Help with eBay problem!

[Adam34996]

What is the name of your state? Ohio

Okay, I will try to make this as short as possible.

Back in summer, I was doing some selling on eBay. I had a bunch of dvds listed and was selling a $700 Philips TV. I sold everything and got an email from the buyer of the TV saying they never got it. Shortly after that I got a phone call from a lady that bought one of my dvds. She told me that she also recieved the TV. This was obviously my mistake because I shipped it to the wrong person.

I was thankful and she told me she would call me later in the week to arrange to have it shipped back. In the mean time, I refunded the original buyer for $700 so he didnt have to wait. Time went by.... She never called, so I emailed her and she emailed me back telling me that she was advised not to because she didnt want to be responsible for any damages so she said I had to come pick it up. She lives in my state but is almost 4 hours away but I had no choice so I agreed.

Weeks go by and she keeps telling me her mom is sick with cancer in the hospital and she would arrange for me to come in a couple of weeks. I was getting angry but I waited a month with no response.

Then I stopped getting any response out of her then I concluded she did not want to give it back. I have had no luck contacting her but I have her information from eBay.

I have printed out all of the evidence I could find, including the TV sale price, emails from her saying she couldnt ship it back ect....

I think my only action is small claims, which I have never done before so I wanted some advice. Do I have a case? I can not let her get away with $700 of mine.

 

[divgradcurl]

What is the name of your state? Ohio

Okay, I will try to make this as short as possible.

Back in summer, I was doing some selling on eBay. I had a bunch of dvds listed and was selling a $700 Philips TV. I sold everything and got an email from the buyer of the TV saying they never got it. Shortly after that I got a phone call from a lady that bought one of my dvds. She told me that she also recieved the TV. This was obviously my mistake because I shipped it to the wrong person.

I was thankful and she told me she would call me later in the week to arrange to have it shipped back. In the mean time, I refunded the original buyer for $700 so he didnt have to wait. Time went by.... She never called, so I emailed her and she emailed me back telling me that she was advised not to because she didnt want to be responsible for any damages so she said I had to come pick it up. She lives in my state but is almost 4 hours away but I had no choice so I agreed.

Weeks go by and she keeps telling me her mom is sick with cancer in the hospital and she would arrange for me to come in a couple of weeks. I was getting angry but I waited a month with no response.

Then I stopped getting any response out of her then I concluded she did not want to give it back. I have had no luck contacting her but I have her information from eBay.

I have printed out all of the evidence I could find, including the TV sale price, emails from her saying she couldnt ship it back ect....

I think my only action is small claims, which I have never done before so I wanted some advice. Do I have a case? I can not let her get away with $700 of mine.

Sue her in small claims court. She has something of yours she didn't pay for, she either needs to return it or pay for it. Maybe filing the suit will be sufficient for her to cough up the TV, and you won't have to actually go to court -- but if you do, take all of your evidence, and tell your story just like you did here, and see what happens.

 

[Adam34996]

If I file for small claims will it be in my area? Or will I have to go to her town?

 

[jennings85]

You have to file small claims cases where the defendent lives. In Illinois it costs about $100 or more to file a claim and serve a summons to appear. I don't know what it costs in Ohio. The Ohio attorney general probably has a website that would tell you these things. Do a search.

 

[jennings85]

Here is a link with info on where to sue for cyberspace issues.

http://www.lawsguide.com/mylawyer/guideview.asp?layer=3&article=400

 

[jorton56]

Unjust Enrichment

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=341924
Refer to the above thread and note racer72's post. You may ask an atty to write a ltr (for a nominal fee) to this person showing the rule of 'unjust enrichment' to maybe put a fire under her.
Hope this helps.

 

[Adam34996]

Okay thanks for all your help. I am a college student and have no experience with small claims, but what I have been told is that if I take her to small claims court and then I win, that doesnt mean that I will get my money if she doesnt have any?


Will hey force her to pay or to they just give me that verdict and I have to deal with it

 

[divgradcurl]

Okay thanks for all your help. I am a college student and have no experience with small claims, but what I have been told is that if I take her to small claims court and then I win, that doesnt mean that I will get my money if she doesnt have any?


Will hey force her to pay or to they just give me that verdict and I have to deal with it

If you win, you will get a judgment, and it's up to you to enforce the judgment -- in other words, you have to deal with it.

On the other hand, once you have a judgment, you can begin charging interest on the unpaid balance (at whatever rate is authorized by the court), and you have a lot of other means for collection available to you -- google "judgment enforcement illinois" for more information.

But simply filing the suit in the first place may be enough to light a fire under her -- don't worry about judgment collections just yet!

 

[jorton56]

Possibilities

url<http://www.dictionary.law.com>url

"unjust enrichment
n. a benefit by chance, mistake or another's misfortune for which the one enriched has not paid or worked and morally and ethically should not keep. If the money or property received rightly should have been delivered or belonged to another, then the party enriched must make restitution to the rightful owner. Usually a court will order such restitution if a lawsuit is brought by the party who should have the money or property."

A suggestion:
Keep a log of telephone calls.
Keep to show receipt showing payment and return of payment to original buyer of TV to show what you would have made from the sell of the TV.
Send a RRR letter requesting the return of your item at YOUR expense or to allow you to pick it up on such and such agreed upon time and date. Ask that she respond w/i 3 days to acknowledge request of either returning the item or making arrangements for you to pick it up. Let her know that otherwise you will be forced to take her to small claims court and let her know that you have all documentation from sell of item through Ebay, her emails acknowledging her receipt of the TV and tell her that if you are forced to file you will be asking the court to have her reimburse you for the filing fees and possibly travel expenses for filing in her county.
Maybe the thought of all of these possible expenses will make her realize that keeping your TV is not worth it.

 

[IrishNodak]

All excellent advice. I would certainly file. You can also renew the judgement if it expires before she pays it. I think the letter will probably scare her. My question: Did you report her to Ebay? Did you leave negative feedback?

 

[Adam34996]

I left positive feedback because she originally purchased a dvd from me, which she payed for promptly. By the time I figured out that there was a shipping mistake, it was too late. I did report her to eBay but I dont think there is much they can do about it because it does not violate any of there policies