What Are The EXACT Requirements For Top Rated Seller Status on eBay?

Top rated seller (TRS) status – we all know what it is and how it works, right?

Well maybe not!

To remind you, TRS is basically the next level for eBay Power sellers which gives you that shiny TRS seller badge, the ability to qualify for eBay premium service status for your listings, and discounts on your eBay fees.

To qualify for TRS status, you need to reach AND maintain 100 sales worth at least £1k ($1k for eBay USA) on a ROLLING 12 month period (unless you’re a big seller with a 3 month evaluation period).

Sounds simple enough, right?

Well, many people are still confused about how eBay calculates sales for TRS and that’s exactly what Ryan asked about in his recent email:

Hi Andrew,

I have a concern regarding becoming a TRS on eBay UK. I’m slightly confused about how eBay’s algorithms work when it comes to your projected seller status for the following month. Right now I’m around £50 short and 6 sales short of my TRS UK goal.

The issue is, I’ve sold around 6 items at the start of this month around 2nd July, yet these figures have not appeared in my projected seller status for 20th July, why are my July selling figures not getting added to the projected seller status? Am I missing something? I really thought I would be able to achieve TRS by July 20th.

I tried asking eBay this question but their support is somewhat useless; they didn’t seem to understand my question at all.

Many Thanks,
Ryan

Let’s clarify some things here.

First of all, eBay “awards” TRS status only once a month – on the 20th. So you can only get or lose TRS status on that date every month – this is the evaluation day.

Now, on this evaluation day, eBay takes into account sales for the period ending on the last day of the PREVIOUS month. So on July 20th eBay takes into accounts sales up to and including June 30th but sales you make in July are NOT counted!

And that’s why Ryan didn’t get TRS in July – because his July sales are not being taken into account. He will instead qualify for TRS status on the next evaluation date, August 20th, as that’s when his July sales will be included.

I hope this makes sense?

Also, don’t forget that TRS requirements are calculated on a rolling, 12 month period (3 months for sellers who have made more than 400 sales in the last 3 months) which means that you DON’T have to make 100 sales each month to maintain TRS status!

In fact, if you can reach 100 sales worth £1k in just one month, you can do nothing for the next 11 months and you’ll still maintain your TRS status.

A 12 month rolling period means that, for example:

• On 20th July 2016 eBay takes into account sales data for period starting on 1st July 2015 and ending on 30th June 2016.

• On 20th August 2016 eBay takes into account sales data for period starting on 1st August 2015 and ending on 31st July 2016.

• On 20th September 2016 eBay takes into account sales data for period starting on 1st September 2015 and ending on 31st August 2016.

And so on!

So the evaluation is never ending! You have to continually maintain 100 sales worth at least £1k, plus all the other TRS requirements, or you’ll lose your TRS status.

Another thing – when you work on sales towards TRS status, on eBay UK, make sure that you sell to UK & IRL customers ONLY! European sales won’t be counted towards these numbers. Same applies to eBay.com – only sales to US customers are counted towards TRS requirements.

Lastly – you can check your PROJECTED seller status when you go to your Seller Dashboard. It basically says what will happen to your account on the next evaluation day.

IMPORTANT!! Data within the seller dashboard is NOT instant/live! It only updates roughly once a week so don’t expect recent sales to appear there. It could be that you made up the sales you were missing in the last few days of the month but they’re not showing in your seller dashboard yet. That’s perfectly fine, just give it a few days to update.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,
Andrew