Ebay is becoming a bogus sight for buyer confidence. Will not let you leave feedback

[hoopla]

If a Powerseller cancels an auction after it closes, you cannot leave negative feedback until 7 days but then when you go back in 7 days you cannot leave any feedback at all.  

[vanwyanton]

I have recently been defrauded by a seller on ebay.  Due to the fact that international shipping takes longer than usual there's no time to initiate a successful dispute process or to leave negative feedback.  Ebay support was not interested in helping me.  I believe that it's time for purchasers to put pressure on ebay to protect purchasers.  If not, ebay should not be supported.

[mater721]

International shipping should not take longer than the grace period.

If grace period approaches, file an Item Not Received claim.  You can always cancel the claim if item arrives before you need to escalate.

[reallynicestamps]

Not just PowerSellers. Any seller.

Sellers recently were given the ability to cancel unwanted sales within a few hours of purchase.

Usually this is the seller protecting himself from questionable buyers without a lot of red tape.

Buyers were extended the same protection.

Not many of the experienced posters hear have much experience with the new policy, since it is rarely used by sellers, but it is noticeable that there is always at least one unhappy member in all of these cancelled transactions.

[reallynicestamps]

You have only 45 days to file a Dispute with eBay. That's a month and a half.

If that deadline has passed, go to Paypal . There the deadline is 180 days. That's six months.

If neither of those help, go to the credit card you really paid with (PP is just a useful mediator) and phone the 1-800 number on the back of the card. Ask the clerk about a chargeback.

Shipments from Europe usually take only 15 days to arrive. They use Air Mail a lot.

Shipments from North America usually take 20 days to arrive.

Shipments from Asia take about 30 days on average. Never accept an offer of a Replacement from an Asian seller, it won't arrive either.

[pjcdn2005]

You have 30 days from the last estimated delivery date to file a claim on ebay. (not 45 days)

You have 180 days from the date of purchase to file an item not received claim on paypal.

You have 60 days from the date of purchase to leave feedback. That should be enough time for delivery from

anywhere in the world.

As suggested, you should try to open a claim on paypal.

[reallynicestamps]

Thanks, PJ. As a seller, I seem to have a Block against these new extended Dispute deadlines.

[pjcdn2005]

I hadn't noticed.

[vanwyanton]

I made the mistake of filing a dispute and thereafter closing it after agreeing with the seller that I would allow more time to see if the item would arrive. I feel like such a sucker as one cannot open another dispute once a dispute has been closed. I did not realise that that was the rule. Because of that PayPal will also not entertain a claim. Delivery to my neck of the woods (South Africa) typically takes longer than 60 days. Because of exchange rate issues I'm forced to select the cheapest shipping option (if there's a choice) to make the purchase financially viable, with resulting slow delivery times.

[femmefan1946]

Go to your credit card and open a chargeback.

I am assuming that this form of buyer protection is available in South Africa.

The eBay and Paypal disputes are irrelevant to the credit card people.

If you do not back your Paypal account with a card already, do so immediately.

In addition to the extended Buyer Protection, your payment will be with the seller faster*  than the 'e-cheque' you are using if you back your PP with only your bank account.

*But not too fast. New sellers (and sellers with shakey reputations) have their customers' payments Held by PP for up to 21 days against their good performance. They are still required to ship within 7 days.

[vanwyanton]

Thanks for the advice.  Unfortunately we have limited time to challenge credit card payments (even more limited than eBay and PayPal processes) so I'm stymied.  Incidentally, case in point as far as shipping time is concerned : today I received an item that I purchased on eBay and that was posted by the seller on the 5th FEBRUARY 2015 - thus nearly 6 months later!  It was shipped USPS First-Class in an envelope.  I was happy to wait as the seller had been communicative and had provided me with a tracking number.  Also, it was a relatively small purchase.  

[reallynicestamps]

It's an ugly system but -- if you order something which doesn't arrive within the time allowed by eBay (for South Africa, so I won't give any opinions on how long that might be) you probably should be opening an Item Not Received Dispute before the deadline.

Even though you are pretty sure that the item will eventually arrive.

This is ugly because the honest seller will  lose your payment when she refunds (and if she refuses, eBay/PP will force the refund and she gets black marks on her seller account).

Then when the item does arrive, you can go to PP and return the refund in full.

Don't leave any feedback for such cases unless the item arrives before the FB deadline. Don't leave any Detailed Seller Ratings unless the item arrives after the DSR deadline.

If the seller left FB for you, and many sellers post FB on shipment, you can add a Response indefinitely. 'Finally arrived safely. Thank you for your patience.' for example.

I'm certainly not saying this is a good way of doing it. It does protect you against scammers, but it also hurts honest sellers.