Help! A member of this board ripped me off!

[FrostByte]

About 3 weeks I negotiated with pbreview member "alphonsus" to buy his gun+extras. After emailing him a few times, we agreed on $180 for everything. I sent out a postal money order 3 weeks ago and still haven't gotten my stuff! So I emailed him twice asking if he got my money order yet, and received no reply (that was a week ago) what can i do to either get my money back or get my stuff?

here's his classified ad:
http://www.pbreview.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22430

[UTLadiesMan]

Tell the post office. It's a major felony to use the USPS as a means to commit illegal activities, and they will pursue people, and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law as an example. It's easy for them too, because they have his name and address, and if it's just one guy with one theft, he's probably not organized enough to flee.

Oh, and really sorry to hear about that. Most people on this board are still pretty nice. Especially Twitchy. I don't know how he puts up with me! :P

[FrostByte]

phew! i'm really glad to hear that! do i need to take any "evidence" to prove that the guy ripped me off?

[FrostByte]

anyone?

[Killer Kat]

You should have a reciept from your money order as proof. In the the future though you might want to try this method.
These type problems happen all the time ,but can all be avoided by using a third party for all trades and sales. Here's how it works.
Johnny wants to sell Billy his Talon, So Johnny sends his talon to Bobby (a local paintball shop owner) Bobby looks over Johnny's talon and tells Billy, Yes it's worth X number of dollars or No it's no good! If it's good Billy pays the total shipping (from Johnny's to Bobby's to Billys) Bobby doesn't ship Billy the gun until Johnny gets his money. If it no good Johnny pays for shipping to and from Bobby's. A small service fee should be paid to Bobby for his part in this transaction.
This way nobody gets burned, I've used this method myself with great results.

[UTLadiesMan]

KK has a good point. Unless you know the guy, or you're on ebay and he has a good rating (not just the number, read the complaints too), you should try a middle man. It's slightly more, but you should be able to split that cost, since both parties know they aren't getting ripped. Again, sorry this happened. Hope this doesn't sway you off of buying used anymore.

Oh, also, in addition to the Money Order receipt (which, if you call the company, you can have the credit withdrawn but it'll be a pain in the um, lower back side) you should also bring print outs of the thread and e-mails which clearly state the product for the amount.

Good luck, and get that ******* for us!