Dispute closed despite ongoing activity.

[robroysyd]

I have had an ongoing dispute with a seller regarding non arrival an item. Last message from seller was 7th March 2019 asking me to check with local post office. I was about to reply however before I could I received a message from eBay that the dispute had been closed as there had been no activiy for 21 business days. The log shows messages between myself and the seller within the last few days.

eBay advises that the case cannot be re-opened and I cannot find anyway to contact eBay to get either the original matter resolved nor to raise the issue of an obviously active dispute being closed.

[lyndal1838]

Were the messages between you and the seller being sent through the dispute or just through the ebay message system?

If dispute is opened you only have  certain length of time to settle it before you are expected to ask ebay to step in.   Maybe you have gone over that time.

[robroysyd]

As far as I can tell the messages were through the dispute system as the subject included the dispute number and included the text:

 "The seller has responded to you and offered another solution to solve this issue."

The messages are logged by eBay under the dispute.

All of that said I was not really aware that there's more than one way to exchange messages between the seller and buyer. The seller did make requests that "I wait a week longer" and "Check with my local post office" so it could well be that the seller has engaged in some very dodgy behavior knowing full well how the system works. On the other hand whilst I realise that eBay needs to close disputes in a timely fashion I find it remarkable that I wasn't asked if the matter had been resolved before automatically closing the dispute.

[springyzone]

I think you can still make a paypal claim. Worth a try.

[eol-products]

If the seller is based in China this can be a common thing to drag out messages until the dispute reaches its closing date.

[robroysyd]

Just as an FYI I tried to reply to the sellers last message and I cannot as "The dispute is closed" so it was definately going through the eBay dispute system.

Yes the seller is in China. Reason I gave the seller plenty of lee way was some years ago I had a similar issue and the item turned up after many months and the seller had given me a refund. I tried to give him his money back but he'd closed 😞

Not really concerned about the money here, it's under USD 20, just not worth my time. What does concern me is how eBay are closing obviously open disputes. I can find no way to bring this to their attention.

[digital*ghost · Accepted solution]

When eBay say "activity" what they actually mean is action - more specifically, for the buyer, that means there is a time limit for them to escalate the dispute to a claim. There has to be, as they simply can't provide a means for disputes to go on indefinitely. (PayPal also has a time limit on this). 

[robroysyd]

Thanks for that, it does clear it up although I wish eBay had been clearer on this.