# Catch every eBay payment dispute before it auto-settles

> eBay auto-settles disputes for the buyer if you miss the five-day window. Get a Slack alert with the deadline, evidence checklist, and a recommended response.

- Workflow type: agent
- Services: eBay, Slack Bot
- Categories: Operations, Finance
- Published: 2026-07-17

## What it does

- Checks your eBay seller account for new payment disputes every few hours and flags the ones that need your response.
- Works out how long you have to respond before eBay automatically settles the dispute in the buyer's favor, and highlights the urgent ones.
- Builds a checklist of the evidence you would need to fight the dispute, like tracking numbers, delivery confirmation, listing screenshots, and buyer messages.
- Drafts a recommended contest-or-accept response and posts everything to a Slack channel, alerting you only once per dispute so the channel never repeats.

## What you'll need

- An eBay seller account connected to the workflow
- A Slack workspace and a channel where the alerts should be posted
- Payment disputes active on your eBay account (standard for managed payments sellers)

## Prompt

Every 4 hours, run on a cron schedule to watch my eBay seller account for new payment disputes so I never miss a response window.

Start by pulling my open disputes with eBay's Get Payment Dispute Summaries, filtered to disputes that need seller action (the ones still open and awaiting my response). For each dispute I have not already been alerted about, continue processing. Remember the dispute IDs you have already alerted on and skip them so the Slack channel never repeats the same dispute.

For each new dispute, fetch the full record with Get Payment Dispute and the full history with Get Activities so you have the dispute reason, the amount in question, the order details, and the timeline of what has happened so far.

Read the dispute reason and work out the response deadline. eBay gives sellers five calendar days to respond before it automatically settles the dispute in the buyer's favor, so calculate the deadline from the date the dispute was opened and report how much time is left. Treat anything with less than 48 hours remaining as urgent.

Build a checklist of the evidence I would need to contest this specific dispute, based on its reason. Typically this includes the tracking number, delivery confirmation, listing screenshots, and any relevant buyer messages, but tailor the list to the reason. For an item-not-received case lean on tracking and proof of delivery; for an item-not-as-described case lean on listing screenshots and photos.

Then draft a recommended response: whether I should contest or accept the dispute, and why, in a few sentences I can act on. eBay also supports Contest Payment Dispute and Accept Payment Dispute, but do not submit anything automatically. Leave the final decision and the actual submission to me.

Post all of this as a single alert to my Slack channel using Slack Bot's Send a Message. Include the dispute reason, the amount at stake, the deadline and time remaining, an urgency flag, the evidence checklist, and your recommended contest-or-accept response, formatted so I can act quickly. Alert only once per dispute so the channel does not repeat.

## How to customize

- Change how often the check runs (the default is every 4 hours)
- Choose which Slack channel receives the alerts, or send them as a direct message instead
- Adjust the evidence checklist or the time-remaining threshold that marks a dispute as urgent

## FAQ

### How long do I have to respond to an eBay payment dispute?

eBay generally gives sellers five calendar days to respond before it automatically settles the dispute in the buyer's favor. This workflow calculates the deadline for each dispute and highlights the ones that are running out of time so you can respond well before the clock runs out.

### Will this respond to the dispute for me?

No. It gathers the dispute details, drafts a recommended response, and alerts you in Slack, but you stay in control. The decision to contest or accept and the actual submission are always left to you.

### How does it avoid spamming my Slack channel?

Each dispute is only alerted once. After the first alert, the workflow remembers that dispute and will not post about it again, so your channel stays clean.

### What evidence should I gather to contest a dispute?

The alert includes a checklist tailored to the dispute reason, typically your tracking number, delivery confirmation, listing screenshots, and any relevant buyer messages, so you can pull everything together before you reply.

### Do I need a paid Slack plan?

No. This works with any Slack workspace where you can add the app and post to a channel.

Use this prompt in General Input: https://www.generalinput.com/prompts/catch-every-ebay-payment-dispute-before-it-auto-settles