The founder of eBay believed that most people are honest and he was right - they are.

Here's what to do if you're unfortunate enough to encounter one of the minority who don't meet that standard.

Contact your local Police station on the non emergency number that you'll find listed, either online, or in the Yellow Pages and make an appointment to report an allegation of fraud.

Most forces now have eBay 'specialist' officers who are familar with the workings of the site, many have attended eBay hosted seminars - so don't be too surprised if you're asked specific questions about the transaction prior to being given an appointment

When you attend the Police station bring hard copies of any communication you have received in relation to the auction. Make sure that these print outs display the email headers, if you don't know how to make headers show, ask - they're important.

Print a screen shot of the auction page showing the item you won and attach your proof of payment to it.

Important Note

If you paid through PayPal the Police are unlikely to get involved until such time as PayPal have completed their investigations and your level of loss has been determined.

This wasn't always the case but it is the norm now - attempting to involve the Police prior to that point is unlikely to be successful.

You should also do your best to supply the Police with the user IDs of any other winners, together with the item numbers of all the completed sales. This is more problematic now because eBay have a habit of ending auctions when a seller is suspended, so it's essential that you print out sales histories as soon as you have reason to believe you may need them.

Third party emails won't be accepted by the Police as evidence, in other words emails forwarded to you by another victim cannot be considered as part of your complaint, so don't waste time gathering them.

The Officer you speak to will almost certainly know how to contact eBay but just in case they don't, print these details out and bring them with you

email - law enforcement at ebay.com

Fax   - +44 (0)207 68123869

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/safetycentre/lawenforcement.html

Once you have received a crime number, be prepared to relay it to any of the other buyers who you may find yourself in contact with. They can use that information to strengthen their own case when trying to get an Officer at their local Police station to take their complaint.

Finally, if you find yourself in this position, I'd recommend asking for advice on eBay's Question And Answer board - there are often specific courses of action that you can take to recover your money regardless of Police intervention.

You can find Q&A here:

http://forums.ebay.co.uk/forum.jspa?forumID=7

Good luck.

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