TexasCHLforum.com

I am no lawyer, which is why I too would go the lawyer route if I were going to pursue anything beyond the phone call; frankly, I think TAM's advice is not good.

You are in a legal dispute, and you are not an expert in this. What seems logical and righteous in a common sense manner is not necessarily the most tactically smart path legally. For example, confronting the dealer face-to-face might work if he is in fact a conscientious sort who just made a mistake; but if not, it is your word against his and his employees when he calls the cops about the angry man in his gunshop threatening him (I would at least record any face-to-face interaction, and have a witness or two of my own). You weren't threatening? sez you. His perception, first one to call the cops is the victim, etc Any dealer sleazy enough to rip you off for your money order is unlikely to be above embellishing his account about you to the cops if you show up in his face. This might be an ulikely scenario, but if it goes this way the consequences are unhappy for you.

Likewise, accusing an FFL what is sounds like a crime to the BATFE -- you better be able to back this up with enough evidence. Do you know what constitutes a fraudulent firearms log transaction? Do you in fact know for yourself, and can cite chapter and verse, that is what happened? Do you open yourself up to someone claiming that you made a false report to the BATFE? Even if the dealer cashed your moneyorder or check or whatever, if it turns out that the gun is still lawfully accounted for, even it it hasn't shipped, are you now open to a lawsuit by the dealer against you for falsely making a complaint to the BATFE? If I were a FFL and someone made what I think is a spurious (or unprovable) complaint against me, I would certainly consider legal retaliation.

Rather than directly charge manipulation of the firearms logs, the most I would do is call the BATFE, explain the situation (money paid, no gun delivered) and let them figure out if a firearms law is broken.

Let your lawyer guide you as to what is legal, what is possible, and what is likely to be successful, both in dealing with the dealer and the online auction site. You don't like his answer, find another lawyer and see if you get something similar. Certainly deleting negative reviews from transactions is unethical -- does it also violate its own stated terms of service? Is there any business statute or regulation that this violates? Again it is a lawyer who deals in business transactions that is going to know this.

Finally, in the non-legal arena, the best route may be reporting your evidence (eg. screen shots of negative reviews that can no longer be found) to some of the gun bloggers and find one them interested in it. Somebody like Sebastian or Dave Hardy, with a big megaphone, is more likely to get attention to the matter.

I hate it that the litigious route is so prevalent to, but remember just because you decide to forego it doesn't mean the other guy will. Remember, the key objective in a self-defense confrontation is to NOT GET YOURSELF HURT. Hurting the other guy is secondary, although often the means to achieve the first objective. Good rule for any other kind of confrontation.