What to do when someone doesn't deliver on a sale?

P

Papanoon

Guest
On November 6 I agreed to buy a Lyman power trimmer on the Accurate Shooter classified site. I sent $60 (great price) to the seller, he acknowledged receiving it, told me he didn't ship for nine days due to a hunting trip, and then went silent. He no longer takes my phone calls and doesn't respond to emails. I've avoided putting his name on the site in case he has had a medical problem that I'm unaware of. I called him from a different number two weeks ago and he picked up at once. He remembered the sale and that we're over two months, and promised to get right back to me -- nothing since. These sales are all honor-based and normally require funds in hand before shipping, as they should. From there it's pure honor. We have no eBay/PayPal type of buyer protection. I think I'm just out $60 here but I'm sure willing to listen to anyone's advice. At some point I should probably post his name and give negative feedback to protect all of you from the same experience. I'm posting here because most of us buy and sell there and communicate here.

Thanks all.

Patrick
 
I would contact the administrator of the Accurate Shooter site. If this happened on BR Central, you would contact Wilbur, and he would do his best to get everybody straight.
 
Patrick e-mail Paul McMenamin the owner, moderator and Forum Boss at accurate shooter. He will want to know about your purchase problems.
Nat Lambeth
 
Always good to use a postal money order for these type of transactions. I am not sure if Post Office would actually investigate an amount this small but the threat of committing Mail Fraud may keep someone honest. A postal money order is good as cash and cannot be cancelled so any vendor who will not accept it should be avoided. They can be cashed at any Post Office or deposited in any Bank account.

Dick
 
You can always contact local authorities in their area and ask what they can do. If you paid by check, there is a record of course and they are still guilty of fraud. They may well end up with the Sheriff on their doorstep.

It is a shame that people can't always be counted on to hold up their end of a deal without some sort of penalty looming. I've also done unsecured transactions but I've never been burnt on one... yet... My day is probably coming. I do think you're right though assuming that most folks involved in the sports here are on the up-n-up.

Back in the day, I remember calling Ken Markle at K&M to get a neck turning tool. First call. He sent the tool immediately and it came with a bill in like 2 days. I paid the bill. Had never done a transaction like that before. I ordered many more tools from Ken, and never had an issue. I asked once and was told that he had little to no trouble with getting paid by shooters. I was surprised for sure. But then, I bet I spent upwards to $2000 with him over the years and never had a 'secure' transaction. His word was gold, I'd like to think mine is. But we'd be kidding ourselves to think everyone is like that. Somehow, some of us have been just fortunate enough to never cross paths with those folks.

I do think though your $60 transaction is enough to call the authorities about. They may not be able to do much, but just the idea that you did so might get your money back or a completed transaction.

I would not be surprised if the current economic situation has people like this coming out of the woodwork.
 
Good advice from all. I did contact Paul and we've agreed on an approach. We both suspect that the seller has some kind of personal problem that caused this.

Thanks all.

Papanoon
 
Papanoon said:
Good advice from all. I did contact Paul and we've agreed on an approach. We both suspect that the seller has some kind of personal problem that caused this.

Thanks all.

Papanoon
Click to expand...

The "personal problem" is likely that he's a crook.

After closing quite a few deals on the Internet gun websites I got burned by a guy who I promptly sent an expensive rifle back to after a one-day inspection. After numerous phone calls and several promises to return my money he never came through. After three months my lawyer sent him a certified letter asking for payment and threatening legal action if he failed to pay. He never did. The cost of legal action was too high to pursue it.

The website was very helpful in trying to settle this but their only recourse was to prevent him from listing guns in the future.

Some of my friends have been burned too--in some cases they sent payment but never received the gun. There may not even have been a gun, only pictures.

Avoid sellers with no positive feedback from prior sales. Avoid sellers whose price is too low. Avoid sellers who refuse a 3-day inspection. Why would they refuse if the buyer pays shipping both ways? Send e-mails to get the deal in writing--you agree to pay, he agrees to ship and you have 3-day inspection with full refund. If he does not comply, your e-mail messages may be a "contract" in court.
 
There is the original posting of the.................

item, there is your MO stub, whether USPS or 7-11, and on there, there is an 800 #, and its been cashed on......by........ You bet your A$$ there's a "contract", and theres an "obligation" to that contract that hasn't been met, maybe with no intent to, either.

Remember, "CONTRACT" is in the "CONSTITUTION". (Although that may not mean much today.....:mad::mad: )

Then, get out th' STAKES, an' torches, an' pitchforks, feathers, an' TAR!!!

AFTERward, of course, get out th' STEAKS, CHARCOAL, Lea an' Perrins, Shine, sweet tea, an' rice puddin', an'......:D:D
 
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vicvanb said:
Avoid sellers with no positive feedback from prior sales. Avoid sellers whose price is too low. Avoid sellers who refuse a 3-day inspection. Why would they refuse if the buyer pays shipping both ways? Send e-mails to get the deal in writing--you agree to pay, he agrees to ship and you have 3-day inspection with full refund. If he does not comply, your e-mail messages may be a "contract" in court.
Click to expand...

All of the above is good advice. Unfortunately the reality of the situation is unless the person lives within driving distance so you can represent yourself in court the cost of pursuing the person is prohibitive.

Dick
 
I would file a warrant in debt in YOUR City and let him travel to your court for the case
 
saikatana said:
I would file a warrant in debt in YOUR City and let him travel to your court for the case
Click to expand...
In most cases he won't travel and you will get a judgment against a guy you already know is a deadbeat and you will probably never get a dime of the money back. And you probably will not even get him served the papers without spending considerable money.
 
One thing that I heard was to pay by US Post office money order; if things do not go right then the person can be brought up on mail fraud.
john
 
Thank goodness you're only out $60 if all recourse fails.

While $60 is not tiny like say $6, or $16, it's also not $160 or $600 that you got burned for. If you're like me, you should be able to sleep at night and chalk this up as yet another one of life's episodes that seasons and makes us more cautious with future dealings.

I thought I was out $990 a couple of months back.....boy did I ever lose sleep over that and learn from it what NOT to do next time!
 
Thanks VaniB. Yes it's not a crushing loss. I'm not sure what there is to learn from it because we're structured to totally trust our sellers and make our buyers pay in advance. If we all moved to PayPal and absorbed the 2.9% fee, we would achieve a level of protection for buyer and seller. Seller failure to deliver is so rare here that it may not be warranted. But, the day will come when someone gets stung for several thousand dollars. Someone will sell something here that he may not own and may not exist. All that's necessary to get a payment of $3,000 is a picture of a rifle. I tend to be very trusting and I hope that victim isn't me, but it could be.
 
Postal Money Orders +1. I think part of the scam is charging an amount that is just small enough to where taking action wouldn't be worth the cost.
 
Papanoon said:
If we all moved to PayPal and absorbed the 2.9% fee, we would achieve a level of protection for buyer and seller. Seller failure to deliver is so rare here that it may not be warranted.
Click to expand...

About the same time EBay dropped the sale of barrels and stocks, I understood that PayPal did the same with firearms and major parts. All of my PayPal I list as lawn equipment or something off the wall. Can you currently use PP for firearm purchases? I want to know. Thanks, Tim
 
I worked for the post office and people would get taken by people in Nigeria all the time. I saved quite a few from making the mistake. I once had a guy that I told he was getting caught up in fraud (it was real obvious) and he got belligerent. He also was a new employee at a bank.
 
Tim you can send money to anyone anywhere who has a paypal account set up.
You can call it services, or even just living expenses if you wish. They dont know and have no way to find out.
 
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