Wanting to cancel purchase with seller and be refunded, seller non-communicative

[janic_9218]

one week ago today, on April 24th, i bought an item from a seller and it has yet to be shipped yet. since then i have sent the seller a number of messages, none of which have been answered. 

the first two messages, sent on the day i made the purchase (including full payment on my credit card) were just asking questions about the quality of the items and if all the proper inserts were included (i bought a DVD set).

on the 26th of April, i sent a message again as a summary of the two i had sent on the 24th, a i had reason to believe that the item i had bought did not in fact include all original materials as promised by the listing. again no response to either of my messages.

on the 29th of April i sent a fourth message asking for the order to be cancelled and to be refunded as the item had not been shipped yet and asked for a reply by today (Friday, May 1st). naturally, no response.

i am wondering what my next course of action should be? eBays help and contact section is of little use to me as they require me to wait until the 7th of May (expected delivery) to make any further complaints. i have considered trying to reverse the charges through my bank but am worried that will cause more of a headache for me down the road should the seller spontaneously spring back to life and refute those chargebacks.

any advice is appreciated!

[darak10]

your idea to dispute the charges through your cc probably won't work because it won't have been long enough.  your bank will question what you have done to try to resolve it and they'll tell you to come back here as its only barely been a week.  that method should be your last resort.

maybe the seller has the virus? or is in quarantine?  or something has happened to them to prevent them from responding?  maybe they are being negligent, or maybe there is some other reason that you aren't aware of?   I'd try to remain as calm as possible and not assume the worst.

there is an easy way for buyers to cancel purchases, and I have had buyers buy something then ask for the transaction to be cancelled not thru a message, but a formal cancellation of transaction request.  I've gotten maybe ten of these in the last 6 months.  I'm not sure how to do it though - I haven't bought anything on ebay in over 90 days so I can't find a transaction for myself to see how it could be done - but there is a way.  Buyers I don't believe even need to give a reason (sellers do though).  Look for it on your order page under any pull down menu there, its there somewhere.   Once you do this, it will formalize the request to cancel - the seller could always just come back and say he didn't see the message, but its impossible to ignore a formal cancellation request - and flip it back onto the seller to agree to cancel or not.  It will be another waiting game until they respond to confirm the cancellation but this is something you'll just have to have some more patience to wait for resolution if they dont respond right away. 

[pjcdn2005]

There is an official way to request a cancellation within one hour after the transaction. After that, the buyer has to send the seller a message. In both cases it is a request only...the seller does not have to agree.

[janic_9218]

thanks for the advice! i have considered that they may be in a quarantine situation given the seller is located in the States. i am in a bit of a hurry because i am ready to buy a correct set of the same item that ends in a few days. also, i paid several hundred dollars for the item (Canadian -> US conversion) so i am trying to stay on top of this. 

i did not have an option to start a cancelation request but opened up a return request to get eBay involved in some way.

[pjcdn2005]

It is always best to ask questions before an item is purchased rather than after. Asking before gives you an idea of how receptive the seller is about answering messages.

If the estimated delivery date is May 7, you can open an item not received claim on ebay on May 8 so I would wait until then. It is possible that the seller has mailed the item already but didn't mark it shipped but to be honest, that isn't likely.  But ebay has no way of knowing for sure if the item is on its way to you so they require you to wait.  Unfortunately once you open the request, there is still a waiting time for the seller to respond but hopefully they do respond quickly.  If they don't respond at all, ebay will force them to refund. Do not close the case until you have the item or the refund.

[femmefan1946]

Next Thursday, if the DVD has not arrived, you can open a Not Received dispute with eBay.

Then the seller has five days to respond, usually either with proof of delivery or with a refund.

This is the fastest way to get a refund.

If the DVD arrives and is Not As Described, the Resolution Centre will require it to be returned to the seller before a refund is made.

This can take a couple of weeks these days.

You may be required to pay for return shipping. Or not.

When the seller has the DVD back -- in the same condition it was sold, so if it is sealed, don't open it.-- you will be refunded.