What would you do if you saw a stolen item on Ebay?

[bendmeoverbackwards]

I had a burglary about 18 months ago and lost pretty much all my jewellery.

Was browsing on Ebay recently and came across a ring that looks very similar to one that was stolen at the time. I'm not 100% sure but it does look very similar.

What would you do? It is an auction that has about 5 days left to run and has already had quite a few bids.

Did you claim on insurance? You could alert the insurance company that you think it’s yours and let them look into it.

Yes claimed on insurance and got a cash settlement.

Would they get involved now as the claim is done and dusted?

Might be worth a call. Anything that’s recovered now belongs to them. They do have recovery people for high value items or did, back in the mists.

Or you could buy it to see if it’s really yours and then report the seller to the police, but they might just be a dealer.

Have you checked "sellars other items" to see if there is anything else listed???

@omgthepain I just checked other items and nothing else there.

Is the seller in your area?

No, in the north of England (I’m in London). But I’ve heard that stolen jewellery can end up anywhere.

Was it a piece you'd had made? If it was from a high street store then I doubt it's yours, but if it's recognisable because it's unique, that's very different.

My mum gave it to me years ago. It’s a garnet cluster ring and the arrangement of the stones is quite common but the setting has fancy gold work which is quite unusual.

I would be telling the insurance people but also that I was going to try to bid for it and get it back.

This is a very mad story but...

At our library they have automated machines, you can punch in a random number and if it belongs to an account you can borrow against it. Someone did this to us and took out 12 DVD’s. We had fines but they scrapped them once they realised they had a major security loop hole.

Anyway the DVD’s turned up on eBay. I reported it to eBay in the end I think? They were taken down x

I sold someone something online, and they paid by Paypal but claimed it had not arrived. Luckily, unbeknown to or missed by the customer I'd sent it tracked, and had proof of postage and a signature.

They claimed non delivery via Paypal, despite me entering the tracking details, Paypal sided with them and refunded.

Next it appeared on ebay using MY original photos which I'd trimmed the background of.

So I got onto Paypal (this was when they were owned by or owned ebay) and emailed over the whole saga. I then phoned them and alerted ebay it was stolen items. Eventually got my money back. But I don't really think it was worth my time for less than £20, it was the principle of the matter.