Looks Like I Got Ripped Off $230...NEW UPDATE: Wednesday Is His Last Chance...

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Good luck. Hopefully he really did send the money...but at least you know there's something you can do if he didn't. All isn't lost.
 
It only takes 3 business days for a letter to go coast to coast. Saying he mailed it "5 or 6 days ago" seems flakey.

I'd go ahead with the court proceedings tomorrow. You can always cancel it if and when the money does come.

Plus, it'll scare the crap out of him.
 
I sent the cash to ya 5-6 days ago. If ya haven't got it yet then you should shortly. I just hope that it has not been lost in the mail. thank you for your time.

Carl
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I doubt he sent anything. By saying "I just hope that it has not been lost in the mail." is pretty much a warning that he didn't send shit, but he sure as hell will claim he did.
 
Dude you got owned so bad... I hope everything looks up for you man because I do not believe there is anyway you are getting your stuff back or any money back.
 
I might be missing something here, but hadn't it only been four days between the time "Carl" received the package and the time the OP made his first post? I understand that the guy had a lot of bad feedback, but still, why freak after four days, and threaten legal action after five? People are slow sometimes (meaning slow getting around to sending things, not as in the OP is slow ;) ).
 
Hopefully everything works out, but it sounds pretty strange claiming he sent the money 5 or 6 days ago, and only now after the police got involved he tells you this. Honestly smells like BS.
 
Yea, he was trying to rip you off dude. What a coincidence that he had not replied to all your other emails.... yet he replies within 16 mins of the 'police email' -!!
 
You didn't even ask him for a delivery confirmation before you setup the whole transaction? Jesus those things cost $.45, you really made some huge mistakes on this trade
 
[quote name='Haggar']It only takes 3 business days for a letter to go coast to coast. Saying he mailed it "5 or 6 days ago" seems flakey.

I'd go ahead with the court proceedings tomorrow. You can always cancel it if and when the money does come.

Plus, it'll scare the crap out of him.[/QUOTE]
go ahead with the proceeding cancel when money is received!!
Cover yourself first.
 
If you really scared him, it will show up in about 3 days with a postmark after you threatneed legal action lol.
I would also let the forum people know what you did and how it is working out in case he screwed some other people. They can have hope and also file court papers against him. Maybe he will learn not to feck with other people throught he mail.
If he is a minor then I'm sure hes weeing himself right now at the thought of all this crashing in around him.
Go ahead and file the court papers. You can always withrdaw them later.
The sooner the better. If he doesnt get any notice within a few days he will think your BSing him and he'll continue to string you along.

Good Luck!! :)
 
Good luck. I'm having problems with something I bought on Ebay, but I'm sure that what I ordered got lost in the mail, because the guy I ordered from has 600+ feedback, 100% positive.
 
[quote name='varsitygamer']why would a seller ever send goods before recieving payment?

sorry for your loss but... i just can't figure that out.

~stew[/QUOTE]

I did it when the buyer has more positive feedback than me.

Sellers can be scammers too you know.
 
I decided to send another e-mail to Carl. I sent him an e-mail asking a couple questions and asking for his house and cellphone (if he has one) number. I didn't hear from him tonight, but I did hear from someone else...

The police offer called me within this past hour. He spoke with Carl, and Carl said that our agreement was cash and that he would seal the money, but I never agreed to that. I just checked our trade page, and he even said that we would be paying by money order. The police officer said that Carl would e-mail me tomorrow morning to talk about the money and what we will do.

He then said if he doesn't do anything about it, he told me to go ahead and file the civil lawsuit. Once that's done, he will be forced to show up to court where I live. If he doesn't show up, I don't know if I heard this correctly, but there will be a warrant for his arrest. Then, if he has assets, such as a truck, that will be taken and sold. Then, $230 plus the money for filing the paperwork and what have you will be taken out of the amount that the asset was sold for. So that will cover all my expenses. I finally asked the police officer that if I'm in a win-win situation and he said that I am.

So in the end, it looks like I'm victorious. I'll continue to keep you guys updated to the point where I get either my money or my stuff. For now, I'm somewhat relieved.

I forgot to mention that I explained the whole thing to my mom. She said I shouldn't have called the police over $230, but I told her this was basically fraud. She said ok. I thought she would get really pissed. I was surprised how calm she was after I told her everything. I think she would've gotten mad if I had lost the money for good.
 
[quote name='AlanSaysYo']I might be missing something here, but hadn't it only been four days between the time "Carl" received the package and the time the OP made his first post? I understand that the guy had a lot of bad feedback, but still, why freak after four days, and threaten legal action after five? People are slow sometimes (meaning slow getting around to sending things, not as in the OP is slow ;) ).[/QUOTE]


Thats a lameass excuse. If you trade with another person, you(not directing at you) damn well better make sure you do your end of the trade and not come up with *i've been busy* excuses or dodging their email/PMs. These are what scammers usually do.

Goodluck with whatever you decide to do OP. IMO, I think you just scared the shit outta Carl.
 
[quote name='Deadpool']Wow i didn't know people were dumb enough to send stuff without getting payment first.[/QUOTE]

I don't know who you do business with but I don't see how its any dumber than sending the money first if the seller has shady feedback. I've always sent first if the other party had better feedback than me and never had a problem.

But hey, I guess I'm just dumb. /sarcasm
 
[quote name='Deadpool']Wow i didn't know people were dumb enough to send stuff without getting payment first.[/QUOTE]
You don't send first to a PO box, ever. I don't ship to PO boxes, period. I certainly would never ship first on cash deal, I don't care if its Bill Gates himself. I hope you get your money back and I hope you learn from this.

When you do a cash deal, it goes, they pay, you ship, in that order. If they pay, and you don't ship, then there are dispute resolution options through Paypal, or their credit card company, and they can get their money back. If you ship, and they don't pay, you have to go through the legal system. The buyer is more protected in this situation than the seller. I noticed the agreed payment method was a money order, don't do that either. Forged money orders are gaining popularity. If you absolutely must, accept Postal Money Orders only, and they pay first, no exceptions. If you're sent a Postal Money Order, and you don't ship, its postal fraud, but its much harder to get the money back than Paypal.

I would encourage you to use Paypal in these situations, you expose yourself, and the customer, to less risk. If they won't pay first, then don't do the deal. If you don't have any feedback, and you're trying to sell $200 of stuff, do smaller deals with reputable people to build up your feedback first. Never, ever, ever do what you did, not for me, not for someone you think you know, not for anyone. What you did is quite possibly the worst thing anyone could ever do in any trading/selling situation. Get your money back, learn from the experience, and never do this again.
 
Wow, awesome resolve! However, If he had sent you a check/m.o. in the first place I would have told him to cancel it, re-issue another check/m.o. and send it Overnight through the post office. Its either that, or he goes to court.
 
I'm not giving you credit for what you've done. Everything could've been avoided with these words: I DO NOT SEND FIRST.

Thousands of people are ripped off each day because they think other people are reliable. When will they learn that Fred from Michigan couldn't give a shit about them?

First of all, the scammer should've been more intelligent about scamming. Have it sent to an abandoned house with a fake name, and wear gloves to go pick the item up. Delivery confirmation is bullshit because all my postman ever does is use a yellow highlighter to mark the slip and then leaves it on the side of the road. This when nobody is present.

And if you want to be extra sneaky, there's a shareware program called Hide IP Platinum which redirects your computer through different hosts and makes it impossible to track.

Second of all, you shouldn't ever trust anyone online. If you just meet them on some forum and instantly make a trade, do not send first. Always send either after or at the same time as the other person. For the same time method, require a UPS package number or something similar. Either that or just use PAYPAL.Also, check out their e-mail before you trade. If it was created two days ago or some shit, then you know what to do.

Never ask around for "verification" on reliable trades. It's extremely easy to create two accounts and give yourself referrals on some primitive website.
 
wow, some people are really paranoid.

maybe it's just because I did selling through anandtech.com or that I was lucky.
 
Well when you've frauded as much as I have, you sort of get the knack of how to keep it under wraps.

...Oops! :lol: ;)

No, it just seems sensible to do that stuff.
 
Hey now.. don't bash ALL PO Box users. I have people ship stuff to my PO Box, but i'm completely legit.

You don't send first to a PO box, ever. I don't ship to PO boxes, period.
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Lies! You paid me via MO to my PO Box :p
 
[quote name='Scorch']Hey now.. don't bash ALL PO Box users. I have people ship stuff to my PO Box, but i'm completely legit.



Lies! You paid me via MO to my PO Box :p[/QUOTE]
I didn't send items to your PO box, I was paying :p
 
I've always wondered about PO Boxes. Are there any benefits to them besides the "I want to keep my real address secret" benefit? Also, does the post office charge for them? I've heard conflicting reports on that last question, which is really strange...
 
Oh my lord, this guy lives in Plains? That's in the middle of nowhere! I didn't know they had police. Hell, if he doesn't show in court if you file a civil suit, I'll send my cousin from Kalispell down with a 2X4 to straighten him out...
 
[quote name='Saucy Jack']I've always wondered about PO Boxes. Are there any benefits to them besides the "I want to keep my real address secret" benefit? Also, does the post office charge for them? I've heard conflicting reports on that last question, which is really strange...[/QUOTE]

Well since you're renting a space to receive mail from yeah I'm pretty sure most if not all people pay a fee for them. Also some people use PO Boxes because they live with roommates/parents and want to keep their stuff private or they might live in a place they don't trust others to not steal their mail (it is more common than you'd think).
 
I knew a girl that had a PO box because towards the end of living with one of her roomates the relationship got a little sour and she didn't want her mail going to the same apartment (afraid her roomy would tamper with important mail of hers). I think you're charged based on what size box you want.
 
[quote name='vienge']Well since you're renting a space to receive mail from yeah I'm pretty sure most if not all people pay a fee for them. Also some people use PO Boxes because they live with roommates/parents and want to keep their stuff private or they might live in a place they don't trust others to not steal their mail (it is more common than you'd think).[/QUOTE]

Cool. Thanks for the info. :)
 
So, lemme get this straight. You shipped SIX games AND a CONSOLE to a buyer, before you even received his payment??? Sorry, but there's no sympathy for morons like you. What kind of a jackass sends (over) $230.00 worth of merchandise to someone they never met, before they even received their payment? Forgive me for rooting for the bad guy, but, for your blatant stupidity, I hope you never get your shit back.

GO, CARL!!!
 
[quote name='Devin']So, lemme get this straight. You shipped SIX games AND a CONSOLE to a buyer, before you even received his payment??? Sorry, but there's no sympathy for morons like you. What kind of a jackass sends (over) $230.00 worth of merchandise to someone they never met, before they even received their payment? Forgive me for rooting for the bad guy, but, for your blatant stupidity, I hope you never get your shit back.

GO, CARL!!![/QUOTE]

Well I could see him at least only shipping the cheapest stuff first then the rest after payment or at least asking for half the payment upfront then the rest after receiving the goods. Putting the ball 100% in the other guys court is only reasonable if the deal is worth a little or the guy has crystal clean long history of feedback from a hundred different people with lots of feedback of their own (even then check the forum you're dealing from to make sure those traders aren't the same person) and you're a n00b with no feedback or only a little bit. I mean there's never a 100% safe method of dealing but that's pretty rock solid AFAIK. Checking www.trollhunters.com also helps.

But I'd never root for the scammer because that just makes more scammers to deal with as the shady folk are more successful.
 
[quote name='Devin']So, lemme get this straight. You shipped SIX games AND a CONSOLE to a buyer, before you even received his payment??? Sorry, but there's no sympathy for morons like you. What kind of a jackass sends (over) $230.00 worth of merchandise to someone they never met, before they even received their payment? Forgive me for rooting for the bad guy, but, for your blatant stupidity, I hope you never get your shit back.

GO, CARL!!![/QUOTE]

Don't be a dick.
 
Ha, nice job getting some action out of that scammer. Hopefully he really comes through.

I'm surprised the guy would be required to fly/drive out to your city over this lawsuit or face arrest, but if that's what the cop says I guess it's true.

And I believe some people that live in rural areas get PO Boxes for free. But most pay for them. I think if you qualify for a free PO Box that means the USPS won't be sending a mailman to your house every day - which would obviously suck.

Here's the bit from their site:

"Customers may qualify for free (Group E) post office box service if their physical address or business location meets all of the following criteria:

a. The physical address or business location is within the geographic delivery ZIP Code boundaries administered by a post office.

b. The physical address or business location constitutes a potential carrier delivery point of service.

c. The USPS chooses not to provide carrier delivery to the physical address or business location.

d. The customer does not receive carrier delivery via an out-of-bounds delivery receptacle."
 
I was thinking about getting a PO Box for a business i was debating starting...it costs about 40 bucks a yr for a normal sized box.
 
Definitely a good job, man. I'd almost be more inclined to take that dude to court just because he was trying to scam me, if I were you, but I bet you just want your money back and for this thing to be over with.

Hopefully that guy is pretty freaked out and won't try to scam anyone again.
 
Awesome job tracking the guy down and scaring some sense into him!

PO boxes do cost money, though some people don't seem to realize this. When someone doesn't pay for a long time we close their box and start sending all of their mail back to sender. They often come in to whine about this when they had MONTHS to pay their PO box fee after it was originally due, multiple notices, and still did not pay. One guy came in saying he lost thousands of dollars because of this. All because he was too cheap to pay his $37.50 (or whatever the heck it was at the time). I hope he was telling the truth because that made my day, heh.
 
Just a tip if you do and you'd be receiving a lot of mail that could be easily damaged, get a bigger box. The smallest size PO box is pretty small and unless the letter or packages specifically says do not bend on it, whoever is doing the box section will have to bend anything larger than a standard letter in half to fit it in the box. Hell even when it DOES say do not bend I've seen clerks stick the stuff in there like that, especially when the normal box clerk is on vacation or off.

[quote name='Pookymeister1234']I was thinking about getting a PO Box for a business i was debating starting...it costs about 40 bucks a yr for a normal sized box.[/QUOTE]
 
Alright! Yay for the police in Plains nailing this guy so fast! I'd reccomend printing out every email/private message/board post you have from this guy about this trade now, just in case something happens to your computer between now and a possible court hearing, you'll have a hard copy.

[quote name='ne2eire']I knew a girl that had a PO box because towards the end of living with one of her roomates the relationship got a little sour and she didn't want her mail going to the same apartment (afraid her roomy would tamper with important mail of hers). I think you're charged based on what size box you want.[/QUOTE]

We had a PO Box for a bit- we were living next to an apartment, and the people there kept parking in front of our (and 2 other house's) mailbox. Finally our carrier got lazy and just quit leaving the mail if there was a car in front of the box. Which was damn near every day. :roll:
 
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