I received my first bounced check this week and wanted to see if there is any recourse. I have emailed (very courteously) the winning bidder, to no avail. She has not yet responded to two of my emails.
Can I file for eBay's insurance? Should I contact her ISP? Her bank? I do not have a brick and mortar store, so I dont feel like I have the same recourse as a store does.
posted on October 20, 2000 08:56:27 PM
My husband, who has over 10,000 transactions on eBay, gets an occasional bounced check. All of them have made good on it. He sends the following email:
"Your check #____ for $XXX has been returned by your bank for insufficient funds. I assume that you will resolve this problem by immediately sending me a money order for $23.20, which includes the XXX bank fee I was charged. Be sure to reply back to this email with your intentions so this doesn't escalate. My address is: ......"
If he doesn't hear from the person in a few days:
"Your check #____ for $XXX was returned by your bank for insufficient funds, and I have not heard from you. Accordingly, I have today filed federal criminal mail charges against with the United States Postal Inspection Service. Sending a bad check through the mails is a federal felony, and they WILL prosecute. By copy of this email, I am informing eBay that these charges have been filed, so that they may take appropriate action to expel you from the site before you can cheat more honest sellers. If you should wish to resolve this now, please mail a money order for $___ to me at: ...."
At that point, cc the email to eBay, and get a copy of the Postal Mail Fraud form from the Post Office.
