A payment dispute is when a buyer initiates a chargeback or other type of dispute with their payment institution (for example, their credit card provider or PayPal). The final decision for refunding the buyer is made by the payment institution.
This is different to the eBay Money Back Guarantee, which is when the buyer works directly with you on eBay to get a refund on a transaction, for example, when the buyer opens a return request or reports that the item wasn't received. In these cases, the final decision for refunding the buyer is made by eBay.
When a buyer opens a dispute, the payment institution handles the process with the buyer. A buyer may open a dispute if:
- They didn't receive their item
- The item doesn't match the description in your listing
- They didn't recognise the transaction
- They were charged more than once for an item
- They were charged more than once for the transaction
- They changed their mind
- They cancelled the transaction
- They’re missing a credit or a refund
If the payment institution decides the buyer is owed a refund, they’ll reverse the payment and refund it to the buyer's original payment method.
Buyers can't use more than one resolution method to get a refund. If a buyer opens a dispute, any open order cancellations, reports that an item hasn't arrived, return requests, or eBay Money Back Guarantee cases for the same transaction are immediately closed.
Responding to a payment dispute
When a dispute is opened, you'll receive a notification from eBay. You must respond to the dispute within 5 calendar days of receiving the notification.
To respond to a dispute, select View details next to the order in My eBay Sold - opens in new window or tab or go to the Requests and disputes tab - opens in new window or tab in Seller Hub.
When responding to a dispute, you may choose to:
- Accept the dispute, or
- Challenge the dispute
Accepting the dispute
If you accept the dispute, the buyer will receive a refund. When eBay issues a refund to a buyer on your behalf, the amount will be deducted from the total of your Available, Processing, and On hold funds. For more information, please read our article on getting paid for items you've sold.
If the dispute is opened for an item that doesn't match the listing, we’ll try to recover the item for you when you accept the dispute. However, keep in mind that we can’t guarantee that the buyer will return the item.
eBay may still choose to challenge the dispute on your behalf, and in this case, you won't be charged a dispute fee.
Tip
When you accept the dispute, or the dispute is for a transaction the buyer doesn’t recognize, and the buyer is refunded, you'll be eligible for credits for some or all of your fees. For more information, see our Fee credits help page.
Challenging the dispute
If you challenge the dispute, we’ll request supporting evidence about the transaction. If the dispute is opened for an item that doesn't match the listing, we'll try to recover the item for you. However, keep in mind that we can’t guarantee that the buyer will return the item.
The final outcome of the dispute is decided by the payment institution. Depending on the situation, you may need to cover the cost of refunding the buyer, and/or pay a dispute fee.
If you don’t respond, or the dispute results in refunding the buyer, and you’re not eligible for seller protections, the amount will be deducted from the total of your Available, Processing, and On hold funds, and we’ll charge a dispute fee. For more information, please read our article on getting paid for items you've sold.
However, if you’re eligible for seller protections, we won’t charge you for the amount of the dispute and may also waive or refund the dispute fee, even if the payment institution decides to refund the buyer. For details on how these protections work – which transactions are eligible or excluded, and what sellers need to do – please read our full seller protection policy.
Providing evidence for the dispute
We recommend providing different types of evidence depending on the type of dispute.
Before you upload an image, it helps to crop the image to the relevant area. You can also compress or merge images if you wish. Your image can be in JPEG, JPG, or PNG format. The maximum file size is 1.5 MB.
Tip
If a buyer opens a dispute because the item doesn't match the description in your listing, you'll find more details in the dispute summary.
How payment disputes are processed
eBay will submit any relevant evidence you provide about the dispute to the payment institution. There may be situations where eBay already has enough evidence to challenge the dispute, and we'll share it on your behalf.
Once you've accepted a dispute, or challenged it and provided evidence, we'll update you about the status of the dispute by email. You can check the status of any dispute by finding the order in My eBay Sold - opens in new window or tab or go to the Requests and disputes tab - opens in new window or tab in Seller Hub.
In some cases, a payment institution may reopen a closed dispute. In this case, we may request that you provide additional evidence for challenging the dispute.
The payment dispute could take up to 90 days or more to be resolved, depending on the payment method or card provider. eBay may hold the funds from payout up to 30 days from when the dispute arises.
Tip
Refunds issued outside of eBay aren’t eligible for payment dispute seller protections.
Avoiding payment disputes
To help prevent payment disputes, you should always:
- Create detailed, accurate listings
- Include multiple, high-quality photos of your items
- Use a tracked shipping service with proof of delivery to the address provided by the buyer at checkout
- Include signature confirmation if an order has a total cost (including shipping and taxes) of $750 or more. Learn more about signature confirmation requirements
- Be responsive to buyers who contact you through eBay Messages and work to resolve any issues
- Keep any messages and supporting documentation through eBay tools
- When issuing a partial refund, provide information to your buyer as to why you didn’t issue a full refund. For example, "deducted 5% from the refund because the item was returned used or damaged"