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WildBill wrote:

tacticool wrote:On the other hand, it's possible he actually lost the money order.

It is possible. I have lost stuff. On the other hand, I don't believe that he did. That's just my personal opinion.

There is a reason that there is an old saying about "if a deal is too good to be true..." It may be a platitude, but it is a good one!

I would sure like to come on here and read the guy made good on all this but I am not holding my breath. This has classic scam written all over it. I hate when thieves get away with stuff like this. It could be me, my family or any one of us posting here getting ripped off. Is it against forum policy to speak of how cool it would be if ten or so fellers from the Houston area get together and open up a can of whoop butt? Just kidding.... Not really.

To the OP... Sorry if you got burned and don't feel alone. This stuff happens to people buying on the net all the time. When I was playing drag racer, there were always guys getting scammed buying hot rod parts from net thieves. Good luck to you... Hope it works out.

ANYTIME you are making an online transaction use a USPS money order. If and when there is a problem file a complaint with the post office. Each post office has an investigator assigned to it. It is a SLOW process, BUT once the dummy on the infraction end of the deal realizes he is facing a FEDERAl MAIL FRAUD felony, capitulation quickly follows and you get your money returned. Local police don't care, police at the other end don't care. Do not bother with them.
It worked BEAUTIFULLY for me this year while attempting to purchase a STI Targetmaster from an idiot in NY. It is a POWERFUL tool to have in your bag of tricks.

WildBill wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:

george wrote:It was a joke, TAM.

Ooops! Sorry. You never know sometimes, and I guess I just gave proof to the old saw that there's a new sucker born every day.

Good thing he didn't say "Haywire"! I would have been mighty offended.

I would have gone sideways on him.

JosephYoste wrote:ANYTIME you are making an online transaction use a USPS money order. If and when there is a problem file a complaint with the post office. Each post office has an investigator assigned to it. It is a SLOW process, BUT once the dummy on the infraction end of the deal realizes he is facing a FEDERAl MAIL FRAUD felony, capitulation quickly follows and you get your money returned. Local police don't care, police at the other end don't care. Do not bother with them.
It worked BEAUTIFULLY for me this year while attempting to purchase a STI Targetmaster from an idiot in NY. It is a POWERFUL tool to have in your bag of tricks.

Welcome to the forum. Good advice. Would be nice for the OP to let us know how everything turned out. After all it has been 18 months.

Sounds to me like the seller got a better offer locally and was hoping the buyer would just bail out.

I had something similar happen to me last Fall on a Gunsamerica deal.
I sent a bank check for a pistol
Seller said he never got it.
Then he said he got it but can't find it, so cancel and resend.
I did that, sent a 2nd check.
Check #2 cleared my bank.
Got the gun, done deal
3 weeks later the seller emails me "Your check bounced, I am not happy! Contact me ASAP!"
The dummy had found the first check and tried to cash it.

Rex B wrote:Sounds to me like the seller got a better offer locally and was hoping the buyer would just bail out.

I had something similar happen to me last Fall on a Gunsamerica deal.
I sent a bank check for a pistol
Seller said he never got it.
Then he said he got it but can't find it, so cancel and resend.
I did that, sent a 2nd check.
Check #2 cleared my bank.
Got the gun, done deal
3 weeks later the seller emails me "Your check bounced, I am not happy! Contact me ASAP!"
The dummy had found the first check and tried to cash it.

Curious, what was your response to his email?

My first response could not be shared on this forum

Fortunately I deleted it before sending, and sent this instead:

OK, let me refresh your memory:

I sent a check to you 10/24/13
You said you never got it, or lost it.
I stopped payment, as we discussed at the time, Nov 12.
Then I gave you my Amex card info and you charged it to my credit card on Nov 12.

So you subsequently found the check and tried to deposit it??
Of course it bounced - I stopped payment on it!
I'm only paying you once, which I did. Correct your records.

Rex B wrote:My first response could not be shared on this forum

Fortunately I deleted it before sending, and sent this instead:

OK, let me refresh your memory:

I sent a check to you 10/24/13
You said you never got it, or lost it.
I stopped payment, as we discussed at the time, Nov 12.
Then I gave you my Amex card info and you charged it to my credit card on Nov 12.

So you subsequently found the check and tried to deposit it??
Of course it bounced - I stopped payment on it!
I'm only paying you once, which I did. Correct your records.

I don't think I could have been that composed. Sounds like your memory refresher did the job.

jmra wrote: I don't think I could have been that composed. Sounds like your memory refresher did the job.

Yessir, he apologized, end of story

WildBill wrote:Sometimes a dishonest person will make a deal and then another buyer comes along and offers more money so they will make up some excuse not to sell it to the original buyer.

I had something very similar happen on an M1A I tried to buy. I sent all the funds and then the seller says "he's been told by his lawyer that he shouldn't ship to my FFL because his shipping address is different than his physical address." What I think happened was he realized he could be selling his rifle for more. This was a year or so ago when they were hard to come by. One thing that was interesting was that this all took place on M14 firing line. He had the money and when I started getting jerked around I posted on his original for sale add the details. I think he actually closed his account there due to people flogging him so hard.

It was a giant pain in the butt however he did send the USPS money orders back and reimbursed my fees. I flat out told him he was to overnight them and if I didn't have them the next day I was contacting the postal inspector. Funny how his lawyer was all of a sudden mute on that point. Upon leaving the M14 Firing line he declared that people there were not worthy of his membership so he would not be selling the rifle on there and instead posted it over on Gun Broker.

JosephYoste wrote:ANYTIME you are making an online transaction use a USPS money order.

Isn't that what the OP said he did?

JosephYoste wrote:ANYTIME you are making an online transaction use a USPS money order. If and when there is a problem file a complaint with the post office. Each post office has an investigator assigned to it. It is a SLOW process, BUT once the dummy on the infraction end of the deal realizes he is facing a FEDERAl MAIL FRAUD felony, capitulation quickly follows and you get your money returned. Local police don't care, police at the other end don't care. Do not bother with them.
It worked BEAUTIFULLY for me this year while attempting to purchase a STI Targetmaster from an idiot in NY. It is a POWERFUL tool to have in your bag of tricks.

This is excellent information to know.