Help Center
How do I lodge a dispute?
A dispute occurs when a buyer and/ or seller no longer wish to proceed with a sale or have concerns with the sale process or what has been purchased.
Summary:
- The dispute can be raised only if the deal is under the refund period.
- Contact us to create a dispute
- Enter the details of the dispute (the reason why you are lodging the dispute)
- The other party will be invited to reply
- Howtobuysaas will review the situation and try to assist
Detail:
Before entering into a dispute, both parties should try to come to an agreement between each other. This could be a change in sale price, additional support or inclusions in the listing or additional terms or conditions of sale. It is recommended that such communication between both parties is conducted in the Sales Completion Area as this will give howtobuysaas the ability to review any communication that has occurred. If one party will not reply in a timely manner please reach out to us and we will try to help.
If you are unable to discuss or come to an agreement with the other party, then a dispute should be raised. Through a dispute – and depending on what stage the sale is currently at in terms of payment and asset transfer – a sale could be canceled, payment could be refunded back to a buyer or could be released to a seller. If the situation is serious or complex, howtobuysaas team may recommend that independent arbitration or legal advice is sought to resolve the matter.
The option to raise disputes is valid only until the refund duration is active. The asset transfer will be still controlled by HTBS team and the seller’s earnings will also be on hold with the HTBS team itself.
The next step is to detail exactly why a dispute is being raised. Please be as detailed as possible with the issues and concerns that have lead to the dispute being raised and if possible provide specific evidence and/ or examples. If you feel you haven’t received something that was promised to you, please show in the listing where it was stated that a certain good was owed to you. Make sure to include screenshots if necessary.
Following your submission, the other party will be given 72 hours to provide information from their point of view.
After both parties have provided information and/ or 72 hours has passed howtobuysaas will review the situation and try to assist.
There are a number of outcomes that are possible, however the most common are:
- Both parties reach an agreement and the sale can continue and payment completed
- Either party is not in agreement with the sale and payment continuing and no assets have been transferred,
- Assets have been transferred but no payment has been made, but the buyer and seller agree to return assets
- No agreement can be reached and parties do not agree that assets can be returned, or payment has already been made
- No evidence can be found to substantiate the dispute and therefore it is cancelled
1. Reaching an agreement
The most desired outcome and the first approach to a dispute are to recommend to both parties that they discuss any concerns or issues between them and come to an acceptable resolution. This could include a change in the final sale value that howtobuysaas is happy to facilitate.
2. No Assets have been transferred
If either buyer or seller do not want to continue with the sale and no assets have been transferred then we can easily cancel a sale and if appropriate enable the seller to relist.
3. Assets have transferred, but payment has not been released
If assets have been transferred, but payment has not been released, then both parties must agree to assets being returned and after they have been returned the seller must agree that they are happy for the sale to be cancelled and the buyer funds refunded before that can happen. Once the seller confirms, the sale can be canceled and if appropriate the seller enabled to relist.
If either party does not agree with the return of the assets; or once returned the seller does not believe that they are in the same state as they were transferred, then move to ‘4’ below.
4. Both parties do not agree that assets can be returned or payment has already been made or seller states assets were not the same as when transferred
In either of the situations noted above the matter is considered quite complex and quite serious. With both parties concerned about the sale and unhappy about the current situation we must look after both buyer and seller and at this point we must step away from the situation and introduce independent advice and impartial services.
We recommend that independent legal advice is sought or independent arbitration depending on the situation and country/location. For cross-border disputes this could include the ICDR – https://www.icdr.org/about_icdr.
It is important to note that if funds are held in howtobuysaas escrow they remain securely held in escrow and will only be released as advised by any legal or law enforcement body that contacts us with regards to a disputed sale.
5. Dispute is cancelled
When a dispute is cancelled the current situation with the sale remains as is.