eBay Fraud..

[brandon184]

I'm asking here, because this is a knowledgeable group of people - and I know little to nothing about eBay, or it's processes.

My friend bought an item on eBay the other day, and won the auction... The seller was someone who he had dealt with on numerous occaisions before, and the transactions had gone very smoothly.

HOWEVER... The auction finished up a few days ago, and he emailed the guy letting him know that the money order for the auction was in the mail, but hasn't heard a word from the guy. I checked on eBay, and the guy has been online every single day, posting new auctions everyday.

What are his options? What obligations does the seller have?

~ Brandon

[mAdMaLuDaWg]

The best you could do is leave negative feedback and contact ebay regarding the seller. The seller does have an obligation to ship the item once he receives payment. You can request ebay for the seller's contact information also.
Hope this helps.

[Mntsnow]

Call him...and if he doesnt get ahold of the guy place a stop payment.

Just FYI this is NOT Ebay Fraud.....This is whomever Fraud. Would you go around calling it Techimo Fraud had your buddy bought it here?

Hi Brandon,

Also, I would tell your friend not to place a negative feedback too soon. Explore your other options first; you can always leave feedback later. If one is too hasty with the feedback, the Seller might just say "screw you" and your friend will never get his stuff.

EBay has a "Safe Harbor" for fraud, investigations and dispute resolution. There is also a "Community" forum there where you can post for additional help.

The first Step for "fraud protection" is as Mntsnow said - Call your seller.

Good luck!

Here's a site for additional reference and help:

http://www.angelfire.com/hi5/my_gifs/ebayhelp.html

[no1_vern]

I agree with socalgal!

Try to get in touch with the seller again, and IF you cant reach him go to SafeHarbor on the Ebay site and ask for assistance. Ebay will be glad to help you (and him) finish the transaciton.

Also remember it takes several days via snail mail to recieve a money order. The seller might not have recieved the MO, or he might have forgotten to send it(dont discount this it does happen).

Please remember that Ebay make it easy for us to purchase things for much lower(usually) prices than anywehere else. Probably the person you are dealing with most of the time is a regular person(like me) who doenst have/run a "business".

[Warthog]

This has happened to me before...but nothign bad resulted from it.

The only contact I had with the seller was when I bought it, he sent me his address. I sent the payment to him and informed him of that through email...I never heard from him again. Presumably, he sent the package when he recieved payment (which he did).

I'm not sure what goes through these zombies heads and why they don't respond back

Wait a bit.

Warthog

[brandon184]

Warthog - That's probably what I'm thinking has happened. As for calling the guy, I'm not the winning bidder - but would he have access to that information? AFAIK, he only has his email address.

~ Brandon

[Martoch]

Well I know that once an auction has ended, there is a way for your buddy to get all of the seller's info--phone # included, I just don't remember how right now. I would definitely try to get a hold of the seller a tad bit more before taking any further action.

EDIT: here ya go!

Contact Information
http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAP...st#ContactInfo

[Ed_S]

Just a thought - you said he's been posting new auctions, but have any of his current ones ended since he last communicated?

He may have have simply not checked his mail in that account, thinking he's caught up...

I know a lot of eBay sellers seem to ignore mail - I've sent questions about an item many times & only get a reply the day the auction ends - if then!