Out Of State Defendant?

[alliedimports2]

I will try to keep this short. I sold a refurbished car amp on Ebay. I live in PA and the customer lives in AZ. The auction clearly stated that the unit was refurbished and no warranty was implied. I do state in the auction that the amp is guaranteed to work upon receipt and that the customer has 48 hours upon receipt of the amp to test it and make sure it operates perfectly. The customer bought the amp and I shipped it. The customer emailed me stating that he received the amp, however the wiring and manual were both missing. Now these items were in there when I shipped it, however it was his word against mine.

To satisfy the customer I offered him a refund or I would send him the missing items at no charge. He agreed to the missing items so I sent them and he emailed me that he received them and that he would be testing the unit. I did not hear anything for 7 days, the customer then emailed me and said that he had left me positive feedback and asked if I would do the same, which I did. At this point I assumed all was well.

Over three months later he emailed me claiming that he finally hooked the amp up and it does not work. He insisted on a full refund and I refused. I now have received a small claims notice from the state of AZ telling me that I must appear at their court to provide a written answer. My questions is, what should I do. Should I send them a letter explaining a jurisdiction problem or should I ignore it. Sorry for the long story and any help you could give would be very much appreciated. I have been selling on Ebay for ten years and never had a problem like this.

 

[racer72]

Very simple. Your sole defense is the jurisdiction. State that the transaction, or exchange of funds for merchandise took place in your state and that the state of Arizona has no jurisdiction over a transaction that took place in your home state. I would also include, just in case, a copy of your listing and that the purchaser did not follow the specific guidelines when making the purchase. I am a long time seller on Ebay and have been sued 3 times, I was able to have all 3 case dismissed based on jurisdiction. If the slim chance the person does get a judgment, it will be basically unenforceable. An Arizona judgment is only good in Arizona. He would have to domesticate the judgment in your home state and you can use the same defenses in your defense of the domestication. It is highly unlikely the person would travel a couple of times to Pennsylvania to domesticate a judgment especially considering that travel expenses are not collectible.