If you're unsatisfied with a seller's performance in an auction that you've won but you're unable to get them to work with you even after making direct contact, you should feel free to take more proactive steps to resolve the dispute.
Before you do so, however, please take a moment to ask yourself whether the seller has had enough time to attend to your needs. For the most part, the steps listed here are serious, and can result in real damage to a seller's finances or livelihood. You should be sure, therefore, to give a seller at least a week or two to work with you before proceeding.
For those sellers who simply aren't able or are unwilling to satisfy you, follow these steps.
- File a dispute claim or notify eBay of a rules violation. If you have not received your item in a timely manner or have received an item substantially different than the one described in the listing on which you bid, open a dispute on the eBay website and complete the rest of the Items Not Received or Not as Descibed process. If you feel that a seller has violated eBay rules, contact eBay to report the violation. Once you file a dispute or contact eBay about a rules violation, it is important that you follow through, answer email from eBay, and see the investigation or resolution process to completion. If the status of your dispute changes, notify eBay immediately.
- Leave feedback to help other buyers. All of your fellow eBay users rely on the eBay feedback system to tell them about the performance of sellers from whom they may buy. If you've had a very negative experience with a seller and feel that you'd like other potential buyers to know about it, please leave feedback giving an honest evaluation of what has occurred. If you're unsatisfied but don't leave honest feedback, another buyer may experience what you've just experienced, simply because no-one warned them first.
- File a dispute with your credit card agency. If all other avenues have been exhausted and you remain unsatisfied with your purchase or never receive your item, contact your credit card issuer to dispute the charge against it, assuming you were astute enough to make your payment by credit card. Note that there are time limits for making a claim—in most cases, two billing cycles or 90 days, whichever ends first.
- Contact law enforcement. If (and only if) you feel as though you have been defrauded or the law has been broken, contact law enforcement directly. The police are a good place to start, but you may also want to follow up with your state attorney general (if you are a U.S. citizen) or the body responsible for investigating mail fraud, in the U.S. the Postal Inspectors Office. Remember that eBay is not a government agency and has no ability to enforce the law directly. They rely on the same police, regulatory, and enforcement agencies that all businesses rely on to regulate commerce and keep it safe.
- Don't buy from the seller again. One of the things that I found most strange during my time at eBay was the propensity some buyers showed for buying again and again from sellers with whom they've had issues in the past. If you experience a dispute or problem with a seller and it isn't resolved to your satisfaction, don't buy from them again, since there's no reason to expect the outcome to be substantially different the second, third, or fourth time around.
Though it would be ideal if eBay transactions always went smoothly, most eBay sellers will experience at least a minor dispute at some poin in their trading life. As a buyer, these steps will help you to know what to do and what your options are at each step along the way.
Happy trading!
