Ebay Headache Too!

[lawgurl32]

hi there:
i have a question regarding small claims court-

i am currently a student who is overseas studying, i reside out of the us for about 10 months out of the 12 months of the year and have an overseas student visa. i am an us citizen.

i had an incident on ebay recently and it culminated into something pretty ugly- i purchased something that was "significantly not described" and filed a dispute with paypal. the seller did not respond and it was closed in my favor, i got my refund. according the paypal's user agreement, paypal merely asked me to return the item to the seller on behalf of the seller, not on behalf of paypal, legally speaking.

i did return the item, and have a delivery confirmation number, which states the date, time, and zip code of delivery. the seller claims he never received the item and is threatening to sue me in small claims- i am not sure what to think of this-

is this even possible?

my questions are as follows:

1) will my delivery confirmation hold up in court? even though it says it is delivered and he says he has not received it, is it my word against his? or is my delivery confirmation number sufficient?

2) because i am not residing in the us for the long duration of the year, as i even have a student visa to prove this and enrollment at a school, can he still "serve" me by mailing something to my relative's address to which he has on file?
if someone signs for me, am i obligated to appear in court? if i am an overseas resident, am i still obligated to appear in court under these time restraints?

3) anything else is should know? thanks,

thanks so much,

lg

 

[Michael Wechsler]

(1) Your delivery confirmation by an independent source (the postal carrier) would seem to be a significant piece of evidence weighing in your favor. You may want to get a confirmation from the postal carrier if they have a signature on file if it was obtained. There is no reason for the independent carrier to lie so I'd say your adversary would have a problem.

(2) They could not serve you by mailing a summons to your relative's address. But don't worry about this. See #3.

(3) Most people try to play the bluff game and try to intimidate others without any basis whatsoever, just playing on the fear of the unknown it brings to the victim. The seller has unclean hands and has already lost a case with Ebay / Paypal. I highly doubt he'd show his face in court and now claim that a postal carrier just hates him too.

Good luck with this issue but I would think that if you play a little hardball you may have little to worry about.

 

[lawgurl32]

thanks for the reply-

i appreciate your advice- thanks so much for taking the time to respond. i am still very concerned as there are new developments.

my delivery confirmation only shows whether an item is delivered- and the city, postal code, and time and date. no address, no signature confirmation. i wasn't aware he wanted to "sue" me so i only did this- and paypal did not ask me for a signature or anything, i was merely asked to be a "good person" and return the item and since it was on my dime, i only requested delivery confirmation.

now the story gets a little complicated- i checked yesterday online and it turns out the package was "not accepted"- so it could mean that a) he rejected it, and he wants $$$ instead of the item (he was trying to get rid of the misrepresented item himself) or b) it was infact delivered to the wrong address and sent back-

however, being that i am not in the states, my friend re-checked the address it was sent to, verified the location i provided and resent the item, again using delivery confirmation. i was emailed this after the fact it was done and i will call paypal to let them know the new delivery confirmation number.

i am not sure what to do about this- i think legally as long as it is delivered this time, without return, i am covered by law, correct?

i am very timid when it comes to things like this, as though threats of being sued- may only be threats, it seems very real when they are addressed to you.

so-

(again i apologize for taking so much of your time but all my friends are in the medical field, including myself)

1) is there anything else i should do to protect myself?

2) given that this time, the item is delivered, am i covered by law? (or small claims court so to speak?) or if it is claimed by him as "lost" in the mail so to speak, will i have to pay for this item because i did not insure it? am i legally responsible still for the item after it is in the hands of the post office?

3) will paypal's jurisdiction over the case play any role in small claims court or is it a new case altogether?

4) should i be concerned i only have delivery confirmation? the time, date, city, zipcode, and delivery status? i have called usps and they said they cannot do a check on the address or even person bc it was not requested. this is all the info that can be provided

5) should i still answer his emails, calls or reply? that is, he is making the fact that he "didn't receive the item", my problem- should i still be involved, am i still LEGALLY involved? or is it "tough luck" that the post office mixed it up, and we have no insurance? and i should wipe this of my conscience?

thanks so much again, i would just like to have everything ready in case this person really decides to take a 12 hour drive up to the state where i'm "located" to serve me.

~eh