Bank won't allow me to chargeback, Are they ripping me off?

I bought a phone on craigslist for £400 for a iphone 6 32gb and I did a bank transfer however the seller isn't responding after I have sent them the payment.

I went to my bank and asked to do a chargeback but they said they can't do a chargeback on my debit card.

Why can't they? How can I make my bank do a chargeback on my card?

You can only do a chargeback on a credit card.

You got scammed by the seller of the iphone, not the bank.

Debit cards are NOT credit cards… Chargebacks are only possible on credit cards

That's the risk you take using a debit card instead of a credit card or paypal, I doubt you can force a chargeback, you may have to pursue legal action against the seller, maybe communicate with their bank, debit cards are like writing a check, they probably don't have as much information on the payee as when they have a merchant account for handing CCs.