What is more important to you? Giving ebay negative feedback, which millions of people around the world will take zero notice of, or getting your $1,000+ back? Look at the dodgy Chinese sellers that get 10's of 1,000's of negative feedbacks a year and people still continue to buy from them. No one take a bit of notice. We get so many buyers come in here complaining of an issue, that if they'd checked the feedback first, they wouldn't be in this predicament. 

 

If you have opened a dispute, ask ebay to step in and help, and get your money back. As mentioned, if you leave it, you'll lose. The seller is probably stalling so time runs out. Stop trying to contact them, you'll get nowhere. Escalate NOW.

 

Please come back and let us know how you go with the refund.

It was then... and only then, did ebay inform me that they had 'restricted' my communications to the seller due, in their words, that they were of the opinion that I was fraudulently attempting to circumvent ebay's selling policy. I was, quite brusquely informed of ebay's policy's regarding communications, and notified that my email message had been deleted from their system.

 

Yep, all  messages between members have been monitored for years, due to users trying to circumvent ebay fees.  All messages now need to be carefully worded and comply with ebays policy.  In addition all messages are now routed via ebay and depending on content, may not even be forwarded to the intended recipient.

Breaching this policy, is taken very seriously  by ebay, after all, it was brought in to restrict fraudulent activity by users.  Penalties can be applied to both parties , buyer/seller,  and include suspension and termination of accounts.  Large numbers of accounts have been terminated over the years, and I even got a warning when the policy was first introduced, even though there was no fraudulent activity or intent.  So it was learn and comply with the policy or face the consequences.

There is no point complaining, as the policy is not going to change, unless it is to become even stricter.

As others have said, most things on ebay are computer driven so you need to follow the automated processes if you are after a refund.

I agree with something countess said earlier, it is a shame there is no 'complaints department' on ebay that you can contact but I suspect ebay's thinking is that if you have a claim, just make it. If your complaint is about anything else-how they set up their ads, what is in the ad or anything else-they don't seem to want to know. Occasionally they have surveys and they occasionally invite bigger sellers to special breakfast seminars to discuss future directions, but that's it.

 

It would be hoping for too much to expect ebay to host a specific site where they print complaints about the company but when you think of it, these messageboards are often full of complaints, so this is the nearest thing you'll get.

 

If you do wish to leave a negative review, you could try product review website. Thousands of others have and the ebay score there is 1.6 stars out of 5, if I recall.