topic Re: Personal threats in Selling

Personal threats

motherslittlehelper1 — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 13:50:15 GMT

I received a threatening message and feedback on my other ebay ID tonight. I wan't to give the buyer time to rethink what he said and remove the feedback before I let the world see it on here.

Firstly, the buyer purchased the item about 1 month ago and it ended up going to an unpaid item dispute. He later contacted me and said he had trouble with Paypal and would send the $5 in the post. He asked could I remove the unpaid item case when the money arrives in the post and I said "no problem".

I had to take my daughter down to Sydney last Thursday and didn't read my mail until Saturday morning. There was a letter with $5 in it and a PO box to send the item to. The letter had arrived on Thursday or Friday afternoon almost 2 weeks after he had said he would send it. The unpaid item case had already closed on the Friday and I was going to mark it as paid when I packed the item tomorrow morning. I hadn't got around to contacting the buyer because I was away from my PC most of the weekend.

When I sat down tonight to go through the items I had sold over the weekend, I received an Ebay message from the buyer. This is what the message said.

i don't appreciate being ripped off.
see you soon to sort this out.. its gonna cost you more than 5 bucks and a non paying bidder strike against your name..
im going to show you exactly what happened to the last person who tried to rip me off.

I sent him a reply message and told him I didn't receive the money until Thursday or Friday and the unpaid item case automatically closed. I also told him that the threat was a bit unnesessary and his item was ready to be sent tomorrow.

I thought I would check my feedback and I noticed he had left a neg feedback, which is

didnt receieve my item, sorting out in person not through ebay AVOID!

I thought to myself that he is pushing things a bit far now, so I sent him an option to remove the neg feedback through the feedback revision. I sent him another message and asked him if he would remove it and told him I would prefer not to get Ebay involved.

My ebay ID this happened to has over 2400 feedback and always receives great feedback for postage time etc

My main problems are

He lives about 20km away judging by his PO box

I don't know where he lives, but he knows where I live. So he has the upper hand there.

I'm not worried about him personally, but I'm concerned he could do damage to my property etc

He has a feedback over 1400 and also sells, so as soon as I request ebay to remove the neg, all hell will break loose

I will give him overnight to sleep on it before I send him another message. Surely he knows he has left himself wide open sending the message through Ebay.

I really don't wan't to start a war with somebody over $5, especially when they have my postal address

But I'm not going to cop a neg feedback for somebody that pays for an item a month after purchasing and when the case had already closed

Interested to see how others would handle this

Re: Personal threats

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 14:20:54 GMT

firstly this is the exact reason why i have a PO Box.. no one i sell to will ever know where i live

secondly i'd be reporting this to ebay right now and possibly the police

a threat is a threat

personally i think he is a keyboard warrior who is trying to scare you

Re: Personal threats

padi*0409 — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 14:59:42 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
firstly this is the exact reason why i have a PO Box.. no one i sell to will ever know where i live

secondly i'd be reporting this to ebay right now and possibly the police
a threat is a threat

personally i think he is a keyboard warrior who is trying to scare you

Not possibly report it to the police, definitely report it to the police, with copies of all the emails sent to you through eBay by them.

Re: Personal threats

beasbooteek — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 16:10:02 GMT

Unless the letter was registered they can have had no idea when it arrived, You could have said that you only just received the money and were in the process of preparing it for postage along with an email asking ebay to remove the unpaid item strike however you are no longer prepared to deal with them and will place the money into their Paypal or bank account if they send you details. Also inform them that their threats will be reported to both ebay and the police then ring ebay, tell them about the threats and that you are going to the police and would like the negative feedback removed.

Re: Personal threats

digupatin — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 22:06:52 GMT

If your local Police appear not to be very interested indoing anything about it report the abuse to the ACORN.

http://www.acorn.gov.au/what-is-cybercrime/cyber-bullying/

That's what they were set up for.

The maximum penalty for this offence is three years imprisonment or a fine of more than $30,000.

Re: Personal threats

motherslittlehelper1 — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 23:51:21 GMT

The main thing that worries me with this is they know where I live and they could also create fake ebay names and cause problems with my selling activity.

I might send them an email worded like this

I know people say things in the heat of the moment and thats why I have given you the opportunity to remove the feedback without Ebay getting invlolved.

I will not be copping a negative feedback for an item I was in the process of sending and if it isn't removed by the end of today, I will have no choice but to contact ebay.

You have made 2 threats against me for the whole world to see and I consider those threats against my family.

I'm a reasonable person to an extent and willing to send you a refund through Paypal and forget the whole thing. I have bigger things on my plate than to start a war over a $5 item

This email wouldn't be classed as threatening would it? I don't want to make the same mistake they did and send a threatening email.

Re: Personal threats

motherslittlehelper1 — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 23:52:11 GMT

Thanks, I will keep this in mind

Re: Personal threats

*tippy*toes* — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 23:56:56 GMT

You should have got their address when they bought the item. If you can't still access the order details from the sale, check the sold email you got when they bought it. As the others have said, report them. They may just be a keyboard warrior, but there's that many weirdos out there these days, I wouldn't be taking any chances.

Given that their feedback contains a threat, I'd be calling eBay and getting it removed.

Re: Personal threats

motherslittlehelper1 — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 01:21:13 GMT

I checked yesterday and It only had their PO Box details. The ironic thing is the item they purchased is a security surveilence sign, so I can only imagine what type of person I'm dealing with. I checked their items for sale on Ebay and it says in the listings that they will only give their address details when bank deposit is in their account. Sounds like somebody that likes to hide behind their PO box.

Re: Personal threats

harley_babes_hoard — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 01:58:47 GMT

umm call me dumb but how can this buyer leave feedback if you say the unpaid dispute closed. this would mean they are unable to leave feedback and if they left the feedback before the unpaid dispute closed then get on the phone and tell ebay you want it removed.

Yes he paid cash as far as ebay are concerned tell them it wasn't paid, he has no proof to say otherwise.

Re: Personal threats

saarzi — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 02:30:59 GMT

If I was him, Id probably laugh at that email. Honestly. youre going to contact Ebay, if, if, if. And? Lol Hes obviously a bit off the planet, do you think you threatening to contact Ebay after he has already threatened you, in writing, is going to scare him, or **bleep** him off more? All it shows is that youre really not going to do much at all and if he presses he is likely to scare you enough to get more out of you.

Honestly, dont mess around with threats against yourself and your family like that.

Dont contact him again.

You now have a responsibility to contact Ebay NOW, and report him. If not for yourself, than for the others he might do this to.

Then you need to contact the police, and report him. Take the emails with you and tell them this person knows where you live. If they dont take you seriously, report him to ACORN. And call them. Dont email them. Ask them what their process is, because you dont know if this guy is going to turn up on your doorstep tonight. The police are suually more than happy to pay someone a visit just to let them know they are awareof whats going on.

He is probably all bluff - but thats irrelevant. No one has the right to threaten anyone like that, bluff or not.

Ive also sent you a private message.

Re: Personal threats

motherslittlehelper1 — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 04:03:44 GMT

It's not meant to threaten him, I just wan't to give him time to think about what could happen if he doesn't remove the feedback and I contact ebay. I would prefer him to remove it and get on with his life.

I ended up sending him a message giving him until the morning to remove it.

I will be following it through tomorrow if he doesn't get back to me (which he still hasn't)

I really don't have much faith in police, so I will probably contact ACORN.

What action do you think ebay will take against him, surely they would ban him... Why would he risk his ebay reputation over this.

Re: Personal threats

imastawka — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 04:16:10 GMT

If he's a seller, then I guess he is risking his account

Threats

We don't tolerate threats of physical harm using any method including by email or on our public message boards (such as our discussion boards, Answer Centre, and other community areas).

Example: "If I don't hear from you by tomorrow about the item I purchased, I will come over to your house and break your legs."

If you receive a threat, please report it to us immediately. Also, report it to local law enforcement. In addition to contacting law enforcement, you should consider contacting your local phone company if the threat was made by telephone or the other member's Internet service provider (ISP) if the threat was made through email communication.

If, through the email evidence you provide, we confirm a serious threat of physical harm was made, the offending member's account will be indefinitely suspended.

From here -

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/rfe-spam-ov.html

Re: Personal threats

harley_babes_hoard — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 04:34:23 GMT

You are wasting your time trying to get him to revise feedback for one the defect will remain. In my opinion reporting will do nothing and sending him an email or message will just pour fuel on the fire. Ring eBay and get the negative and defect removed then block and ignore

Re: Personal threats

motherslittlehelper1 — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 04:46:46 GMT

I will ring ebay and get the defect removed, but won't they see his comments and proceed with action against him anyway.

Either way fuel will be getting poured.

there are pros and cons no matter what I do I guess

Re: Personal threats

the4masters2013 — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 05:37:29 GMT

Let us know how you go. Most importantly, keep safe!!

Post even a quick hello, just so we all know you are alright,

Re: Personal threats

robinsonmarineparts — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 06:24:25 GMT

@motherslittlehelper1 wrote:
I will ring ebay and get the defect removed, but won't they see his comments and proceed with action against him anyway.

Either way fuel will be getting poured.

there are pros and cons no matter what I do I guess

When i get threats i tell them to come anytime.

I had one last week over Aus Post not scanning the item.

Re: Personal threats

harley_babes_hoard — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 06:39:13 GMT

No I doubt it. You are going to escalate things if you continue on, just forget it. send him his item if you have been paid and be done with him. I doubt very much there is any real danger.

Re: Personal threats

lyndal1838 — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 07:50:42 GMT

You are totally wasting your time telling the buyer to remove the feedback....they cannot do it unless you send them a feedback revision request and even then they are supposed to do just that...revise the feedback, not just leave it blank.

You are far better asking ebay to remove it.

As for ebay actually doing anything.....forget it. Unless they are instructed to do anything by the police it will just go nowhere.

Re: Personal threats

mitbri — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 07:59:29 GMT

I would not reply to his emails.

I would contact ebay by phone, and ask them to have a look at the emails from this person.

I am sure ebay will rule that the emails violate their ebay policy, due to threatening emails.

They will look after you in that regard and I am sure they would be kind enough to remove any negative

feedback but I also think they will suspend his user.

Also you could send a note to your local police station, because they take transactions on ebay very seriously.

I had an instance where I bought something and it never arrived. I went through the sellers feedback and found that

he has scamming everyone big time. To the tune of thousands. I rang my local police station, and guess what, they

had already heard of him. They new about him and said it was being investigated. So they do take ebay

seriously and I am sure you can make a statement. They may even have a look at the person's background if you

supply their full name. The police can access records and do checks if they have received a complaint from the public, and

then they can give you an indication if this person is likely to follow through on the threat. They can see if they have

recieved complaints before and if he has a record. They are not permitted to tell you details but they can give you

an indication of whether you should be worried or not.