Even in more sane situations, eBay NEVER helps. I've had several times where the seller took payment and never made any contact again (sellers with high ratings!). All eBay would do is suspend their account. Well, guess what! If their account is suspended you cannot file a claim against them. And, by the time you get a live person from eBay to contact you you get "It's beyond 60 days. We're really sorry but there's nothing we can do at this point. Thank you for contacting eBay."
Lucky for me, only one time was there a serious dollar amount involved. I took every action I could with eBay and Paypal and got absolutely nowhere. The credit card company wanted to do a six month evaluation of the situation! I was just about ready to contact the authorities when the item arrived with a letter of apology from the seller and a cash refund. She had listed over 100 auctions on eBay right before Christmas and then had some kind of medical emergency and was stuck in the hospital for a long time. By the time she got out she was utterly swamped dealing with the 100 auctions that went sour.
