HOw do I get my money back?

I live in MA and the woman who took my money lives in NJ. I bought an item on ebay from her and promptly paid her $89.98 by check. Its been over 2 months and she has not sent me my item. Ive emailed her several times, she kept telling me she had distributer issues and it was coming, but obviously never did. I tried going though ebay using square trade, paid them $20 and they did nothing since she didnt respond. I also found out she has done this to at least 5 other people. I want to get my money back and will take her to court. In MA, you can send a 30 day demand letter, but they say you dont have to send this letter if the person its for is out of state. What is the process for this? IS their a step before small claims? Ill take her if I have to (id rather not have to travel to NJ though) Is there a way for me to make her come up here? Who do I file with, NJ or MA and what do I need to file?

Thanks so much. There are many others on ebay who are having this same issue, and these answers will help all of us.
thanks!

It'll do you no good to file where you are at. You would have to file in NJ and you would be out more money by doing so. Why didn't square trade work? Did you get ebay guarantee on it? Your are pretty much out of luck.

Did you use the escrow payment service offered by EBAY? Have you complained to EBAY and also posted a comment on this seller's feedback to say that she is unreliable?

square trade didnt work because its voluntary, so if 1 party doesnt want to cooperate, they cant force them too. Her ebay account has been suspended since others have complained about her, and yes I left negative feeback, as did the others, but nothing was done. Ebay does have rules that say the seller must send item, bla bla bla, but the only punishment is suspending their account, and they can open another one the next day. As a matter of fact, another ebayer found that she was working under a few other ID's and had been suspended before under a different ID.

So are you telling me that I am to just sit back and let her take my money? There must be something I can do. I have no problem traveling to NJ if it means making an example of her.

clk430kmr said:

So are you telling me that I am to just sit back and let her take my money? There must be something I can do. I have no problem traveling to NJ if it means making an example of her.

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You can't sue her in your state b/c your state has no jurisdiction over her's. If it means that much to you, do go to her state and sue. Since it is small claims, do it in the county she lives in.

Other advise: ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS use a credit card when buying from any place online. If something like this (or similar) happens, you can dispute the charge w/ your cc company (I've done this b/c of Ebay; I didn't have to pay at all as I never received the item). Also, always check the seller's feedback record. If there are lots of it, and mostly (I like at least 95%) positive, you will be more likely satisfied with your purchase.

Report back and let us know what you did and what happened! Best of luck to you!

Thanks for the advice.

I wanted to pay with paypal actually, but she said she just signed up for her account and it was taking time to verifty so it wasnt working at the time. I needed the item asap so I sent her a check. Oh well.
thanks again

https://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/welcome.htm
This can carry up 5 years & $25,000 fine.
Other options:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/fraud
You also might want to post your complaint on the e-bay buyers board (under community, then message boards). The more people that make complaints against her, the higher the chance of criminal charges being filed (at least in my experience, there is a lady in TN doing 8 months right now! ).
Good Luck!
KAT

Thanks, i will check out that link. I have posted in ebay and was told that some people get offended when people post bad things about others. So, I posted again being more generic about it. To me, the only people who would get annoyed with a post exposing someone would be someone who has done something wrong.

clk430kmr said:

Thanks, i will check out that link. I have posted in ebay and was told that some people get offended when people post bad things about others. So, I posted again being more generic about it. To me, the only people who would get annoyed with a post exposing someone would be someone who has done something wrong.

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**A: NO, I also get annoyed over ebay posts.

Paypal is not a guarantee like you think it is!

clk430kmr said:

Thanks for the advice.

I wanted to pay with paypal actually, but she said she just signed up for her account and it was taking time to verifty so it wasnt working at the time. I needed the item asap so I sent her a check. Oh well.
thanks again

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Believe me, paying through paypal does not guarantee you a refund of your payment if the item is not received. I paid $2955.00 through paypal for a minichopper listed on Ebay, and did not receive the bike. Long story short, seller owns Minimaxmachines in Eugene Oregon and through research, I found out that he has stiffed quite a bit of people for some large amounts of money. With paypal, you have 30 days to file a claim for non receipt of goods, after that, NOTHING! You can't even file a claim with them. I therefore, was able to file 2 claims, because I made 3 separate payments on 3 separate invoices that the seller sent me through paypal. I was within the 30 day period for 2 of the three which totalled $1970.00

Paypal found the seller to be at fault, and refunded me a total of $232.58! That's it! That amount was taken from the sellers paypal account and credited to mine. Anthony Newton the seller still owes me a balance of $2722.42 that I obviously need to recover myself! I too am looking for ways to prosecute this thief, along with 4 other victims that I have been in contact with and who also have been ripped off for money and bike parts combined. I live in Hilo Hawaii, and two of the other five victims live in, Colorado & Missouri. All 5 of us would like to prosecute him any and every way we can! We are currently in contact with a deputy in Eugene, OR and submitted our information to him. What is a 30-day Demand Letter? Where can I find a copy of it? Thank you for your time and assistance in advance!
Would appreciate any and all suggestions.

Well I have some good news regarding this issue.

I finally decided to call the police dept where this woman lives. Originally I figured they wouldnt do anything, but they are actually and I think the fact its a small town of 20,000 is working for me. They opened a case and are currently working with her to send me my item. The detective told me they dealt with her before on this issue and when they did she promptly sent the item out. If I dont get my item, they will take a statement from me and file charges against her.