Buying on eBay can be risky. You spend time looking for a bargain, then setting up an account to buy, only to find out that your order hasn’t been fulfilled. Thankfully, eBay makes it really easy to handle these situations and allow you to continue to shop on the site with confidence.

Here are a few tips for resolving and preventing an issue when you don’t get your order.

1. Contact eBay first. While it’s okay to communicate with the seller about your lost item, many times they will give you a run around just to keep you on side. Most buyers do not know that they can open a case with eBay to find their missing item.

Sellers take advantage of this and continue to communicate with you knowing you may not do anything if they keep telling you the item is on its way. I purchased and item, communicating with my seller almost 10 days after I purchased. My seller kept promising the item would be shipped, it wasn’t until I filed a claim and contacted eBay that my seller provided me with tracking information and updated my shipping to Priority Mail. Let the seller know you are serious about receiving your item.

2. File a dispute. eBay has a Resolution Center where you can file claims for missing items. It doesn’t matter if the seller says he has shipped, will ship or has shipped. eBay will force the seller to provide proof of the shipped item. If the seller can not, eBay can automatically refund the order. In most cases, it’s important to let eBay handle this because they can make the decision to refund, even if the seller doesn’t want to.

3. Get tracking ahead of time. Some buyers make sure that they will receive tracking on their orders before purchasing. Tracking is so important because it lets you know how long your item will take to arrive. It also gives you the peace of mind knowing that your seller has fulfilled your order. Sadly, without a tracking number, a seller can claim an item has been shipped and you really wouldn’t know.

4. Update your address before buying. As a seller, I’ve almost been out the door with a package when I received a message from a buyer needing to update their shipping address. It’s important that you make sure all addresses are updated before buying an item. It can be difficult to update once your item is purchased and, often, sellers don’t look at messages. In reality, a seller is under no obligation to ship to an alternative address, not on your account. This means that you can lose your money and your item.