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by pwned1 1396 days ago
The ebay terms of service force an arbitration procedure, however, the exception is if you go to small claims court. Most small-claims courts have an upper limit of something like $2,500, so your claim is under that. Send a certified letter with your details and state that if they do not reverse the chargeback, you will take the case to small claims court in your city. They will spend a lot more just replying to such a case than the value of it.

> You and eBay each agree that any and all disputes or claims that have arisen, or may arise, between you and eBay (or any related third parties) that relate in any way to or arise out of this or previous versions of the User Agreement, your use of or access to our Services, the actions of eBay or its agents, or any products or services sold, offered, or purchased through our Services shall be resolved exclusively through final and binding arbitration, rather than in court.

> Alternatively, you may assert your claims in small claims court, if your claims qualify and so long as the matter remains in such court and advances only on an individual (non-class, non-representative) basis.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behaviour-policies...

EDIT: If you happen to be in Michigan, hit me up, I am a lawyer and I enjoy helping with these sorts of things.

3 comments

This actually seems like a viable solution. Thank you so much; I am going to pursue this. And gosh, wish I was in Michigan!
I assume eBay would write its terms of service to be in their own favor to the maximum extent possible. So why do you think they allowed an exception for small claims court?
Generally courts have looked down upon forcing arbitration for cases that are tiny, like small claims cases. Some courts might invalidate an arbitration clause if there is no small claims exception.
Would that language prevent appealing a small claims court decision in a higher court?
No. Once you're in a court, the case stays in court. You can't appeal a trial court decision to an arbitrator.