Hello, johglyd-0,
If you posted on these boards to get some helpful advice, we can certainly offer that. (In fact it's been offered. I'm just clarifying it.)
Just to clarify: you're not contacting eBay by posting on these boards. They are public forums on which any eBay member can post, and the responders are, like you, fellow eBay members who give voluntary helpful advice and information. (The standard of help is usually well above the type of cut-and-paste help provided by eBay customer service.)
Before I give the advice complete with links, I'll address your previous post because it really does need some unpacking, so that you don't put yourself into a puddle of despondency for no reason.
- You said ❝Ah with all due respect ,, If the seller is aware of the 30 day {ebay no longer interested ] period ,, Just delay ,, Ebay will not be interested❞
ALMOST ALL sellers (save for those few who utterly fail to read eBay's T&Cs and the many policy pages available by searching in eBay's Help page) are aware of eBay's MBG timeframes. This is not some sort of arcane secret information. Just read through the relevant page; in fact, this linkwill even lead you straight to the appropriate paragraph on the page.
You are given protection by eBay if anything goes wrong, as long as you meet the criteria and act within the timeframe. You should never let yourself be strung along by a seller if the seller is not a reputable seller with integrity. By any chance, was it a Chinese eBay seller? (You can tell by clicking onto the seller's feedback percentage, as that will take you to the seller's feedback profile page which shows in which country the seller is registered.) Chinese eBay sellers are notorious for getting the buyer to delay opening a dispute until it's too late to do so on eBay. Don't let it happen again. Act before the time is up - and you'll be fully covered. - You said ❝Messages processed overseas❞.
If by that you mean that eBay's CS reps are based overseas, yes - that's been the case for some time. It is more difficult than ever to get in touch with eBay CS because of the COVID-19 pandemic; eBay chat is in most cases the only method for doing so. I'm not sure what the relevance is, though. If you mean you weren't able to open a case by speaking to eBay via chat, that would not be affected by the geographical location of the CS reps. If you didn't act as per the T&Cs, eBay is not likely to give you a special exemption, unfortunately. - You said ❝The main reason I buy on ebay is the security ebay will back you up❞.
Then - oh Lord - why did you not make yourself aware of the limitations and conditions of that security / protection? Just make sure that you act in time. - You said ❝Anyway give up on this purchase ,, Lost $200 dollars❞.
In your position, I would certainly not give up! Losing $200 due to lack of knowledge of the steps to take, or due to apathy, or due to whatever it may be, when there are remedies available would not be an option for me. So... I want to ensure you have the right information to go ahead and get back your money, assuming that the item hasn't arrived or is not as described.
Right ... This is what you should do - assuming that you are still covered by PayPal. (That is, that you're within the timeframe for a PayPal dispute, and that the transaction issue is covered.)
PayPal Buyer Protection - Open a Dispute
If your transaction was less than 6 months ago, you can still open a claim in PayPal using PayPal Buyer Protection (you have up to 180 days to open a dispute, and once you've opened the dispute, you must escalate the dispute to a claim NO LATER than 20 days after opening the dispute).
Do not - absolutely do NOT - close the dispute without getting your full refund. The seller could promise a refund, tell you that you need to close the dispute in order to get the refund, and that would be that - you'd be stuck from that moment onwards, because once closed a PayPal dispute can't be re-opened.
IMPORTANT
- If you are within the 30 days of Estimated Delivery Date of the item or actual delivery date of the item (whichever applies), you should go through eBay's MBG. This is the best way. Furthermore, if eBay won't refund you for some reason, you can always subsequently open a PayPal refund request - but you cannot do it the other way around.
- Never have both an eBay and a PayPal dispute open at the same time for the same transaction. The eBay dispute will immediately be closed, and it's possible that the PayPal dispute may also be closed.
- Always make sure that your payment is funded from a credit card/debit card providing you with the option of having your card provider perform a chargeback - in the event that neither eBay nor PayPal will refund you.
