Perhaps surprisingly, I get more people contacting me directly than opening disputes (a lot of people who do open cases don't realise that's what's happening, as they just follow the prompts to communicate with the seller). I think part of the reason I get more direct messages though, is because often it's about missing items from an order, which some people might not view as 'not received' or 'not as describe', but something different so eBay's steps don't appear to cover this (not 100% sure, as it's been a while since I've had a look at what comes up when people go to contact a seller about a transaction issue). I do want to say, though, that in my case, more than half of the "missing item" messages I get are - shall we say - suspect.
I actually had a particularly unique case just recently, where the buyer opened a not received request. The package had tracking so they had first attempted to query things with Aus Post, but as there was only a 'lodged' event and nothing further (for a few weeks), the case could only be deferred to me.
When I replied to the case, I explained what I was able to do and happened to mention that although I could get in touch with AP, I can really only offer a refund because I don't have the option to send a replacement, and have limited time before I need to action it, which is not enough time for an AP investigation.
I then got an email to advise the buyer had closed the request (this was not requested at all, nor did I say anything like "I can send a replacement if you close the request"). They sent a message saying they closed it so that there would be enough time for the AP investigation - long story short, I told them that since it had been so long since originally posting the item, I would rather they didn't have to wait for their purchase any longer and sent a replacement via express post the same day, requesting that if the original did turn up, to please mark it as RTS unopened.
I do feel like I'm being blackmailed (by eBay, not the buyers) into taking certain, specific actions when a request is open, though, which is bad from a customer service perspective as it means I basically have to deny the customer's needs or preferences in favour of protecting myself from eBay, so as much as I am aware that it's mostly just a way for buyers to communicate an issue to sellers, and the dispute is a side-effect, it still significantly reduces my options and I can't help but find it an abrasive (for lack of a better word) action, and always prefer that cases not be opened (this would largely be mitigated if A) I could trust eBay to take my evidence into account where applicable, and B) they provided an option to send replacements).
