Ebay small claim court, success !! But now won't pay

Premier_2

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Yes, sorry I'm not disputing that.

The point I am making is that every method of enforcement involves a court fee, and requires you to have some information about the debtor (bank account with funds for a garnishee order; details of employment for an attachment of earnings order, etc). If you have a debtor who had no job, no money, and doesn't mind moving on a fairly regular basis (which may even be necessary to avoid their other creditors) then you may never see your money.

Many people may think that is worth the risk - but equally many people think that once they have a CCJ the debtor has got to pay them the money, when in fact that is not always the case.

Or you can apply for an Order to obtain information.

This will order the defendant to court to supply the required information. I think a bailiff can be instructed to arrest the person if they fail to attend.
(not 100% sure of that)

You are right, this all costs money which if the defendant can't pay, means the claimant suffers the loss.

As I often say when suggesting legal action against someone, make sure they have the ability to pay before you start - unless you just want a CCJ against them, in which case stop when you've got it. If they already have one or more, there really is little to be gained by adding to the list.

Unfortunately it also costs money to find out if someone has a CCJ (£4.50 last time I did - it's probably more now), and that cost is not recoverable. (Edit: it now appears to cost £8.00 to do so online, whoever suggested computers make things cheaper?)

cyril82

i think it's worth pointing out so as not to give the wrong impression to anyone reading this thread that the kind of problems with enforcing a warrant being discussed here represent the minority of cases and not the majority.

Most people would wish to avoid a ccj and simply pay up on receipt of court papers to try and avoid a ccj being registered against them.

i have used the county court and even just the threat of county court action to recover debts due many times, mainly from businesses but from some individuals too and unless they are either professional con merchants or having wider financial difficulties the chances they would choose to pack up all their belongings and go on the run, especially over a couple of hundred quid, are pretty slim.

And you do not have to proceed if the debt is hard to enforce and becomes expensive without guarantee of success you can stop the process and leave it at the fact you have recorded judgement against him which will affect his future credit, not quite what you wanted but stops him getting away scott free.

redsclubbedup

hi all, thanks for the input - the latest update is as follows:

contacted the court, even if he has moved house, as this was his previous address then the courts decision still stands apparently. but it is now up to me to locate him, before I can then ask for a bayliff to go in

have spoken to a friend who used ot be in the force, and he has said to contact eh local station , as they may take it on as a case of fraud.

justpaper

I say keep at it, the figure is £520 not £250, And its YOUR money i noticed a few memebers saying "is it worth it" well its not their flipping money of course if it was their money they would have a different view,

I remember a story on ebay forum (then ebay forum deleted it) about a guy who brought / sold a phone only to be ripped off,
He took them to court of course they never came, and he gave them a good run for his money, I think he made them move home a few times, He did have his own site up dont know what happened about it tho ... Anyone remember ? was posted on here aswell

Debt_Free_Chick

justpaper wrote: »

I say keep at it, the figure is £520 not £250, And its YOUR money i noticed a few memebers saying "is it worth it" well its not their flipping money of course if it was their money they would have a different view

I am one of those.

To be clear, my question is "Is it worth spending more money, in the knowledge that you may get absolutely nothing back".

One has to be clear that spending more money does not guarantee payment from the debtor. It's a gamble and each individual has to decide whether it's a gamble they wish to take.

Lucyxx

Premier wrote: »

The court should have advised you how to go about enforcing judgement if needed.

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/enforcement/index.htm

Thanks for that link Premier, we are just about to start proceedings against someone/his business for non payment (non ebay related) of which we are 100% confident we will win.

The only thing I spotted on the link is (and I might be reading it wrong or missing something) is that it says it will not help with enforcement if the judgement is under £600. Do you know what would happen then??

I'm not sure how much it will be for our claim, but the amount we are owed is approx £430 I think it is unlikely it will come to £600 in total with the fee added on.

Is there anything for people in that situation to help with enforcement? I'm pretty sure this guy will stall payment having just made a sucessful judgement against someone himself, he'll know all about that side of things I'm sure. I also think a lot of ebay related claims will be under that amount.

Luc xx

redsclubbedup

through the joys of facebook have tracked his ex girlfriend down, and she was only too happy to give me his new address and details and told me hes currently doing pretty nicely for himself and has the money to pay me !

i cant believe anyone would be so stupid to try and avoid paying once the court found against them - if he had paid within a month he could have asked to not receive the CCJ (at the courts discretion) but now, regardless he will get one

Lucyxx

redsclubbedup wrote: »

through the joys of facebook have tracked his ex girlfriend down, and she was only too happy to give me his new address and details and told me hes currently doing pretty nicely for himself and has the money to pay me !

i cant believe anyone would be so stupid to try and avoid paying once the court found against them - if he had paid within a month he could have asked to not receive the CCJ (at the courts discretion) but now, regardless he will get one

Good old facebook!!!!

justpaper

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

I am one of those.

To be clear, my question is "Is it worth spending more money, in the knowledge that you may get absolutely nothing back".

One has to be clear that spending more money does not guarantee payment from the debtor. It's a gamble and each individual has to decide whether it's a gamble they wish to take.

True, there is no guarantee, but a good amount hope, if it gets to the point you put in 3x what your hunting down, and your not getting no where then you should re-think about it,

Seems like OP is doing good tho,

Premier_2

Lucyxx wrote: »

Thanks for that link Premier, we are just about to start proceedings against someone/his business for non payment (non ebay related) of which we are 100% confident we will win.

The only thing I spotted on the link is (and I might be reading it wrong or missing something) is that it says it will not help with enforcement if the judgement is under £600. Do you know what would happen then??

I'm not sure how much it will be for our claim, but the amount we are owed is approx £430 I think it is unlikely it will come to £600 in total with the fee added on.

Is there anything for people in that situation to help with enforcement? I'm pretty sure this guy will stall payment having just made a sucessful judgement against someone himself, he'll know all about that side of things I'm sure. I also think a lot of ebay related claims will be under that amount.

Luc xx

The link is a little confusing, but let me help clarify.

The £600 limit only applies to warrant of executions - there are other ways to enforce judgement e.g. attachement of earnings where the debt only needs to be £50
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/enforcement/ae/index.htm

However, the minimum £600 limit on warrant of execution only applies to when you need to ask the sheriff's officer (nowadays often called an enforcement officer) to collect. This only applies when the warrant was issued by the High Court.

If the warrant of execution was issued by the county court, you can ask the county court bailiff to enforce it and I don't think there is any lower limit in that case (just an upper limit of £5000)