I never received the item I purchased

[nicnokay]

I have still yet to receive the card I purchased in late December, it was being shipped from over seas, however I have received a good handful of other items from different sellers that have shipped from the same country as well and received them within the expected timely matter.
The reason why I was unable to open a case within eligible time window was because it was an international shipping purchase and I thought I'd thought I'd give the seller a chance to make sure the item would still be delivered. 
Up until now, I have still not received any responses from the seller despite my multiple attempts to reach out at them over the weeks. 

[femmefan1946]

You only had 30 days from the last estimated date for delivery to open an Item Not Received (INR) claim.

Has that last day passed?

Assuming it has, how did you actually pay?
You can open a chargeback (for INR) with your credit card for up to 180 days from Payment.

If you used a gift card, direct payment, or debit card, you might as well have sent dollar bills, there will be no refund.

When buying online, the safest payment method is a credit card processed (and anonymized) by a processor like Paypal.

[nicnokay]

I made this post under the instruction of Ebay's customer service. As for payment, it was done through Paypal, but the item itself does not apply to Ebay's money back guarantee. 

[soh.maryl]

1. Per the MBG, you had 30 days after the estimated delivery date to open an item not received case.

2. The fact that it was an "international shipping purchase" does not preclude your being able to open an item not received case. 

[nicnokay]

I understand, it was just given these last few months of drastic weather/wildfires, I was giving the benefit of the doubt that the there could have just been some severe delays. That however was and error on my end, as despite my attempts of communications, and not receiving any in return after over a month of weekly attempts, was what finally tipped me off that there was something awry. 

[kathiec]

@nicnokay 

If you paid through Paypal you should open an item not received case there. They allow 180 days for that type of case to be opened.

[nicnokay]

So I had to dig quite a bit, as I use two separate debits that are both attached to my Paypal. However, it's just now becoming clear that the debit I chose to be charged was not being used with Paypal, but rather just attached to Ebay itself (despite normally being attached as a payment option with Paypal). Which as another user stated, I may as well have sent dollar bills. So that's definitely a frustrating mix up on what appears to be on my end. Perhaps it was because that was where my sold item funds get deposited into?
However, I'm confused about a slight different matter at the moment as a moderator just edited my thread claiming it was against the community guidelines, which I had no intention of breaking. However I made this community post over the phone under the direction of an Ebay service representative (I didn't even know these community post existed prior to the phone call), and was specifically being told to add a "@ user" at the start of the thread.
I stated as such with a reply in the direct message the moderator sent me, but I'm truly unsure if my response was to a human moderator or a machine, which is even the reason I'm bringing it up here to begin with.

[kathiec]

@nicnokay 

Sadly eBay CS reps work for an offshore third party and normally don't know their heads from a hole in the ground. This is not the first time they've advised someone to use the forums to communicate with a seller or eBay, and the advice is always wrong. The Community is moderated by humans, and their main job is to make sure posts follow the Community Guidelines, one of which prohibits 'naming and shaming' other members. That's why the seller name was removed from your post.

If your debit card is branded Visa or MasterCard it may offer some purchase protections. You should call your bank and ask if yours does.

[12345jamesstamps]

You can go online if your banking is online and dispute it with the debit card or credit card that you used.

[nicnokay]

Ah, if that's the truth of it, I suppose that makes sense then. Despite it all adding to my further confusion. 
I shall be contacting my bank as my next option then, I appreciate the input.
Though I feel compelled to ask now, that if the CS reps are from a third party, who are the ones that review the case files that the CS reps had access too?

[12345jamesstamps]

'who are the ones that review the case files that the CS reps had access to?'...probably no one or artificial intelligence. CS went out the door years ago.

[glorybells]

The CS reps you reach on the phone generally don’t have English as their first language.  Some of them, I’m not even sure it’s their second language.  They are generally reading from a script, and have a reputation for telling people what they want to hear, which frequently is not necessarily connected to the actual correct answer to the question.  Their goal is to get you off the phone as quickly as possible so they can move on to the next call . . . and the next . . . and the next.

Contacting eBay via social media (Facebook, Twitter) gets you USA based customer service reps who can actually DO something about issues.

[nicnokay]

Well this has all been very insightful. Whichever direction that hopefully leads to my refund, whether through the seller or my bank aside. I appreciate everyone's input in the matter. 
I am definitely going to proceed more cautiously from here on out.