Help. Need Advice on a Trade Gone Bad

[vespertillio]

Hello all, I am writing this because I believe I am involved in a trade that has gone bad. It happend in another forum, but I thought I would ask for some advice here. Long story short, the trade was to be the traders Gamecube, controllers, games as well as set of Dreamcast Maracas and the game that goes with them. I offered my DVD Criterion copies of Spinal Tap, Robocop and Sid and Nancy as well as $55.00 that would be sent out the beginning of November to cover the difference in the items. I sent out the DVD's on 10/22. The trader said he would send out the items in time for my son’s birthday on 10/28. I would in turn at the beginning of November send out the remaining 55.00 as I did not have it at the time I sent out the DVD's. As of yet I still have not received anything. The last I heard form him was 4 days ago saying he had lent out two of the games to a friend and had just gotten them back. As of yet I have not heard back that he sent out the items. Needless to say I'm a little upset and my son is definitely sad. The trader in question apparently has been banned from the other board, though at the time I was in communications with him he was not. I revisited his original thread a while ago and found out he was banned. I have his address and through a reverse lookup also have his phone number, but I have not called him yet. One other thing that poses a problem here is I'm in Colorado and he is in Canada. I have saved all my communications with him as well as made a copy of my postal receipt. I know you may not be able to help me, but could you give some ideas on how to handle this situation? Thank you all for your time and consideration in this matter.

Mods, if I placed this in the wrong forum, I apologize. I was not quite sure which one to post in.

Fred

[chadtower]

I'd give him a call. The fact that you're completely anonymous and out of sight makes it very easy to rip you off, if that is his intention. Actually having to deal with you personally may put his butt in gear.

[vespertillio]

hey there, thanks for the reply. calling is definately one of the options. I kind of wanted to use it as a last resort, but it looks like it may come to that.

[chadtower]

hey there, thanks for the reply. calling is definately one of the options. I kind of wanted to use it as a last resort, but it looks like it may come to that.

It's an uncomfortable call, but short of some sort of legal action, this is probably your best bet at this point. It hasn't been THAT long, anyway, so it's not a definite ripoff yet by any means.

[Darth Sensei]

Chad's right, but I wouldn't hold my breath about getting anything back. Why was he banned from the other board?

D

[vespertillio]

I'm assuming he got banned because of other deals gone bad. Unfortuantely I didn't realize this until we were knee deep in our deal. Arrghhh. :(

[aaron_157]

I hate to tell you this but since the two of u live in two differnt countries you cant take any legal action. thats why i dont even accept international bidders on ebay let alone trading high dollar item in a forum.

[vespertillio]

I hate to tell you this but since the two of u live in two differnt countries you cant take any legal action. thats why i dont even accept international bidders on ebay let alone trading high dollar item in a forum.


I am now a firm believer in that. I have had good luck with other trades. I guess I have had many good communications and trades with many folks around the world. This is my first bad trade. Though I am very dissapointed, I will continue to think the best of people until proven otherwise.

[maxlords]

it's absolutely NOT true that legal action cannot be taken. Laws apply between countries as well as within them, especially concerning mail fraud, which is what this is classified as. Aaron, you have NO clue what you're talking about.

I currently live in Canada, but I'm an American citizen, and American and Canadian law enforcement is almost exactly the same...heck the laws are almost exactly the same too. I guarantee you that if you have the documentation of the trade (emails, etc) and you call the local PD in his/her town, they WILL investigate it. Mail fraud isn't legal. Period.

As for eBay, it's a LEGALLY binding contract, no matter what country you're in. As long as you can open an account, it's a binding contract, and acceptable in court in any country eBay has a site in, and that includes Canada. I do international trades and sales ALL the time and I've yet to have had a situation that can't be resolved. There's no reason not to sell or trade internationally. Hell, most of the most expensive imports have to come from Japan!

@vespertillio: Where is this person in Canada? There are a lot of Canadians on the forums here and at the Canadian gaming forums (www.cgcc.ca/forum/) of course, so someone may be close by and able to contact them for you. Couldn't hurt to check! :D

[vespertillio]

Hey MaxLords, thanks for the reply. He lives in North Vancouver BC. This was not an Ebay trade however. It was just supposedly a simple trade. Though I kept all copies of emails sent. Would those be considered a legal conract? I'm not sure. It sure seemed like ot to me when I sent those DVD's off in good faith. :roll:

[maxlords]

Hey MaxLords, thanks for the reply. He lives in North Vancouver BC. This was not an Ebay trade however. It was just supposedly a simple trade. Though I kept all copies of emails sent. Would those be considered a legal conract? I'm not sure. It sure seemed like ot to me when I sent those DVD's off in good faith. :roll:

Well, verbal contracts are binding in Canada (or at least Ontario), and I'm SURE that if you have email proof, that's even more binding. If you can't contact him, contact the Vancouver PD (although they're probably more busy than a smaller town) and ask them what can be done. I'd also go to the cgcc forums and see if there's anyone in North Vancouver. BriskBC here on the DP forums is in that area I think as well, you might ask him :D

[vespertillio]

Thanks MaxLords, I will check those out. I might email the Vancouver PD and see what a good next step would be. :D

[bigdaddychester]

does this person use the DP message board under the same user name?

[vespertillio]

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 2:36 pm Post subject:

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does this person use the DP message board under the same user name?

I don't think he uses the DP boards at all. So I don't think anyone has to worry.

On a side note I did make a call out to him. I spoke with whom I belive to be his mother. She informed me that she did not know about the deal but will get the items sent out either today or tomorrw. So I guess the wheels are in motion again.

Thanks all, for you replies and suggestions. I will keep you posted. Cheers.

Fred

[aaron_157]

Thank god for parents. :evil:

[sisko]

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 2:36 pm Post subject:

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does this person use the DP message board under the same user name?

I don't think he uses the DP boards at all. So I don't think anyone has to worry.

On a side note I did make a call out to him. I spoke with whom I belive to be his mother. She informed me that she did not know about the deal but will get the items sent out either today or tomorrw. So I guess the wheels are in motion again.

Thanks all, for you replies and suggestions. I will keep you posted. Cheers.

Fred

Could you give us his screen name anyway?

He may eventually join this board or a similar one where lots of DP members participate (such as AtariAge).

Even if the worst happens and you can't get anything resolved, you could help protect us a lot by supplying us with this one little bit of info.

[hezeuschrist]

Holy crap, I mourn your loss of the Spinal Tap Criterion. I want one so bad, so I went to check ebay and the only one active was someone selling copies of it. I went to report them, then after 25 links I just said fuckit and gave up... too much hassle to try and report a guy selling illegal stuff.

Sorry, totally off topic.

[mrhaboobi]

ok well ive just gotten myself out of one of these.. im overseas WAY overseas.. and the guy never sent what he should of..

Go to USPS, file a Mail Fraud Claim, about 1 month later i get a letter from USPS and the seller got one aswell, they warn them and give 45 days for them to reply, if they dont you update usps and they can take the seller to court for you...

Other paths to take.. FBI Internet fraud division, The persons local district attorney can also have an effect, the last time i tried that they wrote letters to the seller on my behalf..

In teh end i didnt get 100% of my money back, but i was lucky enough to get around 80%..

Finally i recently used Ebay Fraud cover.. that worked a treat, no worries at all there..

[briskbc]

Someone from North Van is giving BC a bad name? That's crappy because North Van is pretty upscale. I agree with the earlier post about giving up his user name. It would be a benefit to this community to know of individuals like this in advance.

[vespertillio]

Someone from North Van is giving BC a bad name? That's crappy because North Van is pretty upscale. I agree with the earlier post about giving up his user name. It would be a benefit to this community to know of individuals like this in advance.


Hey again, well he said the items were sent out. So, nothing to do now but wait. As for the name he used on the other board it was SSTEWART. Hopefully the items will come, my son can play his Gamecube, I can watch my rereleased versions of Spinal Tap and Robocop and drink a hot toddy in anticipation of the cold months ahead. (Sorry, some kind of wierd poetic moment there. whoo O_O ) Cheers all.

Fred

[sisko]

Well, its good to hear that you might be getting your items after all. Let us know how it pans out.

Oh...and what is "hot toddy?" :)