eBay Seller - Want To File Charges

[JasonInMD]

Good afternoon. Looking for help/advice, as I can’t understand why the online world is such a free for all compared to our physical space.

I purchased something from an eBay seller for close to 200 dollars in October. They never sent my item, and ignored ten separate messages asking for an update. They have also ignored eBay when they reach out.

From my standpoint, this seller stole my money. It’s no different than coming up to me on the street, taking 200 dollars out of my pocket, and then disappearing into the night. I want to file theft charges against them. I want to impel eBay to give me their name and address so I can call the local police in their area and report them. I also want to do whatever else I can to motivate them to stop screwing people over online. Is this possible? How would I go about doing it?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

 

[Just Blue]

Good afternoon. Looking for help/advice, as I can’t understand why the online world is such a free for all compared to our physical space.

I purchased something from an eBay seller for close to 200 dollars in October. They never sent my item, and ignored ten separate messages asking for an update. They have also ignored eBay when they reach out.

From my standpoint, this seller stole my money. It’s no different than coming up to me on the street, taking 200 dollars out of my pocket, and then disappearing into the night. I want to file theft charges against them. I want to impel eBay to give me their name and address so I can call the local police in their area and report them. I also want to do whatever else I can to motivate them to stop screwing people over online. Is this possible? How would I go about doing it?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

What state?

 

[JasonInMD]

Maryland, but no idea where the seller is located. I only have a username for them, no name or address.

 

[Zigner]

Good afternoon. Looking for help/advice, as I can’t understand why the online world is such a free for all compared to our physical space.

I purchased something from an eBay seller for close to 200 dollars in October. They never sent my item, and ignored ten separate messages asking for an update. They have also ignored eBay when they reach out.

From my standpoint, this seller stole my money. It’s no different than coming up to me on the street, taking 200 dollars out of my pocket, and then disappearing into the night. I want to file theft charges against them. I want to impel eBay to give me their name and address so I can call the local police in their area and report them. I also want to do whatever else I can to motivate them to stop screwing people over online. Is this possible? How would I go about doing it?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

Has eBay refunded your money? If yes, then you've been made whole. If not, why not?

This is a contractual matter, pure and simple.

 

[quincy]

Good afternoon. Looking for help/advice, as I can’t understand why the online world is such a free for all compared to our physical space.

I purchased something from an eBay seller for close to 200 dollars in October. They never sent my item, and ignored ten separate messages asking for an update. They have also ignored eBay when they reach out.

From my standpoint, this seller stole my money. It’s no different than coming up to me on the street, taking 200 dollars out of my pocket, and then disappearing into the night. I want to file theft charges against them. I want to impel eBay to give me their name and address so I can call the local police in their area and report them. I also want to do whatever else I can to motivate them to stop screwing people over online. Is this possible? How would I go about doing it?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

When in October?

Did you file a complaint about the seller with eBay?

Did you save a copy of the ad for the item and any other relevant information?

If you paid by credit card or check, did you stop payment?

If you want to sue to recover the money, you need to be able to identify the seller. You can file a lawsuit against the seller as “John Doe (aka username)” and have the court issue a subpoena to eBay for the identity of the seller, so you can proceed with your lawsuit against a named defendant.

I am not sure a lawsuit will be worth your time and effort, though.

 

[Zigner]

When in October?

Did you file a complaint about the seller with eBay?

Did you save a copy of the ad for the item and any other relevant information?

If you paid by credit card or check, did you stop payment?

If you want to sue to recover the money, you need to be able to identify the seller. You can file a lawsuit against the seller as “John Doe (aka username)” and have the court issue a subpoena to eBay for the identity of the seller, so you can proceed with your lawsuit against a named defendant.

I am not sure a lawsuit will be worth your time and effort, though.

The OP doesn't want a civil solution. The OP is looking to have the "criminal" locked up for his (or her) misdeeds.

 

[adjusterjack]

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

The way you prevent getting screwed online is you take precautions before you buy.

For a $200 item you get a name, address, and phone number that you verify.
You make sure it's covered by eBays purchase guarantee.
Never use paypal, use a credit card so you can do a charge back if you don't receive the item.

Bottom line - you've been scammed by a pro. I doubt that you'll ever see your money or even find the scammer to get him prosecuted.

PS - You can just as easily get screwed buying face to face if you don't take precautions.

 

[adjusterjack]

The OP doesn't want a civil solution. The OP is looking to have the "criminal" locked up for his (or her) misdeeds.

Tarred and feathered, too.

 

[quincy]

Here is a link to eBay’s “resolving issues with sellers:”
https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/resolving-issues-sellers/reporting-item-issue-seller?id=4022

Depending on when in October the item was purchased, it might be too early to claim the money was “stolen.” It takes time to package up items to get them ready for shipping. And there is delivery time. We are only 6 days into November.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Good afternoon. Looking for help/advice, as I can’t understand why the online world is such a free for all compared to our physical space.

I want to file theft charges against them.

You can't do that. Only the prosecutor (and in some states for minor crimes a police officer) may file criminal charges.

I want to [compel] eBay to give me their name and address so I can call the local police in their area and report them.

The only way to get a court order to compel it to give you that information is to sue eBay. That would end up costing you more than the $200 you've lost. eBay does tell you in the listing the city & state of sellers based in the U.S. and gives you the city and the country of the seller if the seller is in the U.S. It appears in the seller information just below the box giving the option to buy the item. If you kept a copy of the listing or you can retrieve it through eBay's system (it has an option for you to see the original listing, though that option doesn't stay up for all that long).

That would give you enough information to make a complaint with the police in the city/state where the seller is located (or at least where the seller told eBay he or she was located). Whether they'll decide to pursue a $200 internet fraud claim is impossible to predict. You may also report to your local police department. The best place, though, when dealing with internet crime when you don't know the other person is to report it to the federal government's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which is operated by the FBI. It can review your complaint and route it to the appropriate federal, state or local agency. It costs you nothing to make the complaint and the process is easy.

I also want to do whatever else I can to motivate them to stop screwing people over online. Is this possible? How would I go about doing it?

There is nothing practical that you can do that would hit the seller enough to make the seller rethink his/her (criminal) career choice and it would cost you more than $200 to make the effort.

When buying on eBay always note the location of the seller. The further away the seller is located the harder it will be to recoup your loss if something goes wrong. When putting out significant amounts of money at least make sure the seller is in the U.S. There is at least a shot to recover your loss if the seller is in the U.S. It may not be possible to pursue a foreign seller and if there is recourse available lawsuits against persons not located in the U.S. require a number of specific steps which cost significant amounts of money to pursue.

Most eBay sellers, even those in foreign countries, are honest business persons. I've never been cheated by a foreign seller but the price of the goods I'm buying are low enough that the loss wouldn't be a real big deal and I look closely at eBay's seller info. If the seller has been selling on eBay for at least a year, has had a large number of sales and very good feedback the chances are a lot better that the seller is honest, though that's not a guarantee. eBay won't keep sellers who get a lot of complaints of fraud, undelivered goods, etc very long as it hurts its reputation. You particularly want to buying some big ticket item from some foreign person who hasn't been on eBay and has very little sales history. That's where the most Ebay scam artists will be.

 

[zddoodah]

From my standpoint, this seller stole my money.

It's certainly not unreasonable to view it this way. However, in the absence of evidence that the seller never had any intent to deliver the merchandise, this is nothing more than a breach of a contract for the sale of goods.

It’s no different than coming up to me on the street, taking 200 dollars out of my pocket, and then disappearing into the night.

It's quite different.

I want to file theft charges against them. I want to impel eBay to give me their name and address so I can call the local police in their area and report them. I also want to do whatever else I can to motivate them to stop screwing people over online. Is this possible?

No.

any help or advice.

How did you make payment? If you used something like Paypal, you should have no problem getting your money back. I'm not familiar with eBay's current policies, but eBay used to have some form of buyer protection that would apply in a situation like this.

 

[quincy]

One of the things I have noticed about people who have issues with online sites is that they almost universally have failed to read through the terms and conditions of use and policies for the site prior to using the site. They would avoid a lot of the problems they encounter if they did that.

 

[Zigner]

One of the things I have noticed about people who have issues with online sites is that they almost universally have failed to read through the terms and conditions of use and policies for the site prior to using the site. They would avoid a lot of the problems they encounter if they did that.

To be fair - who actually reads those before doing business with (or thru) a site?

It would be nice if they'd go back and read them if there is a problem...most questions could be answered by doing that.

 

[quincy]

To be fair - who actually reads those before doing business with (or thru) a site?

It would be nice if they'd go back and read them if there is a problem...most questions could be answered by doing that.

That is exactly what I am saying. Very few people read the terms and conditions first. It is only after they run into problems that they discover that most of the problems they encounter could have been avoided if they first had read the terms and conditions.