Re: [SWCollect] Bad seller?

Thu, 23 Aug 2001 19:21:10 -0700

From his feedback profile, it looks like several others have had the same problem recently.  Read his replies to feedback, he's apparently "had 2 deaths in the family".  Sounds like the Vintage Game Mafia to me.  B-)  (See my back columns if you don't get it.)
 
Unfortunately eBay won't be any help because no individual item of yours was over $25.  I had a similar problem awhile back and they gave me some bullshit reason but insisted yes, they do take fraud very seriously.  Shyeah, right.
 
Anyway, long story short, I sent the deadbeat seller a REALLY vicious e-mail and, surprise surprise, got a response the very next day.  He was VERY offended, and went on and on about all the problems he'd been going through lately, his bad back which had him bedridden for weeks but PRAISE THE LORD miraculously cleared up just in time for him to immediately answer my nasty message.  I ended up getting my stuff, but it took another couple of months after that.  (I used a secondary e-mail account to send the hate letter, BTW, don't give him a reason to not ship.)
 
Have you tried requesting his contact info from eBay and actually calling him up?  If not you might.  I don't know how long contact info is available after an auction, so you should get it ASAP.
 
If he's uncooperative on the phone or you can't contact him, do you still have his mailing address?  If so, call directory assistance in the city he lists and see if he's switched phone numbers recently.  If all else fails, assuming his street address is still valid, you can enjoy petty but very very satisfying revenge by going to a library / bookstore / dentist's office, taking as many of those little fall-out subscription cards from magazines as you can get, filling them out with his address, and sending them in marked "Bill Me Later".  In a few months he'll be swamped with unwanted magazine subscriptions which he'll have to go to all the trouble of cancelling.  Especially porno magazines and stuff like that.  Fill out a bunch of online forms with his address, too.  (I have more revenge tactics like this, just ask.  B-)
 
If his contact info turns out to be invalid, eBay will suspend for that.  Regardless, you should file an online report that you paid for and didn't receive each of these items, at eBay's Rules and Safety (recently renamed Rules and Rules and Rules and RULES AND RULES AND RULES AND RULES and Safety B-).  You might also want to file a report at www.fraud.org.
 
Hope this helps a little.
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2001 8:14 PM
Subject: [SWCollect] Bad seller?

    Everyone runs into one eventually.  I've sent total strangers cash overseas, delt with tons of people on ebay, private sites, list members and people that I know only by an e-mail address someone sent me.  Everyone has turned out fine.  Every now and then you get a real jerk, or someone who sells 500 items a week and could care less about your one puny complaint, but this one is driving me nuts.
 
 
    Communication stopped over a month ago.  I've sent a steady stacatto of e-mail messages into /dev/null it seems.  While I never had to use it, I think eBay offers some manner of fraud protection.  A quick look shows a $25 deductable.  The four items exceed $25, but each individual item is well under that.  Paypal won't help once the money has been withdrawn by the receiver (I think).  So, pretty much looks like I'm eating this one.
    Any advice, or at least some stories about getting blindsided or totally stiffed?
 
Dan
 
PS - Total irony here... the e-mail address for this person is @atcc.com.  If you go to http://www.atcc.com, its a religious site.  When I sent an e-mail message there, I got an autoresponder from a bishop's e-mail (or that's what it said).  Who would think of getting the shaft from one of the cloth?

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