eBay sale gone badly wrong!

[mormess]

Hi all

Ok, here is my saga. At the end of May I sold some gear from our studio on eBay. An annoying person was asking stupid questions about it from the start but he ended up sniping the others and got £675 worth of gear. Because it was so heavy we arranged to have him pick it up. Then his PayPal payment bounced and the money came back out of my bank. PayPal won't protect me because there's no delivery tracking number, even though I have proof via emails that he collected it, and a witness.

Eventually, after pitiful excuses I got a debt collection agency who I know to handle it. I've had to chase them every step and still he makes excuses - I will pay, I won't pay, I was never not going to pay, ok, do the legal action. Because of the uselessness of the agency I don't think I can trust them to do the small claims process. Even if I did there's no guarantee.

I guess here's my question - can I publish his name and details and say that he owes me money? I guess he's using my gear to run a DJ business. I wanted to save bad eBay feedback until this was resolved.

This has caused me untold stress from the beginning and I want it to end! I've no money myself and so I don't want to spend more on a process that might not get my money back.

Help!

[Buenchico]

>>>can I publish his name and details and say that he owes me money

No. Several newsagents in Sheffield displayed the names and addresses of people who'd repeatedly failed to pay (very large) newspaper delivery bills. South Yorkshire Police visited all of them and threatened them with criminal prosecution for 'harassment for debt'.

You don't need to use any third party to initiate court action under the 'small claims' procedure. You can do it online here:
https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

Chris

[mormess]

Buenchico, thank you so much. My last question is - can I use Moneyclaim as a small business? Here is the rub - I sold the gear using my business PayPal and it was bought under my business. However, the business is just me and my partner so it feels personal! I had a quick look at Moneyclaim and it looks easy enough, I just don't want to run into problems.

[mormess]

Ok, I did it - used Money Claim and submitted a claim and paid £60. It was so easy! The debt collection agency who'd been less than useless wanted to charge me £70 plus an admin fee of £150 (they are no win no fee until litigation). Even if nothing happens at least he will know I'm serious and perhaps have a record of some sort.

Wish I'd done this sooner! Many thanks for all your advice.