This is an update to an earlier review.
Your purchases are supposedly "protected" and you can open a "case" if things don't go well. I was sold a ring that was mis-sized. When contacted about it, the seller even admitted it ran small, but had not put that into the description. I asked for an exchange, but the seller wouldn't comply. I didn't want a refund - I just wanted a ring that fit. Opened a "case" and the seller changes his story and claims the ring was not mis-sized. A month later, Tophatter decides I don't get either an exchange or a refund. What I didn't realize was that sometime during that period, they had inserted a note into the case saying I needed to submit a photo of the ring on a ring sizer printout within three days or the case would be closed with no refund. I did not see that note, despite the fact I had checked nearly daily for progress on the site.
They don't send you emails nor any other sort of notification - you have to search around the site to see any responses. It's a strange set up. If you go to "Cases," which is where you are to go to open a dispute, you see three tabs. The first one is "Action Required." It always says, "You have no cases to display" even when you have open cases. This is where I feel that note to me should have appeared - right out in the open telling me what I needed to do. Instead, it was under the third tab, labeled "Open cases" which I had to open and search and finally found the note at the bottom of the page. Since I didn't see it, I lost my chance for a refund. However, I don't think I would be able to take a photo which would adequately show the difference in size unless there was a huge disparity in size.
Next, another seller never got around to shipping my item. They printed a shipping label, but there was no evidence the item ever shipped. First they said the post office just hadn't scanned it yet. Then after three weeks, they said they'd send another, but they never did, even though they later claimed they had. I opened another case, and this time Tophatter staff resolved it in about 2 days and decided to require the seller to give me a refund.
They ask you to rate sellers, but they only display about three ratings - and they are never negative ones. So you really have no way of knowing with whom you are dealing. There are some honest sellers there, but unfortunately, those who just don't care have spoiled it for me. UPDATE: I just went to rate the seller of the ring - and I have been shut out of rating him!
I've been an eBayer for over 10 years and never had an incident like these. I was a "Tophatter" for about a month. But not sure if I'll continue.