Is it not fraud to offer an item for sale that you do not own or possess?

[cataholics]

Seller offers item.  2 weeks after payment states that the item is not in his shop and that he has been away etc.  Is this not a case of fraud?  I grow tired of Ebay seemly supporting sellers at the expense of buyers.  I rarely use this anymore for this reason.

[mcrlmn]

OMG call the RCMP!

Nope... not fraud.
It's a case of impatience, intolerance, and misunderstanding.

The seller has been away for 2 weeks. That explains the delay in processing your order.

Having returned, the seller can't find the item for whatever reason,,, 'We have a problem Houston!.'.. Sorry Item not available.

Your other comment," Ebay seemly supporting sellers at the expense of buyers", couldn't be more wrong also.

Truth be told, support is obviously in the buyer's favour.

[femmefan1946]

Unfortunately, many sellers are human beings.

Our lizard overlords will have to do something about this Real Soon Now.

Your seller made a mistake.

He did not close all his eBay listings when he went away for an extended period. If he had a Store, he could have put the lisitngs On Vacation, and they would not have been available for sale. Without a Store, he could close all his lisitings for the period he was away and reopen them up to 90 days later.

Since he had the poor judgement to leave the listings open, he should have either had a trusted person to complete any sales, which should have been relatively easy if he had a B&M shop operating while he was away. Or he should have been checking his eBay account regularly and communicating with any customers.

But fraud? Nope.

You can still leave feedback if you think it necessary.