When a marketplace order goes wrong, send a short written message to the seller first. You need a record. Order number, dates, photos, and one clear ask beat a long complaint.

What do you even put in the box?

Thing is, a paper letter with legal-sounding headers rarely helps on Amazon or Etsy. Those sites want the chat inside their own tools. The timestamps follow you into a claim.

Use the samples as a starting point, then swap in your facts. They aren't legal advice. They also don't create rights the platform never offered.

What actually decides the refund

Platform buyer-protection programs run the first round, long before anyone files a lawsuit. Amazon offers an A-to-z Guarantee on many third-party orders. eBay uses its Money Back Guarantee. Etsy wants a Help with order request, then a case if that stalls.

Those are company rules, not federal court orders.

Covered U.S. internet sellers also have to follow the FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule, which is really a shipping-and-refund timing rule, not a magic wand that makes every marketplace listing in the world behave, and people get mad when they find that out after the fact. If the seller named a ship date, that date controls. If they said nothing, the default is 30 days. They have to notify you of a delay and, in the situations 16 CFR Part 435 spells out, give you a refund option instead of waiting forever. The FTC rule does not pause Amazon's claim timers.

It may not reach a foreign seller with no U.S. shipping promise you can prove.

Paid with a credit card? A billing error dispute is a different track, with a written-notice clock in 12 CFR 1026.13. Mixing the FTC rule, the A-to-z form, and a card fight in one seller rant helps nobody. Write the seller about the order. Keep the issuer for later if you still need them.

Write the seller note in this order

Stay under a couple of hundred words. Put the order number in the subject.

1. Subject line with the order number and the problem.
2. Greeting that uses the store name.
3. One paragraph of facts: item, purchase date, delivery date.
4. The defect or the missing package, in plain words.
5. One remedy: refund, replacement, or the missing part.
6. Photos, listing screenshot, and tracking attached.
7. A short reply window that matches the site.

eBay's item not received pages say the seller has 3 business days to work it before you can ask eBay to step in. Don't wait weeks if the policy is days.

To be honest, an "or I will sue" closer is the fastest way to look like a problem in the transcript.

Sample letters you can paste

Start with the generic missing-package note if tracking lied.

Subject: Order [order number] marked delivered, nothing arrived

Hello [seller name],

I bought [item] on [date], order [order number]. Tracking [tracking number] shows delivered on [date] to [address]. I did not receive it. I checked with neighbors.

Please refund the order or reship it. I can send photos of the drop-off area if you need them.

Thank you,
[your name or username]

Damaged or not as described is the same idea, with photos doing the heavy lifting.

Subject: Refund request for order [order number] - not as described

Hello [seller name],

Order [order number] for [item] arrived on [date]. The listing showed [what was promised]. I received [short factual description]. Photos are attached.

Please refund [amount]. Tell me whether you want the item back and how to send it.

[your name]

If you're on Amazon and the seller already went quiet, send a short follow-up so your contact attempt is obvious in the thread. Amazon's A-to-z Guarantee is Amazon's own policy. It generally wants you to have contacted the marketplace seller and given them a chance, often more than 48 hours, before you file. File after that wait.

Subject: Follow-up on order [order ID] - still unresolved

Hello [seller name],

I'm following up on Amazon order [order ID] from [date]. Problem: [not delivered / defective]. I first wrote on [date].

Please refund [amount] or send a replacement. If this stays unresolved, I'll file an A-to-z Guarantee claim.

[your name]

eBay buyers can name the next step the site actually offers.

Subject: eBay order [item number] - item not received

Hi [seller username],

My purchase [item title], item [item number], from [date] never arrived. Tracking: [tracking number]. The estimated delivery date has passed.

Please refund or ship a replacement. If we can't fix this in 3 business days, I'll ask eBay to step in under the Money Back Guarantee.

[your eBay username]

If Amazon fulfilled the order, use Amazon's return and refund tools for a lost box. Message the seller when the listing itself was wrong.

Where the message should live

Keep the first outreach in the official order thread.

| Channel | Use it when | Limit | | Platform message | Amazon, eBay, Etsy claims | Off-platform chats may not count | | Shop email | A Shopify or similar store gave you an address | Save the sent mail | | Letter | Your card issuer requires written billing-error notice | Mail it to the address on the statement |

Amazon, eBay, and Etsy still want their own claim buttons clicked after the seller fails. A beautiful letter that never becomes a case is just a diary entry.

eBay lets you report an item not received after the estimated or actual delivery date, with a 30-calendar-day window in the Money Back Guarantee policy. You can miss that window fast. If eBay already decided, the appeal window is 30 calendar days from that decision. After a return arrives, the seller has 2 business days to issue the refund.

If the seller never replies

Turns out the missed step is usually the official case, not a sterner letter.

Open the platform's claim tool once you've met its wait. On Etsy you usually send a Help with order request first. Wait 48 hours. The help page also requires that enough time has passed since purchase, and it caps Etsy-processed refunds at 180 days from the transaction. Read How to Open a Case before you file. On eBay, use the Money Back Guarantee path rather than writing a fourth essay.

Bring evidence. Platforms weigh documents over tone.

• Order number and dates
• Listing screenshot
• Tracking page
• Photos of damage or the empty drop-off spot
• Your messages with timestamps

If Amazon shipped it, stop arguing with the seller about the truck. Use Amazon's flow.

Save the thread. Save the tracking. Save the photos, because if you only keep one screenshot it will be the wrong one.

Shopify, Walmart, Poshmark, Mercari, and Alibaba

The same facts still matter: order number, dates, photos, and a single ask. Use each site's own help tools and the protection that came with how you paid, because Walmart Marketplace, Poshmark, Mercari, Shopify shops, and Alibaba do not share one deadline.

If you paid by credit card

If the charge is on a credit card, you may still send a billing-error notice to the issuer. Regulation Z sets that process. Notices generally have to arrive within 60 days of the statement that first showed the charge. Use the billing-inquiries address on the statement, not the payment address.

This is not a substitute for the marketplace case. It's a backup when the goods weren't delivered or the charge is wrong. Keep paying any amount you don't dispute.

I am writing about a billing error on account [last four digits].

The charge of [amount] on [date] to [merchant] is [not delivered / not as agreed]. I already contacted the seller on [date] and opened a platform case on [date].

Please investigate and correct the error.

Send that only to the issuer's dispute address. Keep a copy.

Don't wait for perfect wording. Open the order, paste the closest sample, attach one photo, and send it today so the platform clock starts.