Lost/stolen item resurfacing: Is there anything I can do?

[Monitor]

I doubt there's anything I can do at this point but I just gotta share this interesting and downright annoying turn of events - Plus if anyone has any idea if anything can be done, I'd love to hear it.

The story goes that year or so ago, I bought these leather pants through Etsy...
https://www.etsy.com/listing/756898...how_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details
The only problem was that they never arrived and after some 3 months of waiting, I started a case & got partially refunded by the seller as Etsy buyer protection is junk. Occasionally, I would check tracking but the pants were definitely lost.

Or so it seemed...

Fast-forward to today, I was just checking eBay for completed listings of Levi's leather trousers to figure out the pricing, when this popped up...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/374638010980
At first I thought wow, these are cool but going through the photos, details such as European hardware, seemed awfully familiar. Luckily, Etsy still kept the old listing so I started comparing the details and yep, needless to say, they're the exact same pair, down to the last crease.

Quite a plot twist. . .

 

[Guppy]

Buy them.

Also report them stolen, file a police report, document everything from the original purchase.

When they arrive open a claim or charge back or whatever, and state that you have recovered stolen property that belongs to you.

Provide the police report to the merchant (or their platform) and they will reimburse you. Either you'll get them without having to pay for them at all, or you'll get them for the lesser of the price you paid originally (less whatever you were partially reimbursed) or the new price.

 

[AHP91]

I doubt there's anything I can do at this point but I just gotta share this interesting and downright annoying turn of events - Plus if anyone has any idea if anything can be done, I'd love to hear it.

The story goes that year or so ago, I bought these leather pants through Etsy...
https://www.etsy.com/listing/756898...how_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details
The only problem was that they never arrived and after some 3 months of waiting, I started a case & got partially refunded by the seller as Etsy buyer protection is junk. Occasionally, I would check tracking but the pants were definitely lost.

Or so it seemed...

Fast-forward to today, I was just checking eBay for completed listings of Levi's leather trousers to figure out the pricing, when this popped up...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/374638010980
At first I thought wow, these are cool but going through the photos, details such as European hardware, seemed awfully familiar. Luckily, Etsy still kept the old listing so I started comparing the details and yep, needless to say, they're the exact same pair, down to the last crease.

Quite a plot twist. . .

Don't have any real concrete suggestion for you, but I really think I've decided to stick to solely eBay for my purchases going forward. The buyer protection and customer service on the other marketplaces are just terrible. At least with eBay it seems you have a fighting chance of getting some support.

Also, I've learned my lesson about giving any significant leeway when it comes to waiting it out for an item. Once I suspect a delay or it appears something fishy is going on, I immediately hound the seller and/or the marketplace. I've contacted sellers when I had questions about certain items that were listed, only to be told that they "can't find" the item they have for sale. Weeks later, I come across the same item still listed for sale.

 

[mvilla]

I'm right now on a similar situation... I sent a jacket to Aero, but it never even left the drop off point. Parcel deemed lost, I got the shitty insurance from DHL, now it showed up on eBay... I reported to the police and am waiting on the investigation outcome...

 

[Guppy]

Buy them.

I'm right now on a similar situation... I sent a jacket to Aero, but it never even left the drop off point. Parcel deemed lost, I got the shitty insurance from DHL, now it showed up on eBay... I reported to the police and am waiting on the investigation outcome...

If you want the jacket, buy it while you can, and hope you get it. Possession is 9/10ths of the law. Once in your hands, make the scammer/thieves life hell by any legal means available. Buyer protection, charge back, police.

 

[Al 916]

I am going to be non specific and am only letting you know what I (now) do in these type of situations.

Bear in mind that I have 'been about for a while'. I have become reasonably good at self analysis. (I could/can gnaw on a bone for years.....)

So here is the mantra.

If I can do something about it without causing myself or loved ones physical or mental harm I do it. If I cannot I move on.

(I use this mental space to enjoy life more).

Bit 'Hippy shit' for an ex-Biker I know, but time is more important as I get older.

 

[mvilla]

If you want the jacket, buy it while you can, and hope you get it. Possession is 9/10ths of the law. Once in your hands, make the scammer/thieves life hell by any legal means available. Buyer protection, charge back, police.

Yeah, I thought about it at first, but the dude is asking like 600 quid for the jacket, and I ain't got funds nor credit available for it... So I'm just hoping police will do their job, as I doubt he's gonna sell it for this much (and at this time of the year) any time soon...

I am going be non specific and am only letting you know what I (now) do in these type of situations.

Bear in mind that I have 'been about for a while'. I have become reasonably good at self analysis. (I could/can naw on a bone for years.....)

So here is the mantra.

If I can do something about it without causing myself or loved ones physical or mental harm I do it. If I cannot I move on.

(I use this mental space to enjoy life more).

Bit 'Hippy shit' for an ex-Biker I know, but time is more important as I get older.

Honestly, first day I found it on eBay I barely slept. Then my wife said to me something along the lines 'you thought it was gone and was living with it, so why you're gone keep on gnawing yourself over it now?' So, there it is... I'm still quite upset, and haven't properly swallowed it just yet, but for now I cannot do much, so I'm just waiting...

 

[TREEMAN]

Thinking the police ( or what’s left of them ) are going to do anything about this is ridiculous IMO.
Thieves are cleaning out stores of their merchandise and police don’t do anything about it… don’t think one jacket will get them motivated.

 

[Guppy]

Thinking the police ( or what’s left of them ) are going to do anything about this is ridiculous IMO.
Thieves are cleaning out stores of their merchandise and police don’t do anything about it… don’t think one jacket will get them motivated.

Police won't "do" anything except take the report. And that's all you need them to do.

The report establishes a documented "fact" that you asserted that the item belongs to you and was stolen from you. Which, it basically was. It was purchased by you, and then stolen from you when you did not receive it. If it never existed, that's fraud; if it did exist, it's theft. Re-selling it now is selling stolen goods. Which is a second crime.

The implication being that if the vendor or the platform the vendor is using wish to avoid potential legal entanglement from such cases, they will acknowledge the police report and back away from the new sale. Or if they do contest the police report, you at least have a documented sworn statement to your version of the facts as a public record on your side.

But yeah the police aren't going to go arrest anyone and return your property to you.

 

[mvilla]

Thinking the police ( or what’s left of them ) are going to do anything about this is ridiculous IMO.
Thieves are cleaning out stores of their merchandise and police don’t do anything about it… don’t think one jacket will get them motivated.

To be fair, an investigator from the police already contacted me twice and said they'd be reaching out to ebay...

 

[mvilla]

Police won't "do" anything except take the report. And that's all you need them to do.

The report establishes a documented "fact" that you asserted that the item belongs to you and was stolen from you. Which, it basically was. It was purchased by you, and then stolen from you when you did not receive it. If it never existed, that's fraud; if it did exist, it's theft. Re-selling it now is selling stolen goods. Which is a second crime.

The implication being that if the vendor or the platform the vendor is using wish to avoid potential legal entanglement from such cases, they will acknowledge the police report and back away from the new sale. Or if they do contest the police report, you at least have a documented sworn statement to your version of the facts as a public record on your side.

But yeah the police aren't going to go arrest anyone and return your property to you.

Yeah, I get it... When I started reading about similar cases on the web, this was the most reasonable rationale that I found... I would do it, however if I actually compromise the asking price of the item on my credit card, it might be troublesome in the near future... So I'm more or less out of options here

 

[Canuck Panda]

Unfortunately individually you can't do much. Best to just let go.

As a group of pissed off consumers, the big companies like DHL or Etsy will listen when there is a (potential) class action suit against them. Tell your neighbourhood business lawyer Etsy has made serious profit (1.861B) for the past operating year. All it takes is one hungry lawyer to get things rolling. I think the class action suits are not as advanced on the other side of the Atlantic but things are changing.

Law enforcement can't do a lot, ust like the consumers, can't play catch up with the theives. But the big companies can do a lot for you. They have cash reserves to pay damages, and they can improve their internal process flow so nothing gets stolen on company time, loss prevention.

 

[Viking752]

I doubt there's anything I can do at this point but I just gotta share this interesting and downright annoying turn of events - Plus if anyone has any idea if anything can be done, I'd love to hear it.

The story goes that year or so ago, I bought these leather pants through Etsy...
https://www.etsy.com/listing/756898...how_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details
The only problem was that they never arrived and after some 3 months of waiting, I started a case & got partially refunded by the seller as Etsy buyer protection is junk. Occasionally, I would check tracking but the pants were definitely lost.

Or so it seemed...

Fast-forward to today, I was just checking eBay for completed listings of Levi's leather trousers to figure out the pricing, when this popped up...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/374638010980
At first I thought wow, these are cool but going through the photos, details such as European hardware, seemed awfully familiar. Luckily, Etsy still kept the old listing so I started comparing the details and yep, needless to say, they're the exact same pair, down to the last crease.

Quite a plot twist. . .

A quick search tells me that your Etsy seller is based in California and coincidentally the current EBay seller is also in California. Did the original seller provide you with solid tracking? This situation certainly raises some questions, is the seller on both platforms the same? for example. I wonder……

 

[Monitor]

Buy them.

Also report them stolen, file a police report, document everything from the original purchase.

When they arrive open a claim or charge back or whatever, and state that you have recovered stolen property that belongs to you.

Provide the police report to the merchant (or their platform) and they will reimburse you. Either you'll get them without having to pay for them at all, or you'll get them for the lesser of the price you paid originally (less whatever you were partially reimbursed) or the new price.

Guppy, I cannot as they've already been sold to someone else. That's the issue. I would've bought them (again) if I could but as it stands... I did however make a report with eBay just for the hell of it to see what's going to happen and I contacted the seller, telling them I'm getting police involved.

I'm right now on a similar situation... I sent a jacket to Aero, but it never even left the drop off point. Parcel deemed lost, I got the shitty insurance from DHL, now it showed up on eBay... I reported to the police and am waiting on the investigation outcome...

That's pretty crap. Much worse than some old-ass rotten old pants and I hope the situation resolves in your favor.

A quick search tells me that your Etsy seller is based in California and coincidentally the current EBay seller is also in California. Did the original seller provide you with solid tracking? This situation certainly raises some questions, is the seller on both platforms the same? for example. I wonder……

Yep, I got very concrete tracking that comes with Etsy, where even the physical location of the package is shown on a map. It's a gimmick but they still keep their own internal tracking which shows exactly at what point the box fell off the grid.

That's awesome you spotted that they're both from California. If I remember correctly, they didn't move much after leaving several sorting centers in Cali.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

That's awful. Doesn't seem like you really can do much which is bs, but that's how this kind of thing goes. You deserve better.

 

[mvilla]

Well, I think this is important info to be here if this ever happens to anyone else in the future.

My experience with the local police has been good, the responsible investigator called me a few times to keep me updated on the case.
Yesterday I got a call from them telling me they got the name and address of the person who's trying to sell it. However, as it is in another region, not covered by my local force, they had to send the case to the force local to his address.
I just had a call from the investigator now giving me bad news, that this other force wouldn't pursue it because they only take non-local cases if they are arrest worthy, and this one doesn't have enough evidence to support an arrest.
So, there it is... The local police showed all the good-will to have the case solved, but were blocked by bureaucracy. I could tell the investigator was annoyed by this outcome.

Anyway, lesson learned. From my experience, don't use DHL Parcel UK (UK Mail) because they don't care, and don't use Yodel because they have some unethical drivers.