eBay seller benchmarks

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

From 487 shops in the UK and 160 shops in the US graded with the eBay listing grader. Updated 3 October 2026.

eBay UK: 487 shops

The average shop scores 63 out of 100. 32% reach a B or better; 5% score an E.
32% of shops offer free postage on none of their listings; 28% offer it on all of them.
53% of shops accept no returns at all.
27% of shops never take a Best Offer; 38% take offers on every Buy It Now listing.
The average shop fills 66% of the item specifics eBay recommends for its category.
Only 34% 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: 91 against 9.

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	66	0%	5%	76	56
Photos	59	1%	9%	76	39
Titles	84	0%	39%	95	66
Free postage	40	32%	28%	75	14
Returns accepted	44	53%	41%	91	9
Best Offer	53	27%	38%	47	53
Descriptions of 200+ characters	69	13%	51%	93	45

The typical title uses 68 of eBay’s 80 characters, the average listing has 5.7 photos of the 24 allowed, and the typical listing has been up for 25 days.

How the grades fall

A6%

B26%

C39%

D24%

E5%

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	170	57	23	18	63	68
50–249	141	62	45	41	50	64
250–999	94	67	39	57	55	64
1,000+	82	70	70	86	36	64

Business and private sellers

Seller type	Shops	Score	Free postage	Returns	Best Offer	Item specifics
Private sellers	323	57	25	15	63	65
Business sellers	164	73	72	99	34	66

By category

Main category	Shops	Score	Free postage	Returns	Best Offer	Item specifics
Home, Furniture & DIY	75	69	70	69	39	64
Art	9	69	55	62	56	72
Mobile Phones & Communication	13	68	79	69	16	73
Clothes, Shoes & Accessories	64	66	47	39	65	69
Collectables	46	64	29	46	68	69
Health & Beauty	28	64	56	46	44	62
Vehicle Parts & Accessories	32	64	57	60	53	57
Sporting Goods	11	64	17	36	59	66
Toys & Games	32	61	16	33	59	68
Jewellery & Watches	9	60	37	23	65	55
Musical Instruments & DJ Equipment	9	59	1	11	50	68
Pottery, Ceramics & Glass	10	59	18	31	56	57
Computers/Tablets & Networking	15	59	47	27	49	66
Video Games & Consoles	13	59	31	25	62	66
Books, Comics & Magazines	19	57	18	29	49	64
Sound & Vision	9	56	29	35	38	52
Sports Memorabilia	18	56	14	22	80	71
Business, Office & Industrial	12	55	20	33	45	67
Music	14	54	23	31	60	62
Films & TV	15	51	21	40	41	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	34%	53%	33%
eBay Italy	34%	54%	32%
eBay Spain	34%	54%	33%
eBay Australia	33%	53%	31%
eBay Germany	26%	58%	24%
eBay US	8%	63%	12%
eBay Canada	5%	73%	7%

eBay US: 160 shops

The average shop scores 65 out of 100. 31% reach a B or better; 2% score an E.
46% of shops offer free shipping on none of their listings; 24% offer it on all of them.
43% of shops accept no returns at all.
26% of shops never take a Best Offer; 36% take offers on every Buy It Now listing.
The average shop fills 65% of the item specifics eBay recommends for its category.
Only 71% 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: 86 against 15.

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	65	0%	1%	75	56
Photos	66	3%	13%	81	47
Titles	90	0%	46%	95	82
Free shipping	31	46%	24%	56	8
Returns accepted	48	43%	43%	86	15
Best Offer	54	26%	36%	65	40
Descriptions of 200+ characters	74	9%	58%	95	51

The typical title uses 71 of eBay’s 80 characters, the average listing has 6.6 photos of the 24 allowed, and the typical listing has been up for 26 days.

How the grades fall

A6%

B25%

C51%

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	34	60	20	20	61	69
50–249	37	61	19	24	60	66
250–999	25	70	28	55	65	70
1,000+	64	68	46	74	42	59

By category

Main category	Shops	Score	Free shipping	Returns	Best Offer	Item specifics
Clothing, Shoes & Accessories	33	68	7	40	77	71
Home & Garden	24	67	75	71	26	44
Collectibles	25	64	11	49	57	69
Books & Magazines	8	60	9	48	67	67
Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop	8	60	34	50	69	70

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	71%	26%	64%
eBay Australia	69%	26%	62%
eBay Ireland	66%	29%	60%
eBay Spain	64%	29%	59%
eBay Italy	63%	29%	58%
eBay UK	47%	32%	43%
eBay Germany	1%	96%	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”, 3 October 2026, https://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: 487 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: 160 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

Crosslisting

Features

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