EBay Scam

[AngusV]

My question involves a consumer law issue in the UK.

A friend and I thought it would be a good idea to try and buy some technological goods off eBay and then sell them off at a higher price in different places. Therefore we bought a lot of 10 which came to a total of £1750 between us. After three weeks or so of the seller continually making excuses for delays we he closed his account. Because we had paid by bank transfer we knew his details and it turns out that he is an up-and-coming athlete that is very likely to be in the GB squad in the London 2012 olympics. We managed to get hold of his details and talk to him about the matter but he said that he couldn't give our money back or the goods because he had been scammed himself. As a result we rang the police who told us that they couldn't do anything because it isn't a criminal offence because he has been in contact with us.

Unfortunately this was almost two years ago (we have been trying to sort it amicably, however, they are not returning any emails). We were sent the court papers by the guy ~ a year ago because he says he can't pay us back until he has apparently won the court battle against the "scammer" in Scotland.

Does anyone have any suggestions as for what should be our next course of action? We could wait and see what happens at the court but I am worried that this is another lie, seeing as the person they are suing was meant to have responded by 31st July of last year (they sent us the scanned court papers) and he still hasn't. Even then,there is no guarantee they will give back our money.

Thanks in advance!

[LawResearcherMissy]

This is a US based legal forum.

For help with UK law, you might want to try here.