Contacting ebay help

[jefhurs_4]

Is there any other way to contact ebay help?  I have tried the live chat but can't get them to do anything and I need to take it further. I have bought something and now cannot get any response from the seller and think it was a scam, but ebay live chat says that I have to wait till the delivery window closes and if I don't get the item then I can claim. Bit late by then, they ask us to let them know asap if it is possibly a scam but how can we do that?

[digital*ghost]

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@jefhurs_4 wrote:

Is there any other way to contact ebay help?  I have tried the live chat but can't get them to do anything and I need to take it further. I have bought something and now cannot get any response from the seller and think it was a scam, but ebay live chat says that I have to wait till the delivery window closes and if I don't get the item then I can claim. Bit late by then, they ask us to let them know asap if it is possibly a scam but how can we do that?

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Claiming for item not received (or not as described) are the only two things ebay's Money Back Guarantee / dispute process covers, so it stands to reason you can't use it as a means to "report" a suspected scam. 

You can report active listings for various reason, but transaction issuse and disputes should be about what is known / provable, and right now you just have suspiscion / assumptions. 

Once the ETA comes and (potentially) goes without delivery of the item, there's slightly more ground to stand on.

[jefhurs_4]

yes totally agree, but please explain to me why a seller would not reply to a message from a buyer?

[lyndal1838 · Accepted solution]

There could be any number of reasons that a seller does not reply.

Not all members are on their computers every day or there could be internet connection problems.

In my case, I was happily using my computer one day and two hours later was in hospital where I had no access to my computer for several days.

Unless and until the last estimated delivery date has passed the seller has not broken any rules so there is nothing to report.

[jefhurs_4]

Yes understandable for a veteran ebayer and that would be agiven, but a new seller???
First time I have never received a reply from a seller.

[4channel]

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@jefhurs_4 wrote:

 
you missed the point, I have tried to contact the seller to get the tracking number. The SELLER has not replied to 3 ebay messages that have been sent, they are only a new seller and would have thought they would be prompt at replying, it is now 5 days and no reply from the seller. The seller states they post witihin 3 business days, now 4. Also the only 1 feedback they have said they did fast shipping.

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Hi, I do understand your anxiety. / concerns. Many people wouild feel the same. Looking at the seller, they have a rating of one. This was for a sub woofer and sound bar. Looking at the FB left by this seller, there has been one other sale made which was for a coffee machine. NO FB was left by the buyer for that.

I know that new sellers have to start from scratch. But the photos are / appear to be stock photos and not taken by the seller.  This includes the one other item the seller has, the vacccum cleaner. This should suggest the seller is selling items and they are being dispatcheb by another party. That would raise my concern after trying unsuccessfully to get a tracking number, At the very least this seller should have gotten back to you with some explnation even ,,,  "I'm sorry but I will provide this to you tomorrow or next day". You haven't even got that!

Let's hope that this is an inexperienced seller just starting out.. Keep on this!

[papermoon.lady]

I understand your concerns. I always also ask for the tracking number because I like to know when an item is going to arrive or where it is.

As others have said, you have to wait until the last day of the estimated delivery, but you are protected, so if the seller is really a scammer you will get your money back for sure.

Sometimes I got items that had not even been marked as sent or that were marked as sent after they had already arrived.

Maybe there is a reason why this person is not replying, like health problems, computer problems, or maybe even pre-Christmas stress (having to find gifts etc.) Or maybe this person  never went online every day before starting sellling on eBay, possibly just once a week, and hasn't changed this habit yet. Some sellers are honest, but take a few days to reply.

Obviously you want your item, but in case the seller is really a scammer at least you will get your money back.

Unfortunately no, there is no other way to contact eBay but the live chat at the moment, and they are not even sending a transcript of the chat to your email address any more, so make sure you copy and paste your conversation into a document (for future reference). You can also leave a message when they are offline, which was not possible until recently.

[papermoon.lady]

The seller registered in August and has sold quite a few items since then, in spite of only having 1 fb. People would have left neg fb if they had not received their items... Good luck anyway!

[jefhurs_4]

Thanks to everyone who has replied to my concerns.

Now my concerns are even greater. This seller has another item on ebay for sale. I asked a friend to contact them as to whether the item was still available, and low and behold within 10 minutes the seller replied. So I messaged again and asked for a reply, and hours later still waiting, I don't expect to hear from them after this experiment, so will wait till last day of expected delivery and claim from ebay, something that could be avoided if they checked earlier.

cheers

[digital*ghost · Accepted solution]

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@jefhurs_4 wrote:
yes totally agree, but please explain to me why a seller would not reply to a message from a buyer?

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I can't answer a question like that, certainly I can't tell you why this particular seller has opted not to reply - I can only offer common reasons that may or may not apply in any given situation; some reasonable & understandable, some not, but I don't think more conjecture is helpful in this situation.

And I say opted because it seems apparent they are receiving the messages / notifications just fine, and are capable of responding when they want to. 

I'm not saying there aren't reasons for concern, only that if you are concerned about your purchase, it will only be "too late" (as stated in your OP) if you leave it too long to open a dispute; if you are instead concerned about other buyers, who may purchase from someone who may or may not be shady, there's really only a few options - feedback is a little premature right now, and you don't really have any grounds to report current listings, so this is currently a little out of your hands.

If the seller finds a potential buyer's inquiry important enough to respond to, I'd check to see if they find the loss of a sale important enough - that is, if you'd rather not proceed with the transaction at this point, I would see if a request (written via message, not via a dispute) for a full and immediate cancellation / refund of the order due to lack of follow-through, both in communication and postage, prompts a response.

[jefhurs_4 · Accepted solution]

Just thought I would let you all know that Ebay refunded the purchase after I finally got them to intervene, they too found they could not get a response from the seller.

I did do an experiment and asked a friend to try to buy the same thing, the seller responded immediately, yet when I again tried to contact them within a matter of seconds, surprise, NO response, so beware of this seller.