Advice apprciated: Item not recieved

buzby22

I bought an ipod on ebay, and a few days later the seller was no longer registered on ebay. I sent a cheque off to the seller, they said they sent the item off, but Ive recived nothing, and now they wont respond to email, their mobile is always off, and the cheque has cashed. Ive opened up a dispute console within ebay, but they havent responded and i need to wait 10 days until I can escalate to a claim.

The thing is, does anyone know if there is more I can do? Should I contact trading standards, my bank to get the cheque retracted (is this possible?), the police? I serve to loose 260 pinds over this, I dont know how much I could get back from ebay via a claim.

Any help is most welcome on this matter.

VH

Don't waste time with trading standards, police, EBay, etc, none of them will be interested. Although you can complain to EBay there is no chance they will be able to get you a refund.

Your first priority should be to get your money back. Get in touch with your bank as soon as possible to see if it's still possible to retract the cheque.

Unfortunately by paying by cheque you have put yourself at much greater risk of losing money.

Despite what people will say about Paypal at least you have some chance of getting your money back with it.

Also keep trying to call the seller, sooner or later they are bound to turn their mobile on.

buzby22

I thought a cheque could be traced to an account at least. But the cash has been cashed already. I rang the bank and told them the story, they are getting back to me tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

VH

If you have a look on this board you will find cases where sellers have had cheques cleared and then the bank has clawed back the funds weeks later.

Chances are if you can prove fraud then your bank may well do this.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

buzby22

Ok, Ive already made it clear to the bank that its fraud, so ill keep pushing and see what happens

Altarf

VH wrote:

Don't waste time with trading standards, police, EBay, etc, none of them will be interested.

Even though they would probably take no action I would still report it to the police. You might be able to persuade them that a crime has taken place, rather than it just being a civil matter, and a knock on the door by a uniform may work wonders.

If you decided to pursue the person through the small claims court, firstly do a request on the land registry for the deeds for the address where the person lives (you sent a cheque so you should have this). It costs a couple of quid, but is cheaper than starting the action if you find that they don't have an interest in the property and are probably just renting and will just disappear.

If you intend going through with the small claims action, ask your bank to return the processed copy of the cheque to you. It will probably cost a small fee, but will show which bank the cheque was paid into. If you are successful with your small claims action, this is very useful to enforce the debt.

robowen

VH wrote:

Don't waste time with trading standards, police, EBay, etc, none of them will be interested. Although you can complain to EBay there is no chance they will be able to get you a refund.

QUOTE]


sorry to disagree VH
If everybody took this attitude, then nothing will change on ebay.
The more people get onto ebay and paypal to complain, the sooner they will realise that we will turn our backs on ebay if nothing changes.

I'm sick of ebay and paypal advertising how safe it is to trade and then do nothing to help. I'm willing to bet they can recover seller fees from you if you refuse to pay

There should be some kind of regulatory body who could penalise ebay for failing to sort these kinds of fraud out.

You are of course right when you say they can't do anything.
Ebay and Paypal are useless, toothless, faceless and emotionless when dealing with victims.

VH

I agree entirely that the EBay system is useless!

The point I was trying to make is that the buyer has paid by cheque and he now has £260 of his money sitting in someone else's account. Therefore Paypal protection is out of the window.

As far as I see it there are 2 possible courses of action:

1. Complain to EBay (or other equally powerless/uninterested bodies) and patiently sit around to wait for them to recover the money.
2. Attempt to recover the money himself via the bank.

I know which I would be doing!

Given that the seller is already suspended, what's the worse thing that EBay can do to them? You can't suspend someone twice!

If the bank can recover the funds then problem solved.

Bargainbabe_2

How far does he live away from you?

buzby22

too far to pay the person a visit. Ive contacted the bank and am awaiting their call as to if the funds can be retrieved.

I guess I should get in touch with the police on the matter too.

criminal_smile

The reason you won't find Trading Standards (TSS) getting involved is due to the lack of jurisdiction in this area. TSS have to follow specific guidelines when pursuing cases using current legislation. In the first instance, the Ebay seller must be a trader. Someone who sells goods from their bedroom is very rarely classed as a trader, and it can be impossible to prove that they are. If they are not a trader, then TSS cannot do anything, as the legislation used cannot be applied to private citzens. In these circumstances, the Police also have limited powers, although they can deal with cases of fraud perpertrated by private citizens against another. You should initially complain to all parties, TSS, the Police, Ebay, and Paypal if used. Some will not be able to act, but can at least be made aware of the problem with the seller.
For purchases over £100, it can be prudent to use a credit card. Section 75 of The Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes your credit company equally liable for the goods or services bought using the card. If you are then a victim of a fraud by a seller on Ebay, you may then be able to claim this money back from your card issuer.