What do you get when you buy a few coins? A $10,000 lawsuit

Posted April 26, 2008 at 06:46 AM by Natesh Sood

Section: Gadgets / Other, Miscellaneous, Web, Websites

A Seattle native, Steve Shellhorn, recently purchased a few coins off eBay and little did he know that those few coins would turn into a $10,000 lawsuit. Yes, $10,000 all because of a few measly coins. He was sued because he left “neutral” feedback, and the seller didn’t like that, and promptly sued him for 10,000 big ones.

Basically, Shellhorn wanted to get some old, probably rare coins off eBay. The price was fair, but they came loose in an envelope and the overall packaging did not meet his expectations, he expected better considering what they were. Doing what most people would do when upset at the situation, he left a neutral feedback, saying that the price was fine, just that he wasn’t happy with the packaging. He even said, “The coins were hanging out of the envelope, loose, with no packing whatsoever around them.“ Then the seller decided to sue, and Shellhorn was forced to hire an attorney, good news is that he eventually won the case and didn’t have to pay the money, however, he did have to pay $500 for the attorney.

All in all, people these days seem they can sue for anything and they will. Personally, I think this was really stupid for the seller to sue over something like this. In the end, Shellhorn said. “I’m very leery. I won’t leave feedback for anyone anymore.“ This just goes to show that people need to be careful with online transactions and know who you are dealing with.

Read [King 5] Via [CrunchGear]