Seller listed item as in stock, but ~6 weeks after purchase, still no sign of it.

[mjctsr2]

I bought an item which was listed as in stock on May 26th. This item has not been dispatched and upon questioning to find out if the item is actually available, the seller is claiming that they are short staffed and dispatch will take longer. I suspect the item is not and never was actually in stock, as I have had previous problems with this seller when ordering pre-order items from them which never materialised. I should have learned my lesson during that encounter, but thought it 'safe' to order when showing as 'in stock' as surely that is against e-bay rules to advertise as such, when the item isnt actually available?  I'm too late to cancel the order now and I'm just going round in circles with the 'help' options, all of which end up with "Contact the seller and try to work things out". Where do i go next if I've done that and the seller refuses to refund and is almost certainly lying? 

[**peaseblossom**]

If its still within 30 days of the estimated delivery date open a "not received" case on ebay via the dropdown menu for the item on your purchase history page, and escalate after 4 days to get a refund.   If its past that time contact your payment provider and ask about a refund or chargeback.

[red_magpie]

surely that is against e-bay rules to advertise as such

Yes, it is, but it's important to actually read eBay's rules, not just assume what they may say.

You apparently didn't realise that when an item isn't received, eBay's rules give the buyer just 30 days in which to open a case for a refund under the money back guarantee.  I imagine that in your case this time limit has long since expired? If so, this explains why the only advice eBay can offer is to try to work things out with the seller. eBay itself will no longer be interested.

As has been said, your payment provider e.g. credit or debit card may be able to help, if that's how you paid.

For the future, you can read about eBay's money back guarantee here: https://pages.ebay.co.uk/ebay-money-back-guarantee/

By the way, note that eBays claim that "there's no extra fee for this protection" only applies when buying from business sellers. When buying from private sellers, eBay does charge a fee for buyer protection, and it's compulsory to pay it. You would have thought that by now eBay would have corrected this untrue and misleading statement.