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When
Things Go Wrong:
How to Resolve
eBay
Disputes |
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When Things Go Wrong: How to Resolve eBay
Disputes.
eBay has quite an intricate and long-winded
dispute resolution procedure. In this email, I'll try to break
each step down 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're concerned about how long the item is
taking to arrive, the first thing you should do is send a
polite email to the seller saying that you haven't received 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, you should try to call the seller on the number eBay
has for them. 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.
All you need to do is enter the item number and
say that you did not receive the item.
Step 2 - eBay contacts 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: You try to work
out what's happened directly with the seller, sending messages
back and forward. 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 don't want to go through eBay's own
process, and especially if the auction was for a high-value
item, then 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 negotiate what to do from
there.
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.
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