seller won't return my pm's

please allow the sleazy lawyer to give his two cents....

i have purchased a lot of parts and six vehicles from ebay and FABO. my most recent large purchase was an OEM AM/FM radio for my 68 barracuda. i paid the guy $550.00. before i send anyone any money at all i get their name and address. if they will not provide that information then i don't purchase from them. the exception is buying stuff from ebay where ebay guarantees the purchase. over the last eight years, i've filed and served one seller with a law suit; threatened two other sellers with suit; and had ebay refund three purchases due to deceptive practices on behalf of the seller. but these problems represent MAYBE 5% of all the hundreds of purchases that i've made "on-line." if you get someone's name and address and they do the "ignore" routine, then you can send them a certified letter, return receipt requested asking for your part or your money back. whether or not they accept that letter, if they do not respond you can then go to your local "Magistrate" or "small claims court" or "District Justice" (whatever your state has) and file a suit. these actions usually do not cost very much to file (generally $35-75.00) and you can easily "represent yourself" at this level of litigation. in about 90% of cases, your seller will respond once they get served with court papers.

on larger purchases, like expensive parts or vehicles, you MUST send the seller a simple contract to sign first and then returned to you stating the item to be purchased, the price, and the payment terms. again, if a seller will not provide you something "in writing" regarding the transaction, that's a good sign you should pass this deal up. i always get a contract signed first and then send the seller a personal check either as a deposit or as full payment. a personal check is very helpful because if the seller signs and deposits that check, YOUR bank will have a copy. you need to get a copy of this check for your records. once a person signs and deposits a check from someone, failure on their part to complete the purchase not only opens them up to a civil suit for damages, it also exposes them to criminal charges. AND a check sent to someone "out of state" that is "stolen" constitutes a "federal felony." after more than 25 years of practicing criminal law, i can tell you that under no circumstances do you EVER want to get charged by "the feds" with a federal criminal violation. most federal jurisdictions have a criminal conviction rate of over 90%.

most people i have dealt with have been decent car-loving folks. the few dirt bags i have run into changed their behavior once i've told them that "we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way.." as i said, just get some basic information from the seller so you can find that person if you need to. if you don't have a personal checking account or don't know anyone who does, then use a money order from the U.S. POST OFFICE - not a private company money order. as you may guess, stealing money from a postal money order is a federal offense and you will have the federal postal inspectors at your local post office to help you out if your seller "absconds" with your money.

one last suggestion, if you get contact information from a seller and the transaction is going south, send them a certified letter giving them one week, two weeks, (whatever you want) to respond and tell them after that point you will seek legal representation and/or contact the appropriate authorities.

hope these suggestions help everyone here at FABO...