Most deals close without any of this. But if delivery doesn't match what was agreed, here's exactly how a dispute plays out from start to finish.
Every deal has a dispute action right inside its chat — you don't need to contact support first or wait for a specific step in the process. You can raise a dispute any time before you've confirmed receipt, including the moment a seller marks a deal delivered if what you got doesn't match the listing.
The moment a dispute is opened, the held payment is frozen — it can't be released to the seller and the 72-hour auto-release window stops counting down. Nothing moves until the review is finished, so opening a dispute never risks funds slipping through to the wrong side while it's being looked at.
Explain what's wrong directly in the deal chat — that thread, including whatever the seller already delivered and said, is what our team reviews. There's no separate dispute form to fill out; the more specific you are about what doesn't match the listing, the faster it's reviewed.
A person on our team reads the full deal chat, the original listing, and both accounts' history, then decides how the payment should be released: fully to the seller, fully refunded to the buyer, or split, depending on what actually happened. We'll typically ask follow-up questions in the chat if something's unclear before deciding.
Once reviewed, the payment is released according to that decision — there's no further action needed from either side. A refund returns to the buyer's original payment method; a release to the seller lands in their Siterifty wallet the same way a normal confirmed delivery would.
For what's guaranteed to each side beyond the dispute process itself, see Buyer Protection and Seller Protection.