I made a purchase on the Internet (Ebay) using my Debit Card and I never received the merchandise; is there anything the bank can do to help?

Very doubtful. This is why you should always use a credit card for such purchases. You can dispute them. With a debit card, you are out of luck in most cases.

I have never used it myself but Ebay has a payment system called PayPal that will give you some rights along what you are asking. I would stress that you use it in the future for your protection from identity theft. I would not want to give some unknown person my account information. Paypal acts as a protecting agent in this way.

I had a similar problem with E-bay and no merchandise. E-bay has a mediation program called "Square One" I believe. Its been a while since I had my issue. You can file your complaint with details which is reviewed by an E-bay staffer and forwarded onto the other party. You can also give "negative feedback" on the other party as well. After I lodged my complaint and threatened the negative feedback, the other party in my dispute sent me the items I had purchased. Also, the use of Paypal is a better and safer way to purchase items on E-bay. Good luck!

You absolutly can have your money refunded. You are protected under REG E. If you did not receive merchandise you will need to fill out a cardholder dispute form. You will need to write a letter to your bank stating you the circumstance. The bank will give you provisional credit. There is no way to prove if you did or didn't receive the merchandise. For this reason if poses a problem for banks. The bank is required to 'eat' the charge. So you can dispute anything. Banks don't want you to know this of course.

9 years in the debit card department (charge backs are my specialty)

Excuse me, my background is in lending regulations, but isn't the non-receipt of merchandise charge back reason applicable to credit card transactions and not debit card transactions?

Since you have 9 years experience in debit cards and charge backs are your specialty, I'm sure you can (and will) provide the section of Reg. E that alludes to non-receipt of merchandise quicker than I could look it up? Or does such a section in Reg. E exist?

Dan is right. Reg E involves Error Resolution, not consumer dissatisfaction.

There are additional rules with the Visa system that involve non-receipt of merchandise. If the transaction was routed through Visa (I'm not familiar w/MasterCard rules but I would guess that they're pretty similar) then there is a chargeback right for it. Visa doesn't make any distinction between their credit card or debit card as far as their disputes are concerned.

Thru Visa, you have to attempt to contact the merchant (person) that charged your account. After you have filled out the required paperwork, then you get your provisional credit. You have to help the bank out, or they can't help you Alot of times, the merchant will fix it on their own, then the bank doesn't have to get involved.