Item not dispatched, but ebay says it's on it's way

[dgrant63]

Bought item on November 15 on 'best offer'. Contacted seller (In Spain) on 28.11 as it had not been dispatched. Replied that he had been in quarantine, had work and a backlog to catch up on, item has still not been dispatched (Dec 15) I have contacted twice in the meantime with no replies and seller has had 3 more negative reviews for items not received, he now has no items for sale. I have contacted him again, and ebay still says 'on it's way'. Surely now I should be able to open a case? Just think this dude is going to disappear off Ebay and I'll be stuffed.

[thedemon2014]

Usually you can't open a case until the expected delivery date given on the listing in your Bought items list has passed by.

[dgrant63]

Thanks. Yes, case opened now, but the delivery date on the listing reads 'international delivery times may vary'. Fairly certain this wasn't the case when I ordered it. Certainly a case of Buyer Beware. However, over 2500 buys and sells over several years and just a few wee problems, not too bad.

[*guinevere*]

Have a look at the original listing on your Purchase History and see what the estimated delivery dates are.

If it has gone past the last estimated date open a case for Not Received in the Resolution Centre, link at bottom of the page.

Escalate your case after 3 full business days if he hasnt refunded or if your item still hasn't arrived.

You get 30 days from the edd to open a case so don't leave it too late.

[dgrant63]

Estimated delivery just stated as 'may vary from an international location'! Thanks very much for your help though.

[*guinevere*]

See if you can open a case, that's the only way of knowing.

[dgrant63]

Thanks again - case now opened. Main gripe is with Ebay , why does it take 31 days before you can open a case for an item that has obviously not been sent and which has also been flagged up by other buyers too? They really should have some way of circumventing their standard button responses in cases like this.

[m25jet]

The seller sounds like a timewaster.  It shouldn't take a month to get an item despatched - he could easily have asked somebody else to despatch the item for him had he been unable to do so, or if not then he should have contacted you to explain the situation, offering an apology for having let you down and requesting your permission to cancel the transaction.  The seller has not done any of these things - given the fact that he has not replied to you since your first e-mail I would say that he's hoping that you'll wait long enough to end up running out of time to open an Item Not Received case on eBay.  Therefore, don't allow this to happen - make sure that you open an Item Not Received case as soon as the latest estimated delivery has passed.  You get thirty days from the latest estimated date of delivery to open an eBay case, so make sure that you open up an Item Not Received case if you don't receive the item by the time the latest estimated date of delivery passes.

If after three days the seller has still not resolved the matter satisfactorily and the item has still not arrived then escalate the case to eBay.  eBay tend to decide Item Not Received cases in the buyer's favour except for instances whereby the seller can provide solid proof that the item has definitely been successfully delivered to the address provided on the PayPal confirmation of payment e-mail, so if you don't receive your item and have to escalate the case then eBay will more than likely decide the matter in your favour and issue you with a 100% refund.

In the event that you end up waiting too long and run out of time to open an Item Not Received case in eBay log into your PayPal account and open an Item Not Received case against the buyer there instead.  Unlike eBay, who only give buyers thirty days from the latest estimated date of delivery to open a case, PayPal allow buyers a maximum of one hundred and eighty days to open a case against a seller.  PayPal also tend to look into cases far more closely than eBay do, so you have a very strong chance of getting your money back if you do have to open a PayPal case.

Finally, if you do run out of time to open an eBay case, or if the eBay case is decided against you for some reason and you end up having to go down the PayPal route, then make sure that you escalate the case after two days but before the twenty day cut-off point.  If the seller cannot prove successful delivery to your address then PayPal will decide the matter in your favour and you will be given a total refund of the money that you paid to the seller for the item.

[dgrant63]

Thanks very much for your detailed response. Case now opened, which I was unable to do before, the ebay buttons would only give the option of contacting the seller. They really need to have some system in place for circumventing the process in cases like this where it is obvious that the seller is just a total waster. There was absolutely no indication that any attempt had been made to send the item and he did have feed back from other buyers to that effect as well (5 in the last year, 3 of which appeared after my purchase, otherwise I would not have entertained him) Note that it is 3 WORKING DAYS before Ebay will step in and escalate a case; started the refund process today -16th and if I have had no response they will look at it on the 22nd.