A dropshipping order that's late, missing, or different from the listing should be handled first through the online store that accepted your order. Save the listing, delivery promise, order confirmation, tracking history, and every message you exchange with the seller.

For U.S. purchases, the Federal Trade Commission's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule generally requires a seller to have a reasonable basis for shipping within the advertised time. If the seller gave no shipping time, the rule generally uses a 30-day standard. When the seller can't meet its promise, it must obtain your consent to a delay or refund payment for the unshipped merchandise.

A credit-card dispute may help, but its written-notice deadline can arrive before a seller's revised delivery date. This is general consumer information for U.S. purchases. Payment providers, marketplaces, and other countries may use different rules.

Who should you contact?

In a dropshipping arrangement, the store advertises the product and takes your order, while a separate supplier may pack and ship it. The package may show the supplier's name or arrive from another country. That doesn't automatically mean the store is fraudulent, but it can make the shipping origin, return process, and responsibility for a problem less clear.

Start with these records:

  1. The store named in your order confirmation.
  2. The delivery and return terms shown when you ordered.
  3. The marketplace's protection process, if you used one.
  4. The rules for the payment method you used.

A supplier's name on a shipping label doesn't determine your dispute deadline. Nor does a polished Shopify storefront, a social-media advertisement, or a large follower count prove that a seller will deliver or refund you.

Before you pay, save the terms

Check the seller's identity

Look for the business name, customer-service email, and a working contact method. Save the contact page and the seller name shown at checkout. If the name on your card statement differs from the store's brand, save the statement descriptor too.

Separate handling time from delivery time

"Ships in five days" may describe when the seller hands the package to a carrier, not when it reaches you. Record the exact wording and look for:

The FTC rule applies to sellers that solicit orders through the internet, mail, or telephone.

Read the return policy

Check the return window, return address, product-condition requirements, and any stated shipping or handling conditions. A return address in another country may make a return more difficult or expensive.

A return policy matters most when the item arrived as ordered but you changed your mind. It doesn't automatically decide what happens when the seller misses a promised delivery date or sends the wrong product.

Keep a checkout file

Save copies of the product page and photographs, advertised price, discount, shipping estimate, return and refund terms, order confirmation, receipt, tracking information, and all emails or chats. Screenshots are useful if the listing later changes or disappears.

When the delivery date passes

Compare the dates

Use the delivery estimate shown when you ordered. A later estimate on a tracking page doesn't replace the original promise. If no shipping time appeared at checkout, the FTC rule generally uses 30 days.

Write to the store

Ask whether the order shipped and when it will arrive. If the store can't meet the original promise, ask it to obtain your agreement to a delay or refund the payment for the unshipped merchandise.

You can adapt this message:

On [date], I ordered [product] under order number [number] for [$amount]. The advertised delivery date was [date], and the order has not arrived. Please confirm shipment by [date] or refund the payment for the unshipped item to my original payment method.

Keep your message and the seller's reply. A phone call may resolve the issue, but don't rely on a call alone when a payment-dispute deadline is approaching.

Be specific about any delay

You don't have to treat an indefinite delay as a meaningful delivery estimate. If you agree to wait, ask for the new date in writing. Ask when a promised refund will be issued as well as when it should appear in your account.

A message saying that a refund is "processing" isn't the same as money returned. If the refund hasn't appeared and your card-dispute deadline is close, contact the issuer instead of waiting indefinitely.

If the item is damaged, wrong, or unlike the listing

Document the condition before sending anything back:

  1. Photograph the item, packaging, shipping label, and visible damage.
  2. Compare the product with the listing and your order confirmation.
  3. Tell the store in writing exactly what differs.
  4. Ask whether it will provide a replacement or refund.
  5. Confirm the return address and instructions in writing.
  6. Keep the tracking receipt if you return the product.

Don't automatically use the address printed on the package. It may belong to a supplier or fulfillment warehouse rather than the store's approved return location.

If you bought through a marketplace, open the marketplace's case or buyer-protection process too. Marketplace protection is a company policy with its own eligibility rules and deadlines; it isn't the same as the federal credit-card billing-error process.

Disputing a missing order on a credit card

For a U.S. credit card, the FTC's billing-error guidance says you generally must dispute the error in writing within 60 days after the first statement containing the error was sent to you. The FTC's guide to disputing credit-card charges also advises keeping a copy of the letter.

Use the card issuer's instructions for the correct dispute address. Include:

During the investigation, you generally don't have to pay the disputed amount or related finance and other charges. You still need to pay the rest of the bill as required.

The issuer must acknowledge the dispute in writing within 30 days unless it has already resolved the problem. It must resolve the dispute within two billing cycles, and no later than 90 days after receiving your letter.

Some issuers may extend the 60-day period when a shipment is delayed. Don't assume that an extension applies. Ask the issuer as soon as possible, especially if the promised delivery date falls after the first statement showing the charge.

A card dispute isn't an automatic refund. The issuer reviews the information, so a dated timeline and copies of the seller's promises can matter.

Your payment method changes the next step

Payment method Main process to check Important limit
Credit card Written billing-error process and the issuer's instructions The 60-day period runs from the first statement with the error
PayPal PayPal's Purchase Protection and dispute process PayPal uses separate deadlines and eligibility requirements
Marketplace checkout The marketplace's buyer-protection terms The platform may require a case through the order page
Debit, prepaid, ACH, wire, or payment app The bank or provider's own dispute process The credit-card rules above don't automatically apply

PayPal's U.S. Purchase Protection terms state that a dispute must be opened within the applicable timeframe, including 30 days after delivery or fulfillment where applicable or 180 days after payment, whichever is sooner. PayPal says to open a dispute first and proceed to a claim if you can't resolve the issue with the seller.

Read the terms that apply to your specific order. Not every transaction or type of problem qualifies, and a PayPal case isn't the same as a credit-card billing dispute.

For an AliExpress order, use the order's support or dispute process and review AliExpress Buyer Protection. Its platform terms are separate from U.S. credit-card rules. If you paid by debit card, bank transfer, or another service, contact that provider quickly and ask for its deadline rather than relying on the 60-day credit-card period.

If a package arrives that you never ordered

An unordered package is a different problem from an order that hasn't arrived. Before responding to an insert, QR code, or payment request:

  1. Ask household members whether they placed the order.
  2. Check recent orders, gifts, subscriptions, and sample offers.
  3. Look for a matching charge on your card, bank, or payment-app statements.
  4. Photograph the package, label, inserts, and tracking information.
  5. Don't send money or personal information in response to the unexpected package.
  6. If a charge appears, tell the payment provider whether you authorized the purchase but didn't receive it or never authorized it at all.

When a credit card was charged for merchandise you never received, note the date the first statement with the charge was sent and consider the written dispute process immediately. The FTC's guidance covers billing errors and unordered products.

Warning signs before ordering

None of these signs proves that a store is fraudulent. They do make the terms worth checking closely:

Compare the total cost, delivery promise, return process, and payment options before placing the order. A low price doesn't provide consumer protection.

If the seller stops responding

Use this escalation order unless a payment or marketplace deadline requires faster action:

  1. Store: Send a written request and give the seller a clear opportunity to respond.
  2. Marketplace: Open a case before the platform's deadline.
  3. Payment provider: Contact the card issuer, PayPal, bank, or payment app using the process for that payment method.
  4. Records: Keep the order confirmation, screenshots, correspondence, tracking history, and dispute confirmation together.

Describe the problem accurately. Use "not delivered," "not as described," or "unauthorized" according to what happened. Don't call an order unauthorized when you placed it but the seller failed to deliver.

Open the order confirmation now and write down the promised delivery date, the date of the first statement showing the charge, and the deadline listed by the payment provider or marketplace.