put the typical rate at around 30%, meaning roughly seven out of ten transactions end in silence, not a review either way.
- Silence is not a signal of dissatisfaction. A buyer who received exactly what they ordered, on time, with no problem, has no particular reason to spend a minute of their day writing a review - the transaction simply worked as expected.
- eBay itself now fills part of the gap automatically, adding positive feedback on a seller's behalf after a set waiting period once a tracked delivery has gone smoothly with nothing reported wrong.
- What actually matters is the feedback that does arrive, and the metrics that do not depend on it at all - defect rate, cases, on-time dispatch - not the raw percentage of buyers who happened to comment.
- A single, well-timed, polite ask can genuinely help - constant reminders or anything that reads as pressure tend to do the opposite, and cross into territory eBay's own policies do not allow.
The real numbers behind the silence
eBay's own figures, shared at a seller event, put the typical feedback rate at around 30% - roughly one buyer in three actually leaving any feedback at all, positive, neutral or negative. Sellers reporting their own experience describe a real range around that figure, some considerably lower, some higher, but the pattern holds broadly: most transactions, even the ones that go perfectly, end without a word either way. That is simply how the feature has always been used, not a decline from some earlier, more talkative era - the quiet majority has always been quiet.
Why most buyers genuinely do not leave feedback
The honest reasons have almost nothing to do with the seller. A parcel that arrives exactly as expected does not feel noteworthy - there is nothing to say beyond "it was fine," and most people do not open an app specifically to say that. Feedback is far more likely from the edges of an experience: something went wrong and got fixed impressively well, or something went wrong and did not. The broad middle - ordinary, satisfactory, unremarkable - is exactly the territory most transactions actually sit in, and it is also the territory least likely to produce any comment at all, in either direction.
The part eBay itself now fills in automatically
Part of the picture that confuses this further: eBay adds automatic positive feedback on a seller's behalf under specific conditions. Checked 28 September 2026, directly against eBay's own January 2025 Seller Update announcement on automated positive feedback: starting at the end of April 2025, UK sellers began receiving this automatically for orders that use a tracked service, arrive on time, and have no buyer issues reported. The automated entry is added exactly seven days after tracking confirms successful delivery, provided three specific criteria are all met at that point - tracking shows the item was delivered on time, the buyer hasn't already left their own feedback, and the buyer hasn't reported an issue with the order. It's displayed with the specific message "Order completed successfully - tracked and on time," and it counts toward both the feedback score and the positive-rating percentage exactly as a buyer-written entry would. Crucially, eBay's own wording confirms this feedback "will remain unless the buyer reports a negative experience, such as opening a return request, reporting non-receipt, or cancelling the order," and that "any positive or negative feedback subsequently left by the buyer will replace the automated positive feedback." The upshot is that a seller's feedback profile is not purely a measure of how many buyers actively chose to say something - a meaningful share of it, for smoothly delivered orders, is eBay itself quietly confirming that nothing went wrong, on the buyer's behalf, entirely without the buyer having to do anything at all.
This rolled out in stages rather than everywhere at once - first to newer sellers with ten or fewer feedback ratings, then to all UK business and private sellers from late April 2025, with a version of the same mechanic following for US sellers later. For a private seller specifically, eBay paired the rollout with its own Simple Delivery option - a streamlined, tracked postage service designed in part to make it easier for smaller-volume sellers to actually qualify for the tracking-based criteria the automated feedback depends on.
What actually matters more than the raw percentage
Chasing a higher feedback percentage for its own sake misses what the number is actually for. Genuinely useful signals sit elsewhere: the transaction defect rate, which tracks real problems rather than silence; cases opened and how they were resolved; on-time dispatch and delivery, which do not depend on a buyer commenting at all. A seller with a quiet feedback profile but a clean defect rate and no meaningful case history is doing well - the silence is not hiding a problem, it is simply what most fine, unremarkable transactions produce. Answering the buyers who do get in touch properly, whether or not they later leave feedback either way, is a far better use of attention than trying to move a percentage that mostly reflects how people behave, not how well a shop is actually run.
Why the raw percentage does not even decide seller level
eBay's own seller level - the standing that decides fee discounts and Top Rated status - is worked out from three specific factors: cases closed without seller resolution, transaction defect rate, and late shipment rate. Feedback percentage is not one of the three. A seller can hold a genuinely low feedback percentage, purely because most buyers stay quiet, while still sitting at Top Rated status on the metrics that actually count it - and a seller chasing the feedback number itself, rather than the three that are actually measured, is spending attention on the wrong figure entirely.
What this looks like for one real order
A buyer orders a bookcase, it arrives two days early, exactly as described, no issues at all. They assemble it, it looks good in the room, and that is the entire experience from their side - nothing to complain about, and equally nothing that felt worth opening an app to specifically praise. Three weeks later a different buyer's identical order arrives a day late with a small mark on one panel, the seller replaces it promptly and apologises properly, and that buyer leaves glowing feedback about how well the problem was handled. Both buyers ended up satisfied. Only one of them left any feedback at all - and it was the order that went less smoothly, not the one that went perfectly, that actually produced a comment. That is not a coincidence; it is close to how feedback behaviour actually works in general, and it is worth remembering before assuming a quiet run of orders means anything has gone wrong.
The trap worth naming directly: reading silence as disappointment
It is an easy, very human mistake to interpret no feedback as quiet dissatisfaction, especially after a run of orders that all went quiet one after another. The maths above says otherwise: with a typical rate around 30%, a genuinely happy buyer staying silent is not the exception needing an explanation - it is the ordinary, expected outcome for most transactions that went completely fine. Reading meaning into an absence of feedback, in either direction, is reading a signal that usually is not actually there.
What is actually worth doing about it
A single, genuinely polite request for feedback, sent once, at a sensible point after delivery, is a reasonable and normal part of running a shop - plenty of buyers who would not have thought to leave it unprompted are happy to once asked. What crosses into a problem is repetition: a second reminder, then a third, starts to read as pressure rather than a simple request, and eBay's own policies do not allow feedback solicitation that amounts to harassment or conditional offers in exchange for a positive review. One considered message, never chased, is the right amount - more than that is chasing a number that was never actually the point.
It's also worth remembering that, with the automatic mechanic covered above now doing part of this work regardless, a smoothly delivered order no longer depends entirely on a buyer's own initiative to eventually show up as positive somewhere on a seller's profile. That doesn't make asking pointless - a genuine, personal comment still reads differently to a future buyer than the automated one does - but it does take some of the pressure off treating every silent order as a missed opportunity that needs chasing up.
Where this stays entirely down to how an order actually went
No feature or setting changes whether a buyer leaves feedback - that choice, or the lack of one, belongs entirely to them. What is worth focusing on instead is everything that is actually within a seller's control regardless of who comments afterwards: dispatching on time, keeping stock and prices accurate so a cancellation never has to happen, and answering the buyers who do get in touch properly. Those are the things a genuinely good shop gets right consistently, whatever the feedback percentage happens to say about it in any given month.
Questions people ask
What percentage of eBay buyers actually leave feedback?
Around 30% typically, according to eBay’s own figures - meaning roughly seven out of ten transactions end with no feedback left at all, even when the order went perfectly.
Does eBay ever add feedback automatically?
Yes. eBay can add automatic positive feedback on a seller’s behalf when a tracked delivery arrives on time with no reported issue, after waiting seven days from delivery - a buyer’s own feedback, left later, always overrides it.
Does a low feedback percentage mean buyers are unhappy?
Not on its own. Most feedback comes from the edges of an experience - something going notably wrong or notably right - while an ordinary, satisfactory order is the least likely kind to get any comment either way.
Is it okay to ask buyers to leave feedback?
A single, polite request at a sensible point after delivery is normal and reasonable. Repeated reminders read as pressure and can cross into what eBay’s own policies do not allow around soliciting feedback.
What should I actually watch instead of the feedback percentage?
Transaction defect rate, cases opened and how they were resolved, and on-time dispatch and delivery - all of which reflect how the shop is actually run, unlike the feedback percentage, which mostly reflects how buyers happen to behave.
Does feedback percentage affect my eBay seller level?
No. Seller level is worked out from three specific factors - cases closed without seller resolution, transaction defect rate, and late shipment rate. Feedback percentage is not one of them.