Hello 'aubreyclay',
There are people would agree that ebay is a big rip-off, 🙂 but it's not, not really. It is a business that charges for it's services, just like any other.
To contact ebay, go to the upper right corner of this here page and where it says Customer Support, hover your mouse over it and select the Customer Support option. Choose the Contact eBay tab and pick Selling. If you find the Fees, billing and invoices category, there is links to click on it and read on the left, or you can phone the ebay folks by clicking the Contact us option on the right. You will get a phone number and code that you need to use right away, so do it when you are ready to call.
When you sell items on ebay you are charged fees. There are listing fees and final value fees, - those you pay after someone buys the item. Here is a link to tell you about fees:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/seller-fees.html
and this one is pretty thorough as well:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/fees.html
You say your buyer disappeared. Did you file an Unpaid Item dispute to get your fees back? If you have not been paid for an item after 4 days, it is time to open a Dispute, and close it 4 days after that. This is very important information for all sellers, so you will want to have a look:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/unpaid-items.html
To sell successfully on ebay requires doing some reading. There are a lot of policies to know about, and it sounds boring but it all helps you to not lose money, whether from scammers or getting back fees you are owed.
One thing you may want to do is block people who have Unpaid Item strikes already. Nonpayers are of no use to anyone, not in business. Do that here:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html#set
You can also add that nonpayer to your particular list of Blocked Bidders, although I doubt he'll be back to bother you again anyway:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html#block
Some people block members without paypal accounts, but unless you are constantly getting disappearing buyers with zero feedback, I don't think it would be a good idea for someone who feels he has too few sales as it is. People with credit cards tend to be fiscally responsible, at least somewhat, as well as willing and eager to spend.
For now I'd say start by reading about why you have fees, and if it is not too late you can still open the Unpaid Item dispute and get those fees back. You have 32 days from when the buyer won the auction, so do it now if you can.
Best of luck.
