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Ebay Buyer Check Fraud / Mail Fraud / Grand Theft

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califb

Junior Member
Hello! I live in California and the other party lives in Illinois. A short while back I listed for sale a beautiful older hand made Amish horse harness on Ebay (the actual listing for the harness is below). I had just purchased the harness a couple of days before from a person in Ohio.

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1060591878

I assured the person that won the auction for the harness that it was in very good condition, and that it was older but that it was completely useable and sound. I also told him that it came with a 100% money back guarantee if he wasn't happy with it in any way. (I have copies of all of our correspondence from the time of the purchase).

The buyer told me that he was having problems using the online payment company called PayPal and so he would be sending me a Postal money order for $344.00 right away. Two weeks later I E mailed him because I hadn't yet received the MO. He replied that he would be sending it the next day as soon as he could get to the bank.

Several days later I was surprised to see that his payment had finally arrived but he had instead sent a personal check - after we had agreed that he would be sending a Postal money order. But since I also (at the time) accepted personal checks I didn't have a problem with this.

A few days before I had deposited a much larger check from a woman in Maine that had cleared her bank in three days, so I waited four days and when the check wasn't returned I shipped the harness to him.

Five days later (nine days after depositing the check) I received it back in the mail. It was stamped that his checking account had insufficient funds. I immediately E mailed him asking him to send a cashier's check or money order right away. (He never contacted me in any way that he had received the harness or that there were any problems whatsoever).

He wrote back and said that our agreement was that the money would be in his account ONLY if the harness was in the new condition that I guaranteed him it would be in. He also said that he had the bank hold onto the check until the harness arrived so he could stop payment if necessary. He said that he took the harness down to the bank manager and had her inspect it prior to her agreeing to stop payment on his check. (I received nothing but the check back saying his account had insufficient funds)

I told him that stopping payment was completely unnecessary and that I would have gladly refunded his money immediately, all he had to do was to tell me that he was unhappy. He was rude and hostile and said that the harness was damaged (it was not) and that I had committed fraud - and that he had every right to do what he did.

He then told me that in order for me to get my harness back I had to send him a USPS pre-paid shipping label within 30 days. He said that if it didn't arrive within 30 days he would consider the harness abandoned and would sell it.

I went to the Post office and they told me that this was impossible and that someone cannot send someone else a pre-paid shipping label, that this had never been something that could be done. They also said that he could return it to me COD and he would be reimbursed by the USPS for the shipping costs of $27.00 when the package was delivered. I wrote to him and told him what the post office told me and to please send it COD to which he did not reply.

Three days later I sent him another E mail telling him that if he didn't return my harness I would have to consider it stolen... and that according to Illinois law if it was worth more then $300 it would be felony grand theft. (I sent him a copy of the Illinois law).

He replied immediately that he had turned the harness over to his attorney who would be contacting me, and that he was not communicating with me any further. This was three days ago and so far his "Attorney" has not contacted me. All I want is my harness back but I don't have a clue on how to go about it since we are in different States.

Thank you!
 


H

HankHill

Guest
It's not grand theft. He didnt't steal it from you, you gave it to him. What you have here is a broken contract. To get your money or return of the thing, you have to sue him in small claims court in his state. It's your own dumbass fault for taking a personal check. Now you have to decide if the aggravation of traveling to sue him is worth the lousy 300 bucks. Bet it costs you more to do that in the long run. BTW--all that crap about getting a check from somebody else that clears in 4 days or whatever is just sorry sap garbage that might help you justify your piss-poor decision to yourself, but has nothing to do with anything.
 

califb

Junior Member
Updated Info

LOL to the comments in the previous post...

Anway, I telephoned his bank today and inquired whether he had actually stopped payment on the check as he had claimed or if the account had non sufficient funds as was stamped on his returned check. His bank told me that in fact both had taken place. They said that the check had already bounced when he came in later that same day and stopped payment on it.
 
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C

connerempire

Guest
HankHill proudly displays his ****brains

Don't listen to this HankHill chick. She's way off the mark. Califb, let me tell you the way it is, and HankHill, you should read this too, you might actually learn something for once.

HankHill, our favorite dumb-ass, has mentioned that you're dealing with a broken contract. What ****brains doesn't know is that a personal check IS a contract. (Gee, HankHill, do you think that's why you have to sign the thing?!) You weren't in the wrong for accepting a personal check. Sure, it would have been easier if it were a cashier's check or a money order.

You see, HankHill, if your drunken logic were true and Calfb is just screwed for accepting a personal check, then all the retail stores, banks and lenders would be in trouble and financial anarchy would occur. The reason is because we all use personal checks to buy our groceries, clothes and to pay our bills. The electric company calls to tell me my check bounced? "Hell," I say, "HankHill says that's YOUR problem, you shouldn't have accepted my personal check to begin with. Now I'm free from paying my electric bill this month."

HankHill, I've read several of your posts. You're quite unique: you're an *******, you're condescending AND you have no sense of logic. Man, you make this too easy.
 

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