Buyers always get a dispute window, its a mechanics thing, and merit has no place in it as merit never enters calculation, it takes too much energy to investigate any case wheras a default judgement can be automated or near auotmated.
Think of it this way.
eBay has TWO PRIORITIES:
1. to get their % fee
2. minimise costs in staffing
Justice doesnt come into it. All eBay wants is any dispute to go away quickly and silently as disputes need arbitration and arbitration costs staff time. So they pick what is likely to be on the large scale smoothest side, a priori, and apply that to all cases unless forced otherwise. This is normally buyers as its easier for them..
So if a buyer pulls any gak and then claims back they get their refund. It's the shortest solution for their end, buyer is not happy, so they get refund of the sellers money, which costs Ebay nothing, and the case is closed, eBay keeps the listing fees and sale percentage and doesn't have to waste any more fractions of a man-hour in service centre staff. If you sell long enough you may encounter a scam buyer, someone who falsely claims non-delivery, or claims the goods were not as ordered. Some a blatant transparent frauds, but if handling the case ethically means someone in a Asian call centre has to work 3 hours for $2 an hour investigating and a fob off takes only ten minutes saving eBay over $5, that is obviously the correct solution.
This may sound cynical and it is, but here cynicism sadly is realism. If you think of eBay (and Kickstarter) as moustache twirler villains when it comes to client protection you will be on good grounds.
Move on, who cares.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/may/21/ebay-accused-failing-sellers-buyers-manipulate-system-protection
As a seller you have to recognise how little you mean to them, and provide your own protection.
I remember my own case. Now this was as a buyer. Here the boot was on the other foot. I detected a fraudulent seller after winning a bid but before payment. I was tipped off by Warseer about someone selling epic vehicles as
40K vehicles and wording his lots in such a way as to mask what I would be getting.
I refused to pay. eBay didn't care, all they wanted was their %. I either paid or lost my 100% feedback rating and got a non paying bidder strike. Which would flag my future bids and kill any credibility I had worked up as as a buyer of close to a decade at this time, as most sellers will delete bids from so flagged buyers.
Again see how this goes:
Post-payment disputes are the sellers fault, as eBay has already been paid, just issue the fraudster a defund of the sellers money and close the case.
Pre-payment disputes are the buyers fault, because if it isn't eBay wont get paid. Get the buyer to pay up or else, get their cut then close the case.
Again merit has nothing to do with it.
To strongarm me they would reply in macros to my comments, not bothering to address any issue, I raised, even with proof provided my myself and supporters on Warseer. Just the same copy pasted reply; and the main gist was that I should exchange personal details with the seller and deal with them directly, then either pay, or accept the feedback hit and non payment strike.
After several rounds of this I contacted the police. I explained my situation and eBay's 'solution' then asked the police if I should exchange personal details with a fraudster The policeman stopped a little because that is a very dumb question, like I had just munched all the stupid pills. Then I explained why.
The policemen understood, took his cue, and told me officially that he did not recommend I give my details to the seller.
Armed with that official police advice and a crime incident number I contacted eBay again. Given no further choice to fob me off, they banned the seller the same day and I did not have to a face a non payment strike.
With ebay you need to provide your own justice, and be aware at all times.
Good luck.
