> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Defect Rate, eBay > Defect Rate for eBay stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Key Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Marketplace](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > The percentage of orders in the rolling window that ended in a "transaction defect" by eBay's definition. The single threshold most likely to flip a seller out of Top Rated standing: TRS requires defect rate ≤0.5%. **Above 0.5% and you're out of TRS, lose the 10% FVF discount, lose the search lift, lose the badge.** | | | | ------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(transactions WITH at least one defect) ÷ COUNT(total transactions) × 100`. Defects include: cases closed without seller resolution, sellers cancelling orders out-of-stock, late shipment with no tracking, INR cases auto-decided against the seller, "Item Not as Described" returns the seller refused. | | **Listing-format scope** | All formats. Auctions, fixed-price, and Best-Offer-resolved orders are equally eligible to receive a defect. | | **GMV / fees framing** | Not applicable, this is a count ratio. Each defect-bearing order counts as 1 regardless of order value. A £5 order with a defect counts the same as a £500 order with one. | | **Promoted Listings** | Promoted-driven orders count toward both numerator and denominator identically. Scaling Promoted volume on defect-prone SKUs can mechanically push the rate up. | | **Multi-site aggregation** | Computed per `marketplaceId`. The card displays each connected site separately; there is no "global" defect rate (eBay evaluates seller-standing per-site). | | **Currency** | Not applicable, count ratio. | | **Best-Offer-resolved orders** | Counted in numerator and denominator identically to BIN. | | **Refunds** | A seller-issued refund **before** an INR or "Item Not as Described" case escalates can prevent the defect being recorded. Refunds after the case auto-resolves do not retroactively reverse the defect. | | **Cancellations** | Seller-cancelled / out-of-stock cancellations register as a defect against the cancelled transaction. Buyer-cancelled-before-payment cancellations are excluded from both numerator and denominator. | | **Time window** | `30D vsP` (display window). eBay's official defect rate is computed over **rolling 12 months** for established sellers, **3 months** for newer sellers; both are exposed via the API and shown alongside the 30D figure. | | **Alert trigger** | `>0.5%` (the Top Rated cap), driven by `sentiment_key: feedback_score`. The 0.5% line is hard, eBay does not grade. | | **Roles** | owner, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your eBay data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A UK collectibles seller running ebay.co.uk only. Period: 02 Apr 26 to 01 May 26 (30D). Rolling 12-month window also reported by eBay's API. | Defect type | Count (30D) | Count (12M rolling) | TRS-eligible? | | -------------------------------------- | ------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | | Cases closed without seller resolution | 2 | 18 | No (over 0.3% cap by itself) | | Seller-cancelled out-of-stock | 4 | 31 | n/a, separate cap | | Late shipment with no tracking | 1 | 8 | n/a, separate cap | | INR auto-decided against seller | 3 | 22 | n/a, contributes to cases-without-resolution | | **Defects (de-duplicated)** | **9 unique transactions** | **74 unique transactions** | | | **Total transactions** | 1,800 | 18,400 | | | **Defect rate** | **9 / 1,800 = 0.50%** | **74 / 18,400 = 0.40%** | At cap on 30D, below cap on 12M | Five things to notice: 1. **The 30D rate is on the cliff edge.** A single additional defect in the next 24 hours pushes 30D defect rate to 0.56%, breaching the 0.5% cap. The Vortex IQ Nerve Centre is engineered to fire the alert at 0.5%, before the seller silently steps over. 2. **The 12M rate is what eBay actually evaluates against.** TRS standing is checked monthly on the 20th using the 12-month window for established sellers. The 30D is a leading indicator. The seller is currently safe at 0.40% over 12M but trending upward; the 30D rate is a 0.10-point premium over 12M, signalling the trend is worsening. 3. **De-duplication matters.** The four defect categories sum to 10, but only 9 unique transactions; one transaction generated both an INR auto-decision and a "Cases closed without seller resolution" defect (they're the same incident counted twice in the row counts). eBay's API returns the de-duplicated count. 4. **The four sub-caps run separately.** Even at 0.40% overall defect rate, breaching the 0.3% cap on cases-without-seller-resolution alone (currently at 18 / 18,400 = 0.098%, safe) would lose TRS. The headline rate is one of four guard-rails; pair with [Cases without Resolution](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ebay/cases-closed-w-o-resolution), [Late Shipment Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ebay/late-shipment-rate), and [Seller Standards](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ebay/seller-standards-level) for a full read. 5. **Recovery requires the rate to drop, not just the count.** With the rolling window, defects persist for 12 months in the calculation. A clean 30 days won't recover TRS; a clean *12 months* will. Sellers who lose TRS in May typically don't recover it until the offending transactions roll out of the window the following May. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Defect Rate | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Cases without Resolution](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ebay/cases-closed-w-o-resolution) | Separate sub-cap (0.3%). Hits TRS standing independently of overall defect rate. The hardest-to-recover defect category. | | [Open INR Cases](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ebay/open-inr-cases) | The leading indicator. Each unresolved INR over 8 days auto-converts into a defect. Resolve cases here to prevent defect-rate movement. | | [Late Shipment Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ebay/late-shipment-rate) | Separate 3% TRS cap. Distinct mechanism but same fail consequence. | | [Seller Standards](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ebay/seller-standards-level) | The cliff outcome. 0.5% defect-rate breach equals automatic Above-Standard demotion. | | [Health Score](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ebay/ebay-health-score) | The rolled-up composite. Defect rate is one of four inputs (25% weight). | | [Marketplace Fees](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ebay/marketplace-fees) | The economic tail of a TRS loss, watch fees step up by \~10% the day after a TRS demotion. | | [Total Revenue](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ebay/total-revenue) | Economic context for defect-rate impact. A 0.7% defect rate on £200k of monthly GMV is more urgent than the same rate on £20k. | | [Amazon Account Health](/nerve-centre/amazon/account_health) | Marketplace peer. Amazon's defect-equivalent is the "Order Defect Rate" (ODR), capped at 1%. Different threshold, similar mechanism. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in eBay Seller Hub:** > [Seller Hub → Performance → Seller Level](https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/seller-level) > The "Transaction defect rate" tile shows the 12-month rolling figure that eBay uses for its monthly evaluation. For per-defect drilldown: [Performance → Service Metrics](https://www.ebay.com/sh/performance/servicemetrics) shows the rates of "Item Not as Described" and "Item Not Received" claims, the components feeding defect rate. **Timing, settlement, and reporting-lag table:** | Topic | Detail | | ---------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Timezone** | Defect timestamps are recorded in UTC; Seller Hub displays in account timezone (Pacific Time for US accounts). The 12-month window is end-of-day account-timezone for boundary handling. | | **Settlement / payout impact** | A high defect rate causing a TRS-to-Above-Standard demotion shifts payouts from near-instant to a 1 to 5 day funds hold per order. Demotion to Below Standard introduces a 30-day funds hold. | | **Promoted Listings cost reporting lag** | None, ad costs aren't relevant. | | **API throttling** | The Sell Analytics API returns the rate every 15 minutes; webhook events from new defect occurrences push within 30 to 90 seconds. | | **Re-evaluation cadence** | eBay's official seller-standards evaluation runs monthly on the 20th. This card refreshes continuously. The card's number leads the official evaluation by up to 30 days. | **Why our number may legitimately differ from Seller Hub:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | ------------------- | --------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Window length** | Either | This card displays both 30D and 12M rolling rates. Seller Hub typically shows the 12M figure on the seller-level page; the rates can disagree by 0.05 to 0.20 points if recent performance has shifted. The 12M number is what eBay evaluates against; the 30D is a leading indicator. | | **De-duplication** | Same on both | Both views de-duplicate transactions with multiple defect categories; counts of "defect events" can mislead. Always work with unique-transaction defect rate. | | **Refresh latency** | Ours within 90s | A defect resolution that closes a case favourably can be reflected on Seller Hub within seconds; our card refreshes within 90 seconds. | **Cross-connector reconciliation against other connectors the same seller may run:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`amazon.account_health`](/nerve-centre/amazon/account_health) | **Marketplace peer.** Amazon's Order Defect Rate (ODR) is structurally similar but capped at 1% (vs eBay's 0.5% for TRS). | Different cap, different defect categories. eBay counts "Cases without seller resolution"; Amazon counts negative feedback, A-to-z claims, and chargebacks. Used for peer-benchmarking only. | | [`shopify.refund_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/refund-rate) | Loose comparison. Shopify's refund rate is a *count of refunded orders*, distinct from a *defect rate* (a defect can occur without a refund, and a refund can occur without a defect). | Independent metrics with different meanings; treat as orthogonal, not reconcilable. | ***
Same-shape marketplace peer (for sellers running multiple marketplaces) The same defect-rate-with-tier-consequence pattern exists on Amazon. This is **not a reconciliation**, the systems are independent. The cross-link helps a multi-marketplace seller navigate equivalent metrics. * [`amazon.account_health`](/nerve-centre/amazon/account_health), Amazon's Order Defect Rate (capped at 1%).
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **What counts as a defect?** Five categories: (1) cases closed by eBay without seller resolution, (2) seller-cancellation due to out-of-stock or "can't ship", (3) late shipment with no tracking uploaded on time, (4) INR cases auto-decided against the seller, (5) "Item Not as Described" returns the seller refused or escalated. eBay groups several of these under "service metrics"; the Sell Analytics API exposes them individually so the card can show per-category contributions. **Why is the 0.5% cap so harsh?** TRS is eBay's premium-quality signal to buyers. A seller pushing 1% defects is making 1 in 100 buyers unhappy enough to escalate, that's 10x the typical Amazon threshold for similar reasons. eBay's threshold is intentionally tight to keep the TRS pool genuinely high-quality. **How long does it take to lose / regain TRS based on defect rate?** **Lose:** one monthly evaluation (the 20th of each month) where the rolling 12-month rate is above 0.5% triggers the demotion. **Regain:** the rolling 12-month rate must drop back below 0.5% by a subsequent evaluation. Because defects persist in the 12-month window, regaining usually takes 6 to 12 months unless the seller had a single bad month that drops out of the window. **What's the relationship between defect rate and the Health Score?** Defect rate is one of four inputs to the [Health Score](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ebay/ebay-health-score), weighted at 25%. A defect-rate jump of 0.3 points (e.g. 0.4% to 0.7%) drops the Health Score by \~7 points all else equal. **Does Best Offer affect defect rate?** Indirectly. Best-Offer-resolved orders involve more buyer messaging before the sale, which builds expectation alignment and tends to *reduce* the per-order defect risk. Sellers who run aggressive auto-accept rules (no human dialogue) lose this protective effect, their Best-Offer orders defect at the same rate as cold BIN orders. **My multi-site defect rate, where does the variation come from?** ebay.co.uk typically runs higher defect rates than ebay.com because UK consumer-rights law (Consumer Rights Act 2015) gives buyers stronger refund leverage and a 14-day cooling-off period; UK buyers escalate faster. ebay.de runs the lowest because German buyers tend to message before disputing. Look at per-site rates and tune practices accordingly. **Promoted Listings: do they affect defect rate?** Indirectly via volume. Promoted-driven orders defect at similar per-order rates to organic, but if you scale Promoted on defect-prone clearance / refurbished SKUs, the absolute defect count rises. Action: monitor defect rate when scaling Promoted, and pause Promoted on any SKU whose defect rate is above the brand average. **Why doesn't defect rate match Shopify or Amazon?** **Different mechanisms.** Shopify has no defect-rate equivalent; refunds and disputes go through the payment processor. Amazon's Order Defect Rate (ODR) has a 1% cap and counts negative feedback, A-to-z claims, and chargebacks. The categories don't overlap cleanly with eBay's five defect types. Treat as orthogonal metrics, not reconcilable. **Today's defect rate jumped 0.2 points but I haven't shipped anything new, why?** Two usual causes: (1) eBay closed a case-without-seller-resolution that had been pending for days, that defect just got recorded retroactively against an order from weeks ago; (2) a buyer left negative feedback that eBay categorised as a defect. The 30D rate updates retroactively on the day the defect is *recorded*, not the day the order was placed. Watch [Cases without Resolution](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ebay/cases-closed-w-o-resolution) for the full forensic detail. **Action playbook when this card alerts (`>0.5%`):** 1. Open [Cases without Resolution](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ebay/cases-closed-w-o-resolution). Identify any active cases approaching auto-resolution; refund proactively to close favourably. 2. Open [Open INR Cases](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/ebay/open-inr-cases). Respond to every case under the 5-day threshold. 3. Audit out-of-stock cancellation patterns from the last 30 days, recurring cancellation = inventory-sync issue, fix the warehouse-to-listing flow. 4. Pull the per-SKU defect concentration via Vortex Mind. 80% of defects usually come from 20% of SKUs; pause those listings or fix descriptions / photos. 5. If the 12-month rolling rate is also above 0.5%, prepare for the next monthly evaluation, communicate to ops the cliff-effect on payouts and FVF. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Defect Rate* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across eBay and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.