"Crazy eBay seller reports missing parcels to police." Topic

I have had the most surreal experience ever with an eBay seller. I send a message asking him about an item that was supposed to have been delivered, he responds that it was shipped out. I say that it hasn't arrived and can he check if it's gone through.

Guess what he does?

He calls the police. He reports a missing GBP30.00 parcel of Magic Sculpt to the police. And keeps going on and on about how he's going to make the postman lose his job.

I thought that after 8 years buying and selling, I would have seen everything, but this guy's hysteria is astounding.

(Bear in mind that we have no evidence of any theft here, and that I'd literally asked him about the parcel 1 hour before he called the cops).

I think he is yanking your chain.
Being married to a Plod I can assure you they won't get involved in a civil situation such as this.

I figure he's either

1. Thinks I'm trying to claim non-delivery for the parcel and is trying to scare me off.
2. Is a real ex-postman going postal.

I told him to forget about it, he can keep his polymer putty money. Isn't worth the time and aggravation despite me being in the right.

And his setup looked so nice too. Why are all the nice ones crazy?

Why are all the nice ones crazy?

My wife said that about me..

Wow…

Is there no delivery confirmation available in the UK?

For £30.00 GBP I think I'd be either claiming through Paypal or getting proof of posting to claim from the Royal Mail.

Phil

No doubt. I'd get a claim going.

Ask him for the crime number, see if he's pulling a fast one.

Chances are excellent that the dweeb just FUed your address on the parcel, and it is coming back to him already.

As streetline said ask for a crime reference number. Chances are he wont have one. There is no evidence of a crime from the police's point of view and they will just refer him to the post office to investigate. If the post office confirm a crime has been committed (doubt it) then the police will get involved.
If the seller does give you a 'crime number' check it with the constabulary he reported it to and I bet it's a lost property reference number, that's all they'll give him.

Yeah I'm querying him on it already. I told him he could keep the money, but I wanted to see his proof of postage first so I can chase it with RM directly.

I suspect he FU-ed my address as well. I'll release his name with a warning when I get the whole thing sorted out. Regardless of his intentions, this is just terrible customer service. I don't expect the GW "here have replacement immediately" type of service from a small seller, but some courtesy would have been nice, especially when I explicitly told him not to involve the police.

My postman kindly signs for my recorded delivery items for me when I'm at work and either simply puts them through the letterbox or, if they are a large parcel, hides them for me in a bin and leaves me a note. I know its completely against the whole point of recorded delivery and he means well, especially as the sorting office is 10 miles away.
Anyway, back to the point, ZandrisIV, yep, that seller sounds nuts. Did you have a tracking number? If not, I can tell you from bitter experience as an ebay seller that if you paid by paypal, you WILL get your money refunded straight away if you lodge a dispute. Best of luck, and keep us all posted! (no pun intended)

Guess what he does?

He calls the police. He reports a missing GBP30.00 parcel of Magic Sculpt to the police. And keeps going on and on about how he's going to make the postman lose his job.

The police would not have been interested.

EBay/Paypal are only interested in proof of delivery anyway. Proof of postage is a "So What?" response and if he has no proof of delivery then Paypal would refund you your money regardless of proof-of-postage.

It sounds to me as though he is new to eBay and does not understand how the whole system of Paypal guarentees and DSR systems work.

Angel Barracks "married to a Plod" I haven't stopped laughing since I read that ! It conjures up quite an image. Never heard it before. Is it a synonym for "gumshoe", "copper" etc.?
To remain on topic; the seller sounds like a nut.

Well, just to update the peanut gallery :D

I wrote the parcel off and re-ordered from another retailer (Sylmasta) who shipped me a parcel. This nut, who is busy speaking to the local delivery manager, finds out about this parcel, and despite me insisting it comes from another seller, claims the parcel is his and I am a "liar". I tried to speak to him on the phone, but he didn't want to discuss anything and just kept saying I was incomprehensible and wanted a translator (doubtlessly he saw my Asian name, nevermind how my entire day job revolves around talking to people).

So he isn't just paranoid and delusional, he's not above some racism. I've tried to be nice, but that was the last straw. eBay dispute opened. Will name and shame after I get my money back.

@Antenociti's CSR (DeeDee?)

I find it highly bizarre that he isn't aware of stuff like this, since (1) He professes to have worked with Royal Mail for 25 years, and (2) He does have an extensive online shop outside eBay. And this is why I try my best to please all my customers, I know Paypal will *always* favour the buyer in the event of a dispute.

@Chazzmak

I think Plod is a very British thing. I'm sure I've heard of PC Plod before somewhere.

Watch it, its the Rozzers! (another term of endearment us Brits use for the Filth, err, I mean police)

Well, to conclude this rather dismal affair, eBay returned my money, and I got MagicSculpt from another seller (SylMasta), someone who actually ships the goods when paid for.

I duly left negative feedback, and lo-and-behold, I find that three others have left the similar feedback in the past month. The guy has now changed his eBay name (that used to correspond to his actual online shop) to a nonsense name, and set his feedback private.

Still trying to decide if it would be in the public interest to name and shame him anyway.

and set his feedback private.

Which also defeats the whole point of feedback. Surprised Ebay still permit private feedbacks.

@GeoffQRF

Actually, he can't actually sell with his feedback private. So his eBay business arm is effectively closed.

It wouldn't have come from the Flintshire area by any chance?

Not sure. His listed trading address is somewhere in Wales.

Do you know this company?

"Still trying to decide if it would be in the public interest to name and shame him anyway."

Why wouldn't you want to name and shame him? Don't we deserve to not be cheated out of our hard-earned money?

I am still trying to figure out whether he called the cops locally where he lives, or where you live. And what he expected them to do in any case. Sounds like your analysis, he just wanted to create smoke and mirrors to obscure his thievery.

You're lucky, if I don't get packages promptly I report it directly to the Vice President of the Continental United States of America.

@tuscaloosa

I'm just a little worried, because this unstable individual happens to have my home address!