Resolving eBay Disputes

eBay has quite a long and complicated resolutions when it comes to disputes. It’s just like SEO, any top services has complicated methods in website design and getting web traffic. In this email, I will explain each step for you so you can see what’s involved and how long it takes.

As an example, let’s go through what you would do if you paid for an item but didn’t receive it from the seller.

Before you open a dispute: Give the seller a chance to send the item before you get ahead of yourself and open a dispute.If you are beggining to worry as to why the item is taking too long to arrive, then simply send a polite email to the seller saying that you haven’t recieved it and asking whether they have posted it. You should also check your own email address in eBay’s options, to make sure that the seller can reply to you.. As a last resort before opening a dispute, try calling the seller using the number on eBay. You might have to pay long-distance charges for the call, but that’s better than dragging the auction through mediation for months.

Step 1 – You open an Item Not Received dispute: You can do this here: http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?InrCreateDispute.

What you need to do is enter the item number and say that you did not receive the item.

Step 2 – eBay will then try to contact the seller. eBay sends the seller an email that tells them that you’ve said you didn’t receive the item. Then can then choose to tell you one of three things: that your payment hasn’t cleared yet, that the item is in the post, or that they’ll give you your money back. The seller can also tell eBay that they would like to send you a message.

Step 3 – You talk to the seller: Try talking with the seller in order to work out what’s happened directly with the seller, sending messages back and forth. Hopefully they’ll agree to give you a refund for the sake of their feedback, or your item will turn up in the post during this time..

Step 4 – Closing the dispute: After 30 days (or 10 days if the seller didn’t respond), you have two options to close the dispute: either you were satisfied or you weren’t.. If you weren’t satisfied, then you can claim under eBay’s purchase protection program for up to $200.

Independent Dispute Mediation.

If you’re tired of going through eBay’s tiresome process and if the auction is for an expensive item, you can use a third-party mediator. eBay recommend SquareTrade, at www.squaretrade.com, who provide mediation to many websites where there are buyers and sellers. They will contact the seller on your behalf and then mediate as you try negotiating what to do from there.

Those sellers who are committed to going through SquareTrade’s mediation for any disputes can sign up to display the ‘SquareTrade seal’ on their auctions. This gives their buyers $250 fraud protection, and shows that their identity has been independently verified so they are who they say they are.

When your sellers aren’t in such good standing, though, you need to be careful to avoid being a victim of fraud.. There are a few scams that you especially need to look out for – we’ll cover them in the next email.