Allowing sales to go through when seller "Away"

Question

So Ebay had allowed me to purchase and pay for an item from a seller. After 9 days of no dispatch, no updates, no communication, I messaged the seller. They stated that their shop has been set to "time away" well before I made the purchase and that Ebay should not have allowed my sale to happen.

Essentially Ebay just took and held my money for 9 days plus at least another 3 days for it to be refunded.

Is this normal, is this acceptable?

The Ebay support chat is just a joke that goes round in circles saying "you can request to speak to an agent at any time" but when i select "speak to agent" it says "no agents are available right now". What is going on?

*vyolla* · Accepted Answer

eBay don't 'allow' sales to happen if the seller has correctly set Time Away.

It sounds like they selected this option for their Time Away to still allow sales:

Allow item sales

When you allow item sales to continue while you're away, it's important to remember the following points:

Your listings will still be visible and buyers can still purchase your items
However, buyers will see a message at the top of your listings letting them know that you are on time away
The estimated delivery date will also be automatically updated in the Postage and Delivery section of your listings, so you don't need to make any manual changes