Craig's List

[glp54022]

My son is 16 years old and we live in Wisconsin. He found a Nintendo DS on the Craig's List Web Site. After a couple emails and phone calls they agreed to trade 5 of my son's Xbox 360 games for the DS. My son mailed the games, which other guy did say he got. The other guy "said" he mailed the DS regular mail, but nothing ever arrived. Given that it was regular mail, there's no proof that it was ever send and no way of tracking it if it was. We called him and basically he said he's not giving the games back and it's not his responsibility what happened to the DS after he "mailed" it. Now he won't answer any of our calls and he emailed my son saying this. From my point of view, my son has nothing and he has his 5 games and won't give them back. I call that theft.

Do I have any legal rights in getting the games back, especially since my son is a minor?
And if so, is sit worth going threw the legal process to get them back?

 

[garykittrell68]

Situations like yours are quite common, and unfortunite. You could attempt a small claims action, however the cost(s) incured would be greater than your loss, and you would have jurisdiction issues. You may also want to check all disclaimers on the craigs list web-site because seller's and buyer's are obligated to state the terms of their agreement when their is a 3rd party broker involved (craigs list.)
Even large companys like walmart, and longs drugs have such terms stated on their company invoices. these terms are listed as FOB/shipping point, or FOB/destination.....this covers the company incase of loss due to transit. FOB/shipping would mean that the person who is shipping the product releases all intrist in said product as soon as the product leaves the shipping point, and FOB/destination would cover the product until it is recieved. DOT (dept of transportation) requires shippers/sellers and buyers to state these terms. If no terms were stated then you are both wrong.
I would cut my losses, leave this guy some bad feed-back if you can and move on with my life. He is obviously a bad person, bad seller, and a liar.....
Good luck to you.

Gary