Is This Abuse Bad Enough To Report?

[mrs_overall]

Back in May I sold a top on Ebay. After a week I sent the buyer a polite reminder to pay and heard nothing. I then filed an unpaid item report which was dealt with and the matter is now closed. This particular "buyer" has 10 feedbacks which all say the same thing - no payment, no communication, time waster etc.
Out of the blue, three months after the event I have started receiving nasty messages from this person. They are all in the same vein and the latest one (this morning) said "Eff off you sad lying bitch. I hope you die a very slow death."
I have reported this person to Ebay but they will not suspend/ban her.
Is this type of abuse serious enough to report to the police?
(I have done some checking up and the address linked to her Ebay account is a bogus one).

[murraymints]

Yes I would Mrs o....particularly in view of recent Twitter abuse...

[mrs_overall]

Hmm, that is what I was thinking too Mauler

[friedgreentomato]

Mrs O, sorry that you are recieving this but they are not actually threatening you.

I would try ebay once more so you can say to the police that you have exhausted all other routes first.

[ummmm]

Not sure if being very nasty is the same as threats of rape.

I'm surprised that ebay haven't done more.

[whistonian]

Most certainly Mrs O,you should report this to the police.And lets hope they can locate the scum.

[EvianBaby]

I can't say I'd bother. It's not pleasant but there's not threat there.

[mrs_overall]

This particular message does not threaten me but I have had one message that has (she is allegedly coming to burn my house down with me in it).
I'll give Ebay a few days to take action first.
Thank you all for your comments

[alzheimer]

Certainly Mrs O......you should get right back to eBay and advise them that the address is bogus. I am astonished that they have not taken action.
I know that they have banned buyers and sellers for far less crimes - so get back to them....otherwise you could end up getting a flood of such abuse.

[mrs_overall]

Thanks alzheimer - I have told Ebay until I am blue in the face!

[sunny-dave]

I would report it - even if the police won't follow it up they ought to give you some sort of 'crime report number'.

You can then wave this at ebay and demand they block/suspend/ban the user.

dave xx


PS:

For those who say "it's not that bad" - it is perhaps worth remembering that the user is (probably) abusing others in a similar/worse way. Not everyone shares our robust outlook on life and other recipients may be badly affected by such messages.

[mrs_overall]

A good point Dave. I have been in contact with two other sellers in the same boat as me who are also receiving abusive messages. One of them is an elderly lady and it is really alarming her.
Not everyone is as rufty tufty as me :-)

[tonyav]

Morning mrs overowl, report this scumbag to the cops if I were you.

[berniecuddles]

ebay dont give a toss only interested in how much money they can make i stopped selling on there a year ago!! not worth the hassle

[mikey4444]

When you report it to the Police,and you most certainly should, make sure you receive a crime reference number, otherwise they will just ignore it and carry on with something more important. Like spying on the victims of crime, for instance.

Keep trying with ebay. If they still don't do anything, try this :::

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?197332-Making-a-complaint-against-ebay

Put the buyer on the site, then everybody else will know. I have never had any problems with ebay, but it would seem that it is best advice to look at the buyer feedbacks before posting. Not your fault of course...ebay need to wake up to this sort of thing.

[EvianBaby]

In that perhaps you could get together as many of the messages other people have received and submit a report on their behalf if they are concerned.

There's some truly weird people out there.

[alzheimer]

What a good idea Dave about having a police crime number etc....that would surely force eBay to take action.
One reason why I have never become a seller - I buy plenty - LOL but have heard sufficient horror stories about the hassle that sellers can get.
As your address is obviously known to that abusive buyer - I would not hesitate to inform the police ASAP.....that I believe is exactly the sort of thing that they have provided the 101 tel number for.

[mrs_overall]

Good link mikey, thanks

[EvianBaby]

How would the address be known to the buyer?

And Mikey, I don't think you can stop someone bidding on something, whether you check their feedback before hand or not.

[alzheimer]

You just need to look at the entry on Paypal and you can get the address apparently.
As for banning a buyer - that is entirely possible too.
I have several friends who have had to do exactly that - particularly buyers from abroad

[friedgreentomato]

Well sunny d as mrs o only gave half the info our answers were based on that!!