Let us help you get through your dispute

May 12, 2008

Following the publication (by mistake) of an eBay support phone number last week, they are now actively emailing some top buyers who have opened a dispute offering telephone support to manage the dispute.

In addition to offering the telephone support the email provides some advice on how to handle the dispute including a link to obtain the sellers phone number and encouragement to communicate with them.

 Let us help you get through your dispute

 Dear [eBay buyer]

 We’re really sorry to see that you’ve had to open a dispute because you didn’t receive your item or it wasn’t what was described in the listing (30021891xxxx). You’re one of our most active and loyal customers, so it’s important to us to help you resolve this issue.

 We’ve asked the seller to respond to you in the Resolution Centre. Disputes can usually be resolved by direct communication between the buyer and the seller. A friendly conversation can help sort things out quickly - if you haven’t already, request the seller’s phone number and give them a call.

 You’ll receive an email from the PayPal system at each step of the dispute process. Whatever the outcome, we encourage you to let us know how it went and to leave Feedback for the seller.

 If your concerns are resolved - you can close the dispute at any time.

 If you can’t reach an agreement with the seller - you can escalate the dispute to a PayPal Buyer Protection claim. As you probably know, all PayPal purchases are covered up to £150, and most are even covered up to £500.

 Remember - if you don’t close or escalate the dispute within 20 days, it will be automatically closed. You can’t re-open a dispute once it’s closed.

 We hope you’ll be able to resolve things with this seller and that you’ll continue to buy and sell on eBay for a long time to come. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions at all.

 Regards,
 eBay Customer Support

 As a valued eBay customer, we want to make sure you get support when you need it. If there’s anything we can do to help, please give us a call: xxx xxxx xxxx

It’s great to see eBay starting to offer buyers as well as sellers telephone support. I can see a time in the future where all eBay users will be able to pick up the phone and talk to eBay when they have a problem - a huge change from just a couple of years ago when no one could talk to the company.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Featured, Site Changes, eBay.co.uk | 8 Comments