My experience began July 28. The seller was then "route36collectibles" who is now listed as "almenastreaures" in EBAY. For some reason, he changed the name of the business after I filed with the Dispute Counsel on Ebay.
I won this auction on July 27 at almost 5 PM; so, I sent a money order for $205.25 on July 28.
I received a personal email (not through EBAY) on July 31 from the seller stating that his "store" and apartment had burned down; so, he asked me not to send the money order. This was conveniently four days after I sent the money order.
I simply asked the seller to send the money order back. After requesting a refund of some kind, I never again heard from the seller.
Until I opened a dispute in Ebay for item not received, which seemed to be the only way I could publicly, within Ebay, report the seller besides the negative feedback that I left after no response.
The seller said that he had not had ANY INTERNET ACCESS since the fire, which is why he had not responded until that point. (Note: I received an earlier email from the seller supposedly right after the fire about the fire itself.)
I was repeatedly advised by the seller to cancel the money order.
I repeatedly explained the protocol for a lost and stolen money order claim with the US Postal Service to the seller, which will not allow for cancelation until 30 days after the money order was purchased—which then takes another 30 days to process (60 days total).
I get no refund from the US Postal Service if the money order is cashed. I explained all of this. Then, I said that I would be left with no choice but to take this to an attorney.
I was called a FOOL, IDIOT, UNKIND & IMPATIENT. The seller was very uncooperative, unprofessional, and rude outside of Ebay (in personal email).
However, they appeared polite in the Ebay Dispute. I did post excerpts of the combative and insulting emails from the seller in the Ebay Dispute Forum.
However, I am VERY UNSATISFIED with the lack of action on Ebay's part thus far. The seller has received numerous negative feedback—where he calls the buyer an IDIOT and LIAR, etc. Somehow this behavior has been tolerated on Ebay.
The seller sent another personal email on the August 11 stating that he sent the money order back to me, which I never received. However, the seller would not address this concern in the Ebay dispute forum.
Rather he stated: "This money order was never cashed and has not cleared" and "This money order was not cashed. Please check your records".
This is the only solution that I have been offered besides telling me to cancel the money order after it was clear that was not possible.
This seller had LIED to me. This seller has INSULTED me. The seller has been MANIPULATIVE, DISRESPECTFUL, UNETHICAL, and UNPROFESSIONAL.
I have been a member of the EBAY community for years; however, I have never experienced such BEHAVIOR.
I am still trying to get this $205.25 back. What can I do to protect myself and others from this?
Ebay needs to stop people like this—rather than protect them. There must be real consequences for these actions rather than the VICTIM being called names and put through further frustration and suffering.
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