When Things Go Wrong - How To Resolve Ebay Disputes

By Author: David Hobson
Total Articles: 132
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eBay has quite an complex and tedious dispute resolving process. In this article, I will attempt to break each stage down for you, so you are able to see what's enclosed and how long it takes.

As an object lesson, let's go through what you'd do if you paid for a product but did not get it from the vender.

Before you open a dispute: afford the vendor an opportunity to send the product before you get ahead of yourself and open a dispute. If you are worried about how long the product is taking to come, the 1st thing you should do is send a civilized e-mail to the vendor stating that you have not obtained it and inquiring whether they've mailed it. You should in addition to check your own e-mail address in eBay's options, to be sure that the vendor can respond to you. As a last resort prior to beginning a dispute, you should attempt to phone the vendor on the number eBay has for them. You may have to pay long-distance charges for the phone call, but that's more beneficial than dragging the auction through interpretation for months.

Stage 1 - You begin an Item Not Received dispute.

All your required to ...
... do is enter the product number and state that you didn't obtain the item.

Stage 2 - eBay contacts the vendor: eBay sends the vendor an e-mail that tells them that you have stated you did not obtain the item. They can then decide to tell you one of three things: that your payment has not cleared thus far, that the product is in the mail, or that they will give you your money back. The vendor can in addition to tell eBay that they'd like to send you a message.

Stage 3 - You speak to the vendor: You attempt to figure out what's occurred directly with the vendor, sending messages back and forward. Hopefully they will agree to afford you a refund for the interest of their feedback, or your product will show up in the mail during this time.

Stage 4 - ending the dispute: After thirty days (or ten days if the vendor did not reply), you've two choices to end the dispute: either you were content or you were not. If you weren't content, then you can claim under eBay's purchase protection program for up to $200.

Independent Dispute Mediation.

If you do not wish to undergo eBay's own procedure, and particularly if the auction was for a high-value product, then you are able to use a third-party intermediary. eBay recommend SquareTrade, at www.squaretrade.com, who offer mediation to a lot of sites wherever there are buyers and vendors. They'll contact the vendor on your behalf and then liaise as you negotiate what to do from there.

Vendors who are committed to going through SquareTrade's mediation for any conflicts can sign up to exhibit the 'SquareTrade seal' on their auctions. This affords their buyers $250 fraud security, and shows that their identity has been severally proven so they're who they say they are.
David Hobson is the owner of Hobsons Choice we started out selling on eBay and now run a very successful online store. Our customers not only purchase for themselves but they also sell our products on eBay.