Shouldn't ebay seller be arrested for this?

My friend was browsing on ebay for an iPhone 5 and she came across one that was within her budget. It had an auction set up but it also had a "Buy It Now" price of like $420 and free shipping. So she bought it. There was a 7-10 day handling period (I guess how long it'll take the seller to ship) and she waited the 7-10 days and tried contacting the seller and still no phone. It's been about 3 weeks and she has no phone and no money.

She opened a complaint ticket with ebay and their suppose to be getting the money back for her, but my question is, this is basically stealing… Shouldn't the seller be arrested for fraud or something? Can't she press charges or Ebay can press charges?

Added (1). JaK: Okay well maybe not arrested but at least punished like sued or something… I don't feel like someone should be able to get away with something like this. It's simple to just make a new ebay account and do the exact same thing over and over… Same with paypal:/

Added (2). Kat: Good Point. My only thing about that is he listed the handling time and it's been longer and he has to have internet access because the post was new and now he's not answering messages from her or anything…

It depends on whether or not this is a pattern and practice.

Realistically, the money is coming back to your friend… Any fraud under $20K or so just isn't worth the bother to law enforcement, especially with the Obamacare impact as of late.

The seller will eventually be forced off eBay because they can't come up with enough difefrent IDs to hide. Take a look at what a seller has to go through:

http://pages.ebay.com/.../pay/help/ (This about that!)

So buy your friend a martini and have her chill.eBay will do their thing and will make your friend mostly whole. Don't expect an arrest any time soon… It is very rare.

The seller will receive a punishment from eBay (could be very minor, could be a lifetime ban from eBay).

On what grounds? Maybe the seller has a perfect history of sales and it's only an issue with the post office or customs depending on where the item comes from. It's also possible that he didn't issue a refund yet because he thinks it's appropriate to waiter another week or two and see what happens because it's very doubtful that she would pay him back if she receives the phone later. It's also possible that the guy is on vacation like a lot of people at this time of the year and he didn't get the complaint ticket.

But anyway, whatever happens, if she paid through Paypal, she well be reiumbursed. I had a similar issue once and it took 5 to 6 weeks.

Edit: "handling" does not include the shipping delay nor the customs delay.

It also depends on where she was ordering it from too. If its from outside the USA then her waiting time on delivery will be long so she may have filed too soon depending on where her item is coming from. And also delivery times will change in date in the website page if the item is coming from outside the USA.

This happens all the time. First you should check the seller's review comments, feedback history and number of transactions. Always choose someone with close to 100% feedback. A lot of these crooks who sell electronics are not honest. However, if your friend paid with Paypal, her purchase is covered and she will get a refund if she opens a dispute for Item Not Received. It is very common.

Both sellers and buyers have scams. You can't arrest thousands of people wh o perpetrate them. Ebay is an auction site which facilitates transactions. You have to be responsible for your own trades. Ebay is not holding your hand while you bid. Do your due diligence and only bid on a good seller. Ebay is not liable for bad trades. Read their liability statement.

It is not simple to make a new account. Ebay has your IP address and registration information. You can't sue someone in another state. Sometimes you can get the police involved but in this case your friend will be reimbursed by Ebay. Do not waste time emailing the seller.