Dead beat Seller- what to do?

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Family emergency or not, the item should have been sent out. He's had your money for three weeks. Surely he has not sat inside his home the entire time. He has probably driven down to the store to get some food, or to the hospital to visit the sick relative. I'm sure it wouldn't have been too hard to find a post office. Family emergencies are tough on people, I know, I've experienced my fair share of them. However, after nearly three weeks of holding onto the money, I would definitely be worried.
 
I had similar situation like this with a lens from Australia. I did not go around trashing the sellers reputation, I waited it out. Two months later said lens showed up at my door. Get this, it only took maybe a week to get to Toronto but it sat for about two months in a Canada Customs warehouse. I gave the seller a postive rating in the end. It never pays to trash people online, you just never know when you will meet them in person.
Family illness, convienant excuse. Having been through 3 closes calls with mom and dad's terminal illness last year, I still had time to answer emails, however brief. Your call on how to go forward with this issue. I'm glad it ain't me.

Bill
 
George S. said:
I'm sorry, ray, you make a valid point. I didn't see it from the seller's point of view, that he may be reading this thinking how rotten we all are for doubting him, and thankfully, his name hasn't been publicized. (But it HAS been 3 weeks...)
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There definitely are valid points all around. No need to apologize, George, we were all just expressing our opinions. And mine was just an observation - not siding with anyone. I too would be upset if I were in Bruce's shoes. I hope all works out well.
 
It's been two (not three) weeks since 20 December -- and two of the busiest weeks of the year. That's 8 business days. Even if the poor fellow was not caring for someone, that is not a huge amount of time, especially if the item really is on its way. Where is the seller located vis-a-vis the buyer?

Compassion is the better part of valor, I think. Better to believe him and be wrong, and take steps next week, than to doubt and be wrong.
 
Wren,
I don't look at it as business days, I would look at it that way if the seller had said the item was mailed and it hadn't yet arrived, but that's not the case, or I'm sure the seller would have found the time to email and say so. He's still had 14 days (not 8) to make it right or at least, email and put the buyer's mind at ease. That's entirely too long to go without contact if you're holding someone's money.
 
I suppose you are correct, it could have been worded differently. I just have a gut feeling that I have been had. I have asked him repeatedly for either the money back or the item to no avail, for almost a week now. This, after being told twice he was going to ship the item, but not having done so. It is not so much a matter of if I want to go through with the transaction, I just want my money or the item, and right now I have neither.
I am afraid that my options are limited, and I am really just looking for advice as to how to handle it. Clearly I am not the first person to run into this sort of thing.
 
George

I see your point, but one week (the seller emailed last on 27 December, I believe) would not be too long for me in this case -- to start any action, but I admit I would be worried.

David
 
Bruce A said:
Never having been in this position before, I need some advice. From a member of this forum, I agreed to purchase a product he had on the classifieds. I sent the money order, he received it back on the twentieth of december, said he would send it out in a day or two. On the 27th I emailed him asking if it had been sent, he said he had sick family menber, was running late but would get it out in a day or two. On the second I emailed, asking that if the item was not going to be sent , just send my money back, no harm, no foul. No response. On the third i repeated my request, again no reponse.
I don't want to be unreasonable, having had sickness/family problems of my own, but I would really just like my money or the item. It seems he has had my money long enough to either return it, or send the item.
Bow would you all proceed?
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It's not me, is it? Because sometimes I'm afraid to read my mail; it might be bad news!
 
Unpacking today, I just found my payment to Sherry Krauter that I thought I sent before the holidays and before I moved...Got it out today but I feel BAD. Sh*t happens.
 
a while back i was waiting for an item from an ebay seller.
and i waited.
and then i was pissed off.

so i emailed him.
and i emailed him again.
and again.

and nothing in return.
i was seeing red.

and then one day i decide to clean out my email delete bin.
and there were ALL of the sellers responses.
for some reason, all his emails had been directed to my delete bin.

it was an embarrassing email that i had to send to him afterwards...

joe
 
This person received your money on December 20th ?
Family emergency or not, your package should have gone out to you within 48 hours.
It takes but a few minutes out of one's time to have the courtesy of boxing the item up and bringing it to the P.O. or local UPS depot.
If I were you, I would have been screaming bloody murder at the person starting on the 27th. One week is enough. Period.
It is far past the time to obtain the person's phone # however you can and/or to file a police complaint.

My .02
 
Bruce A said:
As far as being in the public, I have never said who this person is. I really don't want to slam someone who may genuinely be overwhelmed.
My concern is that he has had my money for 2.5 weeks, has three times in that time said he would send it out in a day or two, has not, and has now quite answering emails entireley, going back to the 27th.
It would take two seconds to communicate with me. Lots of red flags.
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You got a prob now I#d say. Question is what can you do ? What do you really know about this guy ? How many posts/threads, subscribing date, numberof offered items, what kinda e-mail adress and so on. You sent the money to a bank account ? If so police maybe can help you.
And If this guy is still in the forum here you should make his name public before others step in that trap too..
bertram
 
During Christmas Week?

During Christmas Week?

I think that is unreasonable - 48 hours turnaround so close to Christmas. While I would line up at the post office to get out something that I had sold, I would not expect a seller to line up in the Christmas Week madness. I've told sellers as much.


flamingo said:
This person received your money on December 20th ?
Family emergency or not, your package should have gone out to you within 48 hours.
It takes but a few minutes out of one's time to have the courtesy of boxing the item up and bringing it to the P.O. or local UPS depot.
If I were you, I would have been screaming bloody murder at the person starting on the 27th. One week is enough. Period.
It is far past the time to obtain the person's phone # however you can and/or to file a police complaint.

My .02
Click to expand...
 
You all have had good ideas, and I have learned some lessons. Hopefully the lesson I will have learned is that I worry too much and all is well.
Unfortunatley the red flags are many and I should have looked closer. He only had a few posts here, all about selling somethings, last post the end of november. In one of his adds he referenced his ebay feedback, lists three different names. When I checked these out, only one is real, it only has a few postings.
I cannot find a phone number for his name and address. Unlisted I supposse. Good lessons for all.
Over the years I have bought waay tooo much stuff from places like here and ebay, and this is the first time I have ever had a problem, other than maybe something being described better than it was.
I have sold some stuff, not near enough, and the big lesson I have learned is to be straight up with people. Send stuff out as soon as you can, when you say you are going to, provide tracking numbers, answer emails. If you are not willing to do that you probably shouldn't be trying to sell things on line.
 
Unfortunatley the red flags are many and I should have looked closer. He only had a few posts here, all about selling somethings, last post the end of november. In one of his adds he referenced his ebay feedback, lists three different names. When I checked these out, only one is real, it only has a few postings....
Click to expand...
Oh, no.... You have to at least know who you're dealing with here. Someone that just posts to sell something with not much of a history is a BIG red flag. However, maybe the guy is being sincere and he is a bit slow. Yes, hopefully he's just slow. 😎
 
Update. After numerous non- replied emails, ignored snail mail letter, I went to the police of this sellers home town. I gave them copies of all my emails and such, and they went after the guy. The tripod arrived today, after he was given the choice by the ploice of returning my money, shipping the item , or getting charged with a crime.
Lesson learned- be careful who you buy from, get a phone number, not just an email and physical address, keep copies of everything. If all else fails, the police will follow up on this sort of thing.
Now, should I ought the seller here? I feel that I should, what do you all think?
 
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