I think I've been taken for a fool on eBay - please help

[emsiewill]

I feel so stupid.

I won an auction for a TV/DVD/VCR package on eBay on 14 December. The amount was higher than I can pay using my card on PayPal and I was informed by PayPal that it would take at least 4 working days to set up a bank account. As the seller wanted payment within 5 working days, and not wanting to get any negative feedback, I paid by personal cheque. The amount was £350 plus £70 delivery. They had a feedback score of 1051 (around that anyway), and the feedback I saw was OK.

They acknowledged the receipt of my cheque on 26 December, and it cleared my bank account on 4 January. Since then, nothing. I've tried to email them, but got an automated message saying they were having problems with their emails and to call. I called and called and called. Each time I have left a message, and had no response. I made my daily call today and got what sounded like a fax machine.

I have checked eBay today, and discovered that they are no longer registered with eBay. The recent feedback they have had (ie since I paid) has been pretty bad - not non delivery, just really late and not always what people thought they were getting. I have started a "item not delivered" thing with eBay, I have also emailed again, and am writing to them (had the address to send the cheque to). I have said I will take legal action.

Has anyone got any other ideas of what I can do to try and either get my goods or my money back? Or do I just have to put this one down to experience (a very expensive experience) and steer clear of expensive items on eBay from now on.

(Never had any problems with eBay before, btw)

Ouch, sounds iffy. I'd report it and hassle Ebay and the seller until you get a result. I know it'll be a PITA, but not as much of a PITA as seeing someone waltz off into the sunset with £420 of your money lining their pockets !

Do you mean southend on sea? We are on the trainline there.

You can take someone to Small Claims Court online now.

do you know anyone else having problems with this same seller?

Emsiewill...

had a quick look at one of the auctions and he's got an aol email account ([email protected]
)

AOL take things like this very seriously (dh works for them ) so forward all your emails and story/problems to [email protected]. If that fails you can cat me with the details and I'll pass it on to dh to take care off

MrsBigD, is that really true? AOL will be interested, even though it's nothing to do with them?

I will add it to my growing list of things to do to deal with this problem.

Once again, the power of mumsnet is proved. Thanks to you all, and I will keep you all posted.

Emma x

basically as far as I understand it AOL is very concerned about its 'good name' so if somebody is doing something wrong using an AOL account they like to do something about it. Not sure how quick they are but then again DH loathes people who rip other people off. Also if I were you and you have the sellers details I would post that guys details on ebay for everybody to see

emsiewill, if you have no joy and have to take legal action it's actually very easy and you can do it all online with Money Claim . I had to sue someone once (I'd ordered some chickens for £120 and they we always supposed to arrive 'next week') and didn't have any formal paperwork either other than my letter demanding the goods or the money back. It costs £25 or so but if you're successful the other party has to bear your costs too.
I ended up talking to the bailiff who went round to the woman's house - apparently she had loads of bad debts but I did get my money and costs back.

Well, here's an update. I got home this afternoon to a card through my door saying that I'd missed a delivery from Amtrak, which is the carrier the seller uses. No clues as to what the delivery is - we're hoping to go and collect the item tomorrow - so we will have to wait and see.

If it is my TV etc, what a concidence that it's arrived so quickly after a sent a letter threatening legal action (which I know they've had, as I sent it recorded delivery)

Let's hope the goods are all present, correct and in working order.

I will report back tomorrow.

well thats what happens when you send a threatening letter as they thought 'ooh bugger, better get on with this'

Good

So, the package arrived today. The TV and video are fine, as described. The DVD is brand new (supposed to be ex-display) and not multiregion as it was supposed to be. However, we really really don't want to send it back (can you imagine the pain that would cause), so I have found out how to unlock the DVD on the internet and make it multi-region, which seems to have worked. And we've ended up with a brand-new DVD, rather than an ex-display one.

What a load of hassle though.

After all my fine words about "I will never use eBay again" I bought something on there yesterday. Can't resist a bargain. This one is only £20, though.

Now you've got my curiosity up (ok, nosiness) and I'm wondering why do people sell brand new electrical items on ebay? Are they nicked to order (which would explain the delay in sending it) or are they bought by stolen credit cards and then flogged, or am I the world's biggest cynic or am I about to get sued for defamation?

Pleased that this all turned out ok in the end. £420 is a lot of money to lose....

some sell on ebay as a sideline to an actual shop, or find it cheaper to use ebay than to rent floor space.

Found out this evening that DH paid $5000 for soemthing he hasn't received and doubts he will ever receive. Dealer has disappeared and its unlikely he will be able to remedy the situation. Oh well...that's the risk of eBay.

ChickPea what was he buying - thats a fair bit of money to lose

Soapbox, it was medical equipment. Oh well...