Ebay Item Not Received. Paid by Bank Transfer.

Hi everyone. Wonder if anyone can advise, I’m in a bit of a funny ebay situation here. I consider myself as an experienced ebay user. I buy & sell as a hobby.

My boyfriend, who hardly used ebay, bought me a Christmas present on the site 3 weeks ago and still hasn’t received it. He mentioned problem paying by paypal because of the limit or something, can't use paypal or paid by credit card. He didn’t want to wait, so he contacted the seller that he would pay by bank transfer and the transaction was completed a couple of days later.

He’s been panicking for a couple of weeks now that it hasn’t arrived, and the seller failed to reply his emails or calls. He only got the seller’s landline number but it went straight to answer phone everytime. He didn’t tell me it’s for me - only said he bought a video game and might be scammed! He wasn’t willing to talk about it or let me look at his ebay item/ transaction as he didn’t want to spoil the surprise I guess. So without him knowing, I went on Goofbay.com and check out what he bought (that's b4 I knew it was my xmas present), it’s a computer costed just over £800 by a seller with only 1 feedback. Somehow the auction looked genuine. With more searching on goofbay.com, I found out this seller had sold a few items last month but only one person had left him feedback. I contacted one of the guys who bought from him but didn’t leave the seller feedback. He replied the next day saying the seller seemed like a genuine bloke and he even gave me his address because he picked up his item from the seller’s flat, unfortunately he deleted his mobile number. The seller also told this guy he’s moving away to Singapore in Dec therefore selling off stuff etc. I also found out under the same account he was selling a car about a week ago and there was an email address & mobile no. there for viewing/ test drive. The name, however, is not the seller himself.

I didn’t want my boyfriend to know that I was trying to help, (from his ebay knowledge, he only knew to contact the guy who left feedback and not knowing he sold other things inc. a car which had no feedback), so I forward the seller’s address and the car auction’s contacts to my boyfriend’s dad, who knew he had problem with ebay. I was hoping then his dad would tell my b’f about this seller’s address etc. His dad then used my info to do an internet search on the seller. Apparently his flat is for sale, and his brief CV was also posted on internet. From there we knew this person actually has a really good job (high-flying I say) and had worked abroad a lot. Not only we found his CV but there are few websites had his name mentioned, these are more like an industry journals and he is well-respected in the industry he's working in. According to his CV he should be in Singapore working right now! All we want to find is his mobile number to speak to him in person!!! I can’t log into my b’f ebay acc to request seller’s details, I’ve told him to do so but not sure if he’s worked it out.

Even though the auction seems genuine and the seller (from other 2 buyers’ experience) sounds like a decent guy, he just disappeared. No emails and no item! So where should we go from here? The most silliest thing is my b’f paid over £800 by bank transfer. If I had looked at the auction b4 he bought I definitely wouldn't suggest him to do do with somebody who had 0 feedback (when he won the item the seller had no feedback) and with this amount of money. It looks to me the chance of getting back the money is bleak.

What does everyone think? Any suggestions what we can do now to get hold of the seller or get the money back? (it’s too far to go to his address). Obviously I’m not supposed to know all this about the £800 computer, my boyfriend only told me he bought a video game for £30 and asked me for advices.

Thanks in advance!