I bought an item on eBay couple of months ago (beginning of March); payment was accepted and the seller sent the package on its way through USPS mail service to my country. (International shipping)
After about 30 days when it didn't arrive I started looking into it, my local mail service said the package never reached my country so I contacted the seller. He checked with USPS and turned out the package was sent to Brazil instead to my country, but they said to him it should either rebound back to him in the USA or be shipped to the proper place soon so he asked me to just wait.
20 more days passed and I lost my patience, asking for a refund. He said that as long as the item didn't return to him he won't do that as it might reach me any day.
Confident in the famous "ebay Buyer Protection" I tried to open a "Did not receive the item" case but found it's not possible if more than 45 days passed since the payment was accepted.
The item is currently in the void, probably lost forever. The seller is legally right, he done his part of sending the item and does not owe me anything.
I already left negative feedback on him of course.
Is there any way I can get my money back from eBay? (or USPS who are to be blamed of)
Update
One month after posting this, the seller did refund my money, asking me to pay it back if the item ever arrives.
One more month passed and the shoes arrived – apparently they traveled half the world due to shipping mistake of USPS. I paid again, wearing the shoes now and all is good.
I think the question here is still valid though, as this can happen again and can happen to other people.
Best Answer
eBay cannot remove the limit and leave it open ended. That idea is unheard of. Some manufacturers offer lifetime warranties on their products, but otherwise all retailers have limits on when an item can be returned and a sale can be reversed. You believe the 45 day limit is silly because you waited 50 days. If it was a 50 day limit, you would say it was silly if you had waited 60 days. There has to be an arbitrary amount of time, and it was decided that 45 days was enough to determine that a product has not arrived/been shipped/had an issue occur in shipping... and start the ball rolling on establishing a solution with the seller. The fact of the matter is that you should have brought this to the attention of eBay much sooner. You cannot avoid your responsibility in this, regardless of how you phrase it.
I agree that 30 days for shipping is reasonable. At which time, you should have been in contact with eBay, not waiting an additional 20 days.