Free · eBay US standards, September 2026
eBay's Top Rated late shipment limit is 5 late shipments or 3% of transactions, whichever is larger. Almost every guide quotes only the 3%, which tells a 40-order seller they can afford one late package when they can actually afford five. Put your own counts in and see the real headroom.
eBay counts the last 3 months if you had more than 400 transactions in that period, and the last 12 months if you had fewer. This tool picks the same window and tells you which one it used.
These are the numbers your Seller Dashboard reports. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded, and there is no account to make.
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| Requirement | Yours | Top Rated limit | Headroom | Status |
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Headroom is how many more of that thing you could take and still meet the Top Rated requirement. Where you are already over it says instead how many further clean transactions would bring the rate back under the line on their own, with no new defects — which is usually the only lever you have, since the count in the numerator does not go down.
eBay states the benefit as “a 10% discount on your final value fees, which is calculated on the total amount of the sale, including shipping and tax” — 10% off the fee, not off the sale. That the fee base is the whole amount the buyer paid is the same rule the fee comparison page is built on. The discount applies to listings that meet the separate Top Rated Plus per-listing criteria; eBay's page stating those criteria would not load for us, so this page does not reproduce them and the figure above is an upper bound on what the status is worth to you.
The requirement is written with two clauses and you only need to satisfy the more generous one. The fixed count of 5 is the better allowance for every seller up to 199 transactions in the evaluation period; 3% does not overtake it until 200, where it allows 6. So a seller with 40 transactions who has been told “keep it under 3%” believes one late package is the edge of a cliff. It is not — they have five. The unresolved-case requirement is written the same way, and its fixed allowance of 2 holds all the way to 999 transactions, because 0.3% does not reach 3 until 1,000.
“No more than 5 (or 3% of transactions)” — late shipment rate, Top Rated. “No more than 2 (or 0.3% of transactions)” — cases closed without seller resolution.
eBay's stated test has two conditions joined by and, not or. A delivery scan after the latest estimated delivery date counts against you only if there was also no carrier scan within your handling time. Getting the parcel scanned by the carrier inside your handling time is the part you control, and it is what the rule actually turns on. A buyer confirming late arrival is counted separately, and that one you cannot scan your way out of.
“With tracking, we'll count an item as late when: The delivery scan is after the latest estimated delivery date AND There is no carrier scan within your handling time.” And, separately: “If the buyer confirms the item arrived after the estimated delivery date, it will be counted as late.”
Unlike late shipments and unresolved cases, the Top Rated defect requirement is a bare percentage. 0.5% of 100 transactions is half a defect, so one defect puts a 100-transaction seller out of Top Rated outright. You need 200 transactions in the evaluation period before a single defect fits under the line, and 400 before two do. eBay puts a second condition on the same requirement — the defects must involve no more than 3 different buyers — so both have to hold.
“No more than 0.5%, associated with no more than 3 different buyers” — transaction defect rate, Top Rated. Above Standard is “No more than 2% of transactions”.
More than 400 transactions in the last 3 months and you are judged on those 3 months. Fewer, and you are judged on the last 12. The same three defects are 0.75% of a 400-transaction quarter and 0.25% of a 1,200-transaction year, so a seller whose volume drifts across 400 can watch their measured rate move without anything about their selling changing. The Top Rated volume minimums — 100 transactions and $1,000 in US sales — are read over 12 months whichever window applies to the metrics.
| Requirement | Top Rated | Above Standard | How it is read here |
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Every threshold above is quoted from eBay's Seller standards policy and its Seller levels and performance standards help page, both read in September 2026, for US sellers on eBay.com. Other eBay sites run their own standards with different numbers. Standards change: check a row against your own Seller Dashboard before acting on it. eBay also notes that “beginning October 15, 2026, eBay Live transactions will no longer be counted in your seller standards or service metrics calculations” — so if you sell on Live, your denominator changes on that date.
Two readings on this page are our interpretation rather than eBay's words, and are marked as such in the table. First, that the parenthesised count in “no more than 5 (or 3% of transactions)” is the more generous of two alternative allowances rather than an additional restriction. Second, that both conditions on the Top Rated defect requirement have to hold. Both are the plain reading of the sentence, but they are readings. eBay's own sentence on the downside is quoted in full: “You'll only be evaluated as Below Standard if your transaction defects are associated with more than 4 different buyers” — which is why this tool can tell you that you are short of Top Rated while still being clear you are not Below Standard.
Five, or 3% of your transactions in the evaluation period — whichever is the larger number. Up to 199 transactions the fixed five is the better clause. At 200 the percentage overtakes it and allows six, and from there it grows with your volume. The calculator above works it out for your own numbers.
No. Per eBay's own wording it counts as late only when the delivery scan is after the latest estimated delivery date and there is no carrier scan within your handling time. Both. A buyer confirming late arrival is counted separately.
More than 400 transactions in the last 3 months and it is those 3 months. Fewer and it is the last 12. The volume minimums for Top Rated — 100 transactions and $1,000 in US sales — are read over 12 months either way.
None. 0.5% of 100 is half a defect, and there is no fixed count allowance on the defect requirement the way there is on late shipments. 200 transactions is where the first defect starts to fit, and 400 where the second does.
A 10% discount on your final value fees, which eBay calculates on the total the buyer paid including shipping and tax. On a $29.95 total at 13.6%, the fee is $4.07 and the discount is $0.41. Worth having, not worth panicking over — and the calculator above puts your own number on it.
Yes, and it is the usual case. Top Rated needs 0.5% defects; Above Standard needs 2%. Between those you are an ordinary seller in good standing who does not get the fee discount. Below Standard is a different matter — eBay states your items “may be placed lower in Best Match search results”, your “selling limits may decrease”, and you “may be charged higher final value fees”.
Service metrics — the separate item-not-as-described and item-not-received rates eBay compares you against your peers on, which can carry a fee surcharge of their own and are not part of seller levels. Non-US eBay sites, which set their own standards. The per-listing Top Rated Plus criteria. Appeals and defect removal. Category-specific rules. This page does one thing: the arithmetic of the seller-level requirements, from counts you already have.