Quote Originally Posted by d4347 View Post
The best recommendation that I can give you is to file a civil law suit against the seller. It's very difficult to prove this case as being criminal, despite the evidence as shown. To prove Theft by False Pretenses you first need to show that the seller had no intention of shipping or possession of the item in question and made the sale with the intent of keeping the money and not shipping the item. It's much easier to sue him civily by taking all of the correspondants from your email and ebay to show that an agreement was made (cash for the bat), the cash payement was completed and the bat was never shipped. It should be a very easy case to win in civil court. Keep in mind, a police report is nothing more then a piece of paper to show that an incident occurred. It will NOT get your money returned unless it's proven that a crime occurred, a suspect is detained and the court rules that he has to pay for the item as well as possible probation or jail time if he is found guilty. Your best bet is civil court.
My two cents either go to his door step or take the loss. You can try getting the cops involved they will do nada on something like this 99% of the time. You can try the lawsuit but good luck collecting, the guy is probably as we lawyers say "judgement proof" and you will have to pay legal fees.