eBay seller benchmarks

How eBay shops set up their listings, measured by grading real shops.

From 1,794 shops in the UK and 534 shops in the US graded with the eBay listing grader. Updated 15 October 2026.

eBay UK: 1,794 shops

The average shop scores 64 out of 100. 37% reach a B or better; 4% score an E.
31% of shops offer free postage on none of their listings; 33% offer it on all of them.
47% of shops accept no returns at all.
27% of shops never take a Best Offer; 35% take offers on every Buy It Now listing.
The average shop fills 64% of the item specifics eBay recommends for its category.
Only 33% of shops show most of their listings to buyers on eBay Ireland, the best-reached site abroad.
What separates the top quarter from the bottom most is returns accepted: 94 against 14.

The checks, one by one

Each check is scored 0 to 100 per shop. For free postage, returns, Best Offer and descriptions the score is the share of the shop’s listings that have it.

Check	Average shop	Shops at zero	Shops at 95+	Top quarter	Bottom quarter
Item specifics filled	64	0%	4%	74	56
Photos	61	2%	12%	80	41
Titles	86	0%	46%	97	68
Free postage	45	31%	33%	78	15
Returns accepted	51	47%	48%	94	14
Best Offer	51	27%	35%	51	52
Descriptions of 200+ characters	72	11%	54%	94	47

The typical title uses 70 of eBay’s 80 characters, the average listing has 6.2 photos of the 24 allowed, and the typical listing has been up for 29 days.

How the grades fall

A7%

B30%

C38%

D21%

E4%

A is 85 and over, B 70 to 84, C 55 to 69, D 40 to 54, E under 40.

By size of shop

Live listings	Shops	Score	Free postage	Returns	Best Offer	Item specifics
Under 50	546	58	23	20	64	67
50–249	521	65	49	49	49	64
250–999	387	68	51	65	48	64
1,000+	340	70	70	86	37	60

Business and private sellers

Seller type	Shops	Score	Free postage	Returns	Best Offer	Item specifics
Private sellers	1,077	58	26	18	61	65
Business sellers	715	74	74	100	35	63

By category

Main category	Shops	Score	Free postage	Returns	Best Offer	Item specifics
Home, Furniture & DIY	337	72	79	81	31	60
Vehicle Parts & Accessories	123	71	74	77	53	57
Antiques	18	69	20	62	88	64
Health & Beauty	104	66	68	64	37	62
Mobile Phones & Communication	37	66	64	63	37	69
Clothes, Shoes & Accessories	232	66	41	36	67	69
Pet Supplies	13	65	44	38	32	80
Toys & Games	112	64	25	46	55	68
Cameras & Photography	31	63	30	40	62	67
Jewellery & Watches	38	63	39	44	55	60
Collectables	151	62	26	43	63	68
Pottery, Ceramics & Glass	34	62	26	28	61	63
Business, Office & Industrial	37	61	32	51	42	66
Computers/Tablets & Networking	32	61	40	38	55	68
Art	28	61	45	41	48	62
Sporting Goods	44	61	31	37	56	69
Books, Comics & Magazines	67	60	30	40	51	61
Video Games & Consoles	56	59	20	29	63	65
Garden & Patio	20	59	50	53	31	58
Musical Instruments & DJ Equipment	35	58	20	24	44	67
Sports Memorabilia	59	58	15	25	73	74
Music	57	57	32	46	48	63
Sound & Vision	22	56	26	36	42	56
Crafts	20	56	19	25	61	73
Dolls & Bears	33	55	8	13	57	65
Films & TV	42	54	40	36	40	58

How far listings reach abroad

A listing shows on another country’s eBay only when it offers postage there. This is how much of a shop in the UK a buyer on each site can actually see.

Buyers on	Shops showing most of their listings	Shops showing none	Average share of a shop’s listings shown
eBay Ireland	33%	56%	32%
eBay Spain	33%	56%	31%
eBay Italy	32%	57%	31%
eBay Australia	31%	56%	29%
eBay Germany	24%	60%	23%
eBay US	9%	64%	12%
eBay Canada	5%	75%	7%

eBay US: 534 shops

The average shop scores 67 out of 100. 41% reach a B or better; 2% score an E.
38% of shops offer free shipping on none of their listings; 31% offer it on all of them.
38% of shops accept no returns at all.
27% of shops never take a Best Offer; 36% take offers on every Buy It Now listing.
The average shop fills 63% of the item specifics eBay recommends for its category.
Only 65% of shops show most of their listings to buyers on eBay Canada, the best-reached site abroad.
What separates the top quarter from the bottom most is returns accepted: 95 against 17.

The checks, one by one

Each check is scored 0 to 100 per shop. For free shipping, returns, Best Offer and descriptions the score is the share of the shop’s listings that have it.

Check	Average shop	Shops at zero	Shops at 95+	Top quarter	Bottom quarter
Item specifics filled	63	0%	1%	75	51
Photos	68	2%	15%	85	46
Titles	90	0%	52%	97	81
Free shipping	40	38%	31%	67	20
Returns accepted	56	38%	50%	95	17
Best Offer	54	27%	36%	62	46
Descriptions of 200+ characters	78	6%	61%	96	57

The typical title uses 72 of eBay’s 80 characters, the average listing has 6.8 photos of the 24 allowed, and the typical listing has been up for 21 days.

How the grades fall

A9%

B32%

C41%

D16%

E2%

A is 85 and over, B 70 to 84, C 55 to 69, D 40 to 54, E under 40.

By size of shop

Live listings	Shops	Score	Free shipping	Returns	Best Offer	Item specifics
Under 50	81	59	24	19	64	66
50–249	104	63	26	36	62	64
250–999	102	67	30	51	60	66
1,000+	247	71	55	78	44	60

By category

Main category	Shops	Score	Free shipping	Returns	Best Offer	Item specifics
eBay Motors	30	82	85	94	44	67
Business & Industrial	24	75	83	91	16	54
Consumer Electronics	8	74	70	62	63	62
Clothing, Shoes & Accessories	97	71	8	55	79	73
Home & Garden	86	70	83	78	23	45
Pottery & Glass	8	69	0	29	64	72
Jewelry & Watches	19	69	57	64	64	63
Computers/Tablets & Networking	13	67	59	53	52	70
Health & Beauty	11	65	57	55	35	64
Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop	25	62	32	40	69	77
Collectibles	74	62	15	45	63	65
Books & Magazines	22	61	22	53	67	67
Movies & TV	10	60	12	20	56	68
Toys & Hobbies	27	58	29	27	69	65
Music	15	58	9	25	71	65
Video Games & Consoles	14	56	28	35	60	58
Art	11	52	33	18	44	45

How far listings reach abroad

A listing shows on another country’s eBay only when it offers shipping there. This is how much of a shop in the US a buyer on each site can actually see.

Buyers on	Shops showing most of their listings	Shops showing none	Average share of a shop’s listings shown
eBay Canada	65%	32%	59%
eBay Australia	62%	34%	56%
eBay Ireland	61%	35%	55%
eBay Spain	58%	36%	53%
eBay Italy	56%	36%	52%
eBay UK	39%	39%	37%
eBay Germany	1%	97%	1%

How this is measured

Each shop is graded from its public listings: up to 1,000 live listings for titles, free postage and Best Offer, and 20 of them read in full for photos, item specifics, returns and descriptions. Shops are drawn evenly from the sellers of the newest listings in about 25 top-level categories, located in the site’s own country, so busy sellers are more likely to be picked than dormant ones and no category dominates. Shops graded by visitors are included. A row is kept for 120 days, so the figures move as sellers change. No shop is named; only a one-way fingerprint of the username is stored, to avoid counting a shop twice.

Use these numbers

FLUF, “eBay seller benchmarks”, 15 October 2026, https://messinahembry.fluf.io/tools/ebay-seller-benchmarks/

You are welcome to quote these figures with a link to this page.

Questions

Where do these benchmarks come from?

From the same public data the eBay listing grader reads: a shop’s live listings, as any buyer sees them. We grade a sample of shops drawn evenly from the newest listings in about 25 categories, add every shop a visitor grades, and keep only anonymous totals. No shop is named.

What is a good score?

The grader scores a shop out of 100 on item specifics, photos, titles, free postage, returns, Best Offer and descriptions, weighted by how much each moves a listing in eBay search. The tables on this page show the average and what the top quarter of shops do differently.

Why does it matter how many shops offer free postage or returns?

Both are Best Match signals and both change what a buyer is willing to pay. Knowing what most sellers in your category do tells you whether matching them is a requirement or an edge.

How do I compare my own shop?

Paste your shop link into the eBay listing grader. It scores the same checks and tells you which of your listings to fix first.

eBay seller benchmarks

eBay UK: 1,794 shops

The checks, one by one

How the grades fall

By size of shop

Business and private sellers

By category

How far listings reach abroad

eBay US: 534 shops

The checks, one by one

How the grades fall

By size of shop

By category

How far listings reach abroad

How this is measured

Use these numbers

Questions

More free tools

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Features

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