on 06-10-2014 11:47 PM
Hello,
I sold an item on ebay 2 months ago (April 11) and today the buyer filed a dispute (June 10). I thought that buyers only had 45 days to open a dispute? She never even let me know that she hadn't received the item prier to filing the dispute.
The item was sold 2 months ago, so it no longer even shows in the "sold" list.
If the buyer's deadline has expired, contact eBay/PayPal and try to get the case escalated and closed in your favour. Opened cases count in your defect rate:
http://pages.ebay.ca/sellerinformation/news/springupdate2014/sellerstandards.html
Then it's up to you to decide how to help this buyer.
"She never even let me know that she hadn't received the item prier to filing the dispute."
If the buyer bought the item while logged in on either eBay.com / eBay.co.uk (not sure if the German site has this too), sending a message may open a case against the seller.
It's possible that the buyer tried to contact you, but she accidentally opened a case instead. Here's a sample thread from the US board:
http://community.ebay.com/t5/Seller-Central/Opening-cases-instead-of-sending-a-message/td-p/19559517
The buyer would not have been able to open a case if the deadline has expired.
Ebay changed their policy to where a case can be open 30 days after estimate delivery date which can be beyond the 45 day deadline as you have discovered.
Where was the case opened -- eBay or PayPal? Where is the buyer from?
You ship worldwide. Buyer Protection policies depend on the site where the buyer was logged into when they purchased the item, so the deadline would depend on where the case was opened.
If the case was opened on PayPal, the deadline is 45 days from the payment date.
If the case was opened on the US / UK eBay site, the deadline is 30 days from the last estimated delivery date.
http://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/international-buyer-and-seller-protection-programmes