buyer stole my cooker via a courier (who was probably him)

[jaybus4]

I sold my cooker but heard nothing from the buyer. Then a courier rang me on a Saurday saying he would be at my house in a few minutes to pick it up. I didn't know the courier was coming and suspected something fishy, but I let him pick up the cooker without checking it was paid. The 'man in a van' said  he was just doing a pick up on behalf of his boss via an ebay buyer. He had other items in the van and he took my old cooker away. The cooker was a SMEG one and only 5 years old (cost £2k), so this wasn't junk.

I'm selling my house and the photographer was coming 3 days later, so I was backed in a corner as I needed that big cooker (stored in my dining room) out of the way.

I should have checked the feedback and took a chance that he will pay me - let my guard down once and get scammed. The buyer has severeal feedback comments of people saying he took the item and not paid etc. He's ignored my emails via ebay and I raised an unpaid case with ebay. All that has done is for ebay to wave my seller payment cvia a credit. Ebay thinks i still have the item to relist but I don'y - its in his van!

Police will not be interested - there does. not appear to be options to cover this on ebay reporting - any advice?

[*knight-rider*]

`but I let him pick up the cooker without checking it was paid`

I think that`s a £50 lesson learned, never let anything go before you`ve been paid and checked you have!

Unless your prepared to go through small claims court to get your money, i`d just write it off and be more careful next time. What might be worth a gamble, if you still have the buyers name and address, is send a `letter of action` stateing that you will be trying to recover this money through small claims, along with any associated costs etc and maybe that will shock them into paying, but it is a gamble as they may just call your bluff, but it`s only a first class stamp gamble, so worth a shot 🙂

[*knight-rider*]

I could`nt stop thinking about this after i posted (sad i know), but it occured to me afterwards, that the buyer was taking one hell of a gamble that when the driver turned up to collect this, you would`nt turn round and say, `ok, do you have the payment`. No doubt the driver would`nt have been pleased and the buyer would have paid him for nothing, which i`m guessing would be around £20 - £30, so it`s a bit puzzling this one.
Now the suspicious side of me wonders if they gave the driver the money to pay for it and because you did`nt mention it, he did`nt, if you know what i mean 🙂 i`m sure they did`nt, i`m just thinking out loud, it just seems really weird to turn up for something you know you haven`t paid for and take for granted it would`nt come up, that`s a hell of a gamble!!

[kad1178]

I think it's more likely the man in a van was the "buyer"

[jaybus4]

Thanks, yes you are right, it was a £50 lesson. Tbh if it was more money I would have never allowed it to go but never mind. I may try the letter though. The odd thing is that I just received a call from this buyer asking to pick up the cooker, I told him he already has it and he sounded confused (an act probably) and put the phone down.

[jaybus4]

Hi knight-rider. That was my exact thought when he turned up, a hell of a gamble and front to do it, so I thought it must just be a mistake and he’s in the process of paying. I needed the cooker gone so took a chance. It’s all very strange and I’ve used eBay for years and never seen this before.

[kad1178]

The phone call is odd - How would anyone else other than the buyer have got your phone number?

[*knight-rider*]

You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.

[kad1178]

Eh? the buyer has contacted the op after the cooker has gone asking to collect it. If they'd booked a courier why would they do that? which leads to the question how did the "courier" get the phone number and address.

[jaybus4]

Yes it was a bizarre conversation, I kept saying ‘you have collected it’ and he says ‘you sold to someone else’ then I say ‘no, I sold to you’. Ended with a curt end to the call. He was foreign but he understood. It’s like a prank, but the dullest unfunniest prank in the world.

[stripyzebras]

Poor you. Ring ebay in the afternoon to report this (pm calls usually go to the Irish team who are a little more 'on the ball' with UK sales (in my opinion). Make sure this person is reported as a fraudster.

[rusticrye]

The buyer didn't steal the cooker. You gave it to a man in a van who turned up on your doorstep. No actual crime has been committed.

You can certainly try taking legal action, but you apparently don't have any proof that the courier collected it or that the buyer has it, so I doubt that will get you anywhere. But go to the CAB's website and arrange to speak with an advisor.

As for the buyer's feedback, buyers cannot receive negative or neutral feedback. Buyers can only ever receive positive feedback (or none at all). So those sellers have left negative comments on a positive green dot. Leaving such feedback is a serious breach of the rules, and if the buyer reports those feedbacks to Ebay, they will all be removed (and the sellers will have a damaging defect slapped on each of their accounts for breaching feedback rules). So get a screen shot of the feedbacks while they're still there, as it may be useful if you decide to take legal action.

For future use, note that PayPal is totally unsafe for sellers of collection items. You would lose an Unauthorised Account Use claim as you would have no proof of dispatch to the account holder's registered address. That is the only proof that a payment processor will accept for such a claim. You would lose the item, your money, and be charged a hefty admin fee too. Always insist on cash or bank transfer, which the buyer pays once s/he's fully examined the item and is happy with it. 

@jaybus4 

[red_magpie]

there does. not appear to be options to cover this on ebay reporting

All you can do is open an unpaid item case to get your selling fee returned. You can open it any time between 2 and 32 days after the listing ends, and close it after four days if they haven't paid. For details, see: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/unpaid-items.html

Your final value fee (but no other fees) will then be credited back to your account and the buyer will receive an unpaid item strike from eBay.

Otherwise, eBay won't be interested. I'm afraid you brought this on yourself, but it would have been no different if you had done everything by the book. Time and time again we hear from sellers who have been required to refund buyers because the post was delayed - only to find that the buyer keeps the item as well when it arrives! Even with proof of delivery, eBay does nothing to require the buyer to return either the item or the refund. If the buyer is happy, eBay is happy. EBay doesn't seem to care about the seller.

[ruby*tuesday]

Sorry but as you let the "Man in the Van" take it from inside your home while you were there wouldn't constitute a Crime. Certainly is nothing EBay can do. You could have asked for Cash on Collection or asked him to wait a minute while you checked your PayPal Account.