Refunds

How to handle an eBay Item Not Received dispute, step by step

July 13, 2026 · 8 min read

Key takeaways

An eBay INR case is a process with a clock, not a single decision. What you submit in the first response window matters more than anything you say later.
Tracking that shows genuine carrier movement to the buyer's address is your strongest evidence; a tracking number with no scans is close to worthless.
eBay escalates automatically if you miss the response deadline, and an automatic escalation almost always resolves in the buyer's favor.
Know when to stop fighting. A low-value order with weak tracking is rarely worth the defect risk of an escalated case.
Fetch Order Tracking keeps a carrier delivery-proof link on every order, so you are never scrambling to find evidence after a case opens.

The moment an Item Not Received case lands in your eBay inbox, you have a clock running and a decision to make. Most sellers either panic-refund everything to avoid a defect, or ignore cases until eBay escalates them automatically, and both habits cost money. There is a calmer, faster process that gets the same buyers taken care of without giving away margin on orders that genuinely shipped.

This is that process, the same one we use on our own stores, broken into the four things you actually do when a case opens.

Step 1: Pull the real tracking status before you respond

Before you type a single word to the buyer or to eBay, open your tracking sheet and look at three things: the current carrier status, the estimated delivery date, and whether the tracking ID has any scan events at all. A tracking number that AliExpress generated but the carrier never scanned is a completely different situation from one that shows "out for delivery" three days ago.

If your sheet shows Delivered with a scan event and a date, you have a real answer already. If it shows Awaiting Dispatch or a tracking ID with zero movement, you have a real problem, and pretending otherwise in your response just delays the inevitable.

Step 2: Submit tracking evidence in eBay's Resolution Center, not just in a message

A message to the buyer saying "it's on the way" does nothing for the case itself. eBay's Resolution Center has a specific field for tracking information, and that is what eBay's automated system actually reads when it decides whether to side with you. Paste the tracking number, confirm the carrier, and if you have one, attach a direct carrier tracking-page link rather than a generic AliExpress order screenshot.

A carrier's own tracking page carries more weight than a screenshot of your sourcing platform, because it is independently verifiable by eBay and by the buyer. Always submit the link the buyer can click themselves.

This is exactly the argument we made in winning eBay disputes with delivery proof links: the proof link is the whole case, not a supporting detail.

Step 3: Decide whether this is a fight or a refund, and decide fast

Not every case deserves resistance. Weigh three things: the order value, the strength of your tracking evidence, and how close you are to eBay's response deadline. A £6 order with a tracking ID that never scanned is not worth the risk of an escalated case dinging your metrics. A £40 order with a clean delivery scan to the buyer's postcode is worth defending properly.

Strong evidence, meaningful value: submit tracking, respond to the buyer with the facts, and hold your position.
Weak or missing evidence, low value: refund immediately. Fighting a case you cannot win just delays a loss you were always going to take, and it eats your response window doing it.
Weak evidence, meaningful value: this is the hard one. Check whether the AliExpress order itself shows a refund already in progress on the supplier side; if it does, refund the buyer and reclaim from the supplier separately rather than defending a case with nothing behind it.

Step 4: Never miss the response window

eBay gives you a fixed window to respond to an open case, usually a matter of days. Miss it and the case auto-escalates, and an auto-escalated case resolves in the buyer's favor almost every time regardless of your actual tracking situation. This is the single most avoidable way sellers lose cases they could have won.

The fix is boring but effective: check open cases daily, and treat the response deadline the same way you treat a tracking upload deadline. If you are managing more than a handful of stores, a shared view of every open case across all of them stops this from slipping through when you are focused on one storefront.

What this looks like with real tracking data behind it

Every one of these steps gets faster when the tracking data is already sitting in your sheet instead of being something you have to go dig up from AliExpress mid-case. Fetch Order Tracking pulls the tracking ID, carrier, status, and a working delivery-proof link into your Google Sheet automatically, so when a case opens you are copying evidence out of a cell, not logging into AliExpress under time pressure.

It also flags refund state on the AE side, so you know immediately whether a supplier refund is already in motion before you decide whether to fight or fold a case. See how it works.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to respond to an eBay INR case?

eBay sets a fixed response window when a case opens, typically a matter of days, and the exact deadline is shown on the case itself. Missing it triggers an automatic escalation that almost always resolves in the buyer's favor, regardless of your actual tracking situation, so treat the deadline as non-negotiable.

What counts as strong evidence in an INR case?

A tracking number with genuine carrier scan events showing movement toward the buyer's address, ideally with a delivery scan, submitted through eBay's Resolution Center tracking field rather than just mentioned in a message. A direct carrier tracking-page link is stronger than a screenshot from your sourcing platform.

Should I always fight an INR case if I have tracking?

No. Weigh the order value against the strength of the evidence. A low-value order with a weak or unscanned tracking number is rarely worth the risk and time of defending a case you are likely to lose. Save the fight for orders where the evidence and the value both justify it.

Related guides

Try Fetch Order Tracking → More guides