If you sell a decent number of items on eBay you'll have noticed that feedback comes in far slower than sales. Plenty of buyers are perfectly happy with what they bought and simply never get round to clicking the button. A short, polite reminder a couple of weeks after the sale is the easiest way to close that gap.

It's also easy to get wrong. Send it too early and the parcel hasn't arrived. Send it to someone who's waiting on a refund and you've more or less invited a negative. And there are a few things eBay doesn't allow you to say at all.

When to send a feedback reminder

Buyers can leave feedback for up to 60 days after the sale, so there's no rush. The aim is to catch them after the item has arrived and they've had a chance to use it, but before they've forgotten about it.

What's worked best for the sellers we work with:

  • UK orders: around 14 days after the sale. Long enough for slower delivery services and a few days of actually using the thing.
  • International orders: 21 to 30 days. International post is slow and unpredictable, and a reminder that lands before the parcel does just annoys people.
  • Large or made to order items: wait until a week after you'd expect them to arrive, however long that is.

Time of day matters a little too. A message that turns up at 3am sits under everything else in the morning. Sending between about 9am and 6pm, in the buyer's evening if you sell abroad a lot, tends to get more replies.

Only ever send one reminder per order. A second one starts to feel like nagging, and nagged buyers don't leave nice feedback.

Who not to send it to

This is the bit most sellers skip. Before a reminder goes out, check the order for anything that suggests the buyer isn't happy:

  • a return request or an item not received request
  • an open eBay case
  • a cancellation in progress
  • a partial refund
  • a message from the buyer saying something is broken, missing, late or wrong
  • an order you dispatched late

If any of those apply, hold the reminder until it's sorted. A buyer who has just had a problem resolved well is often a better source of positive feedback than one who had no problem at all, but only once it's actually resolved.

What eBay allows (and what it doesn't)

eBay is fine with sellers asking for feedback. What it doesn't allow:

  • Asking for positive feedback specifically, or for five stars. Ask for "feedback", not "positive feedback".
  • Offering anything in return. No discounts, freebies or refunds in exchange for feedback. That counts as feedback manipulation and can get your account restricted.
  • Links or contact details that take the buyer off eBay. No website, email address or phone number. Links to the buyer's own eBay feedback page are fine.

Keep the message about the buyer and their order, and you won't go far wrong.

Feedback reminder templates

Swap the bits in square brackets for the buyer's details. If you're sending these by hand, eBay's "Leave feedback" page is under My eBay, Purchases, so you can point buyers there.

A gentle reminder

Hi [first name],

I hope your [item] arrived safely and that you're happy with it.

If you've got a minute, I'd be really grateful if you could leave some feedback for the order. It makes a big difference to a small business like ours.

If anything isn't right, please send me a message first and I'll do what I can to sort it.

Thanks, [your name]

Short and simple

Hi [first name], hope you're getting on well with your [item]. If you have a moment, we'd love to hear what you thought by leaving feedback on eBay. Thanks again for your order!

For international buyers

Hi [first name],

Your order should have reached you by now, but international post can be slow. If it hasn't turned up yet, please let me know and I'll look into it straight away.

If it has arrived and you're happy with it, I'd really appreciate it if you could leave feedback when you have a moment.

Many thanks, [your name]

The line inviting buyers to get in touch first is worth keeping in every version. It gives someone with a problem an easier option than a negative, and most people will take it.

There are more of these, for every stage of an order, on our free eBay message templates page.

Does it actually work?

It's worth measuring for yourself. Note what share of last month's orders got feedback, switch a reminder on, and compare after a couple of months. Most sellers see more feedback coming in. The bigger win is often quieter, though. Buyers with a problem tend to reply to the reminder instead of going straight to a negative, which gives you a chance to fix it.