But Dan, I do have to disagree with you on one point. In my opinion, the authorities are pretty much worthless in penny ante crimes like this. By "this" I mean transactions that are less than several thousand dollars in value. I've been that route several times and never got anywhere. The reason I set up the BOI was precisely for that reason. Maybe some people have gotten lucky and gotten resolutions that way, but I suspect they are the exception rather then the rule.
Oh, I see in a some other threads offering some good advice given at the start and then other good advice follows, however in this particular thread, it seemed that no one was giving good advice. Yea, they all agreed the seller was a bad guy and all, but advice was lacking as compared to the investigation into the buyer. And your right that if it does not involve thousands of dollars, it is not given too much attention by the proper authorities. And if governments did their jobs properly, there may not be a need for this forum. As such, they do not do their jobs right, and it justifies a real need for this forum. Personally, I do not think the majority of commentator's are intentionally setting out to wrong anyone, but more so are frustrated with have to get the details which they believe bears weight and consideration in the matter. Forgive me for not researching this, and if it is already present in the rules, but when someone prompts to make a new thread, would it not be helpful if a disclaimer or instructions were provided in small print somewhere on the side, asking for dates, times, methods of shipments, emails, phone conversations, pictures, and many other details so when this stuff is posted it does not take a dozen pages to yank it out of the person? If its in the rules on another page, perhaps new thread starters like me have neglected to read or find it? And an option could be made available if this information is not available or relevant? Just a thought? Perhaps a "John Doe" mock post should also be available which included all this information can be made easily accessible so someone can read it and form their transaction in a similar fashion so that it not only includes as much available information, the format is somewhat familiar to the readers who have to pick through it to help. Or a formatted complaint form may help as used by most investigative agencies? It is so easy to come here with a five line complaint and have it milked to 20 pages before anyone can really provide any beneficial information. And by that time, the reader is way too lost to care about helping then. But perhaps a form might make some people veer away from making a complaint? I am sure others have suggested this stuff before but it came to mind this morning. And I think your forum should have those links to those Internet agencies that take these reports as if they did receive as many complaints as seen on this forum, perhaps they may do something with this information because although this forum is helping to clean this industry, I do not see us doing it ourselves in the long run. And if it mushrooms and government steps in, they are going to wipe the slate clean, and I mean it. I worked for the government for 20 years, and that is their method. It is easier for them to stop this industry then to deal with the few people who have the time to stand and fight for it. I mean for every two or three bad guys that drop out of the business, five more enter all with honest intentions and have to resort to unscrupulous manners just to make their initial efforts worth while to remain in business. These are not bad people, however, their actions eventually hurt animals and customers. And personally, I think that any and all animal classifieds forums should include information on the side to aid consumers, such as fraud advice, things to make sure are arranged before and during the purchase, and signs and symptoms to be weary about, and how to safely send money and not get robbed. It will make the consumer smart and the seller smarter and more responsible. I mean on a recent post the debate went for pages about some guys deposit policy. Well, the word deposit should have refundable or nonrefundable in front of it, regardless of what the "norm" is in this industry. Yea, the experienced buyer or seller knows that "deposit" usually means nonrefundable, however try to explain that to some guy missing one leg or some naive lady with 9 kids drinking 5 gallons of milk each day and each wanting a lizard for a Christmas present. That type of information, refundable, nonrefundable, should be mandatory if you make a post to sell something. Also, should be mandatory if you sell something is a box they check with their shipping methods. I mean if your force people to use safe practices to sell stuff, it will weed out the crooks. Let them go elsewhere like to jail. There are hundreds if not thousands of businesses that have established methods to protect their own industries and the long-term goal would be to adapt a similar type of approach if not for the sake of the consumer, but for the sake of the animal. And when government comes knocking, you can throw that in their face and tell them to find some other industry to harass.
Karma won't be pleasant to him, either, and he will sooooooo deserve it.