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How do I open a dispute with a seller?

Contacting the seller is often the best way to solve a problem. You can find their contact details by going to your Activity and selecting the payment. They may be able to issue a refund or help with a return.

You can open a dispute within 180 days of the payment date.

Here's how to open a dispute from the web:

  1. Go to the Resolution Centre and click Report a Problem.
  2. Select the payment and click Continue.
  3. Select the reason for your dispute, such as:
    • Unauthorised activity in your PayPal account (a payment you don't recognise or are confident you didn't authorise).
    • Issues with your purchase (a purchase doesn’t arrive or match the seller’s description).
    • Issues with the Seller (a seller is not co-operating and doesn’t respond to your messages, or you're simply unable to reach an agreement).
    • Billing errors or Issues with subscriptions (you've been charged more than once).
  4. Select the option that best describes your issue and click Continue.


To open a dispute in the app:

  1. Go to Recent activity and tap the transaction you want to report.
  2. Scroll to the bottom and tap on Report a Problem.
  3. Select the type of issue you have, including any relevant details, and tap Submit.



In a dispute, you can exchange messages with the other party in your Resolution Center to try to solve the problem.

If you’re unable to settle the dispute, you can escalate it to a claim. To escalate a dispute, we often require that at least 7 days have passed since the payment date.

By escalating to a claim, you would be asking PayPal to review the case and decide the outcome. A dispute will automatically close after 20 days unless it’s been escalated. Once a case has been closed, it can't be reopened or escalated to a PayPal claim.

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