Please help, I'm at a loss.. What options do I have, if any??

[mozismyshepherd]

I won an auction for 3 concert tickets. I was going through some **bleep** & they buyer agreed to let me pay in 2 instalments. He didn't want me paying by PayPal due to fees being taken out (yeah, you can see where this is heading). He agreed to lower the cost of the tickets by $145.

Upon winning the auction, he sent me an invoice he got for purchasing the tickets from the Sydney Opera House.

I paid by bank transfer. 2 payments of $650 in total. I provided him with receipts of said transactions. Now he's saying that he only received $200.

....In his last email he stated:
"I today received an invoice from ebay for $103 for the sale of the morrissey tickets to you however still no sign of $450 or anything further from you (including an email) other than the $200. I have to tell you I have no money to pay my credit card bill let alone the ebay bill and am beginning to wonder whether you have even transferred any more than the $200. I am letting you know that if I do not receive the additional $700 balance in my account by close of business Thursday I will cancel the sale and return $97 to your account subtracting $103 to cover the cost of the ebay sale and my losses.
IF I receive the FULL amount of $700 in my account by COB Thursday the tickets remain yours and I will cover the cost of the eBay sale."

I then contacted eBay & was told that I should not have paid via bank transfer (yes, I know I am stupid, please don't tell me something I already now. I was stupid & desperately wanted these tickets). I was also told that the conversations should've been done through eBay, not me replying to his emails (no. I didn't know this).

I messaged the seller on eBay, replied in length to wrote he wrote & stated that he couldn't cancel the auction & keep my money, & that I will be opening up an investigation with my bank, which will take 10-15 business days. No reply.

Thursday has come & gone, he's still not replying, hasn't sent any of my money, nothing... Ebay have said that they're trying to get in touch with him.

What do I do know? Is there anything I can do?!

Yes I know I was stupid to pay via bank transfer.. It was a rather daft thing for me to do. What I would like to know now, is, what (if anything) can I do? Should do? Or have I lost my my money as well as the tickets...?

Thank you in advance.

[harley_babes_hoard]

yes you were silly to pay by direct deposit. as you have found out you have no protection what so ever. I think you have lost the tickets and the cash.

I would send him a message stating that if the full cost of the tickets is not returned to you in 48 hours you will be passing all his personal details onto ACORN australia cybercrime online reporting network.

http://www.acorn.gov.au/

[kopenhagen5]

And let the seller know if he cancels the transaction after the refund of full amount he will get his fees back.

[ambridgebuckskins]

The seller's details say he is in Tassie. Does the BSB (of the bank account) match a Tassie branch?

You have the seller's name, can you find them online anywhere or on Facebook?
Try pulling the contact details of the seller if you haven't already. l'd be looking from every angle to track your seller down. Thats a lot of money to lose out on.

[cherry*135]

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@kopenhagen5 wrote:

And let the seller know if he cancels the transaction after the refund of full amount he will get his fees back.

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Yes. The seller would get their eBay FVF's back if sale cancelled.

But.. Still the issue of seller saying the buyer only paid $200 though. The seller won't refund the $650 to the buyer if the sale is cancelled as they are claiming they only received $200.

[mozismyshepherd]

harley_babes_hoard thank you so much for your help, I will really appreciate it. I have sent him so many replies & have been ignored. But I will do as you advised, thank you 🙂

[mozismyshepherd]

@ am*3
Once the trace of the bank transfers are completed, whatever amount is to be found in the sellers bank account, this is the amount I want back. I'm not asking for any more than that!
Just what they find to be transferred by me. Say I just sent the $200.. Shouldn't he give that back?! But, he won't even give that amount back! And like I said, I've not even received the amount he did say he would return!

Ideally, I would like the tickets with the rest owing to be paid via PayPal or the money he has received from me. Whatever that may be upon the investigation ending. His sudden absence is worrying....

And yes, eBay and I have told him that he can get his FVF back, so he is aware.

[mozismyshepherd]

@ ambridgebuckskins:

Yes, it's a tassie bank.
A quick google provided a lot of info, he's head honcho at a gov.au firm (which is intimidating), his work email etc comes up.. Do I write to that? A FB comes up as well. I honestly don't know anymore. If he's ignoring eBay and my messages, will he even bother with his work addy? I cannot believe how stupid I was. Ugh.

[davewil1964]

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@am*3 wrote:

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@kopenhagen5 wrote:

And let the seller know if he cancels the transaction after the refund of full amount he will get his fees back.

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Yes. The seller would get their eBay FVF's back if sale cancelled.

But.. Still the issue of seller saying the buyer only paid $200 though. The seller won't refund the $650 to the buyer if the sale is cancelled as they are claiming they only received $200.

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The seller also allegedy incurred $103 eBay fees on a $650 sale. The seller is a shonk. ACORN.

[amber-eyed-girl]

If you have the right person, it can't hurt to try the work email; don't be intimidated by anything. But if they are denying receiving the full amount, expect them to keep denying it. Might be interesting if you could get that denial through their work email though...then it would be on their work server. Report it to ACORN.