A few years ago I bought a $350 item from a well known collectables expert in QLD. Their identity was know to me via a collectables forum away from ebay. The item was a uniquely named item with the name being the value point.

Paid by bank transfer as per their request and a few days later it was marked as sent. Requested a tracking number but no reply received.

A week or two later no item and still no answers to messages.

The PO duly informs me that the sender has to open a missing item claim even though messages werent being answered.

At this stage I was messaging every couple of days. Their phone number kept going to message bank.

I went to my local Police Station and reported the item as missing in the post. Long story short the Police said that as seller had marked it as payment received and item sent there was a case. Just not in my state.

So I rang the Police station in the sellers town and repeated the story.Nothing they could do blah blah blah. When I mentioned the identy of the seller being a well known " expert " it caught their attention. I was told thanks for my call and they would get back to me.

My item turned up within a few days of my phone conversation. A couple of weeks later the police called to check up if I had received my item. I said it had and he gave me the impression it wasnt the first time this seller had taken money and not sent the item.

The police can help if they know about it so I recommend every attempted fraud/theft via ebay be put on paper with the police whether online or in person.