Online Auctions Can Get You a Deal, But May Come With a Headache

By Mark Peterson

Tina and Dwayne Schimke, of San Diego, placed a bid on a bicycle listed on eBay from a seller who appeared to be legitimate. The auction ad listed a lot of bicycles, all sizes and manufacturers, so Tina felt confident in placing a bid on a bike. However, she didn’t completely read the auction listing, so after placing her bid she wrote an e-mail to the seller asking a question about the shipping cost. To her surprise, the seller responded by sending her a nasty e-mail. "As soon as he got my e-mail, he was pounding on the keyboard and venting," Schimke said.

From that point, things just got worse. According to the Schimkes, the seller called and left a message on their answering machine saying, "Hey there, schmuck boy—not answering the phone now?" He continued, "I know exactly where you live. E-mail me again and see what happens to your little b**** a**." The Schimkes were not only shocked, they were terrified. "I was afraid this person was a maniac and was going to show up on our front door," Tina Schimke told a local television station. She added that she and her husband had filed a police report, but nothing was done about the harassment.

The story may sound like a bizarre isolated incident, but it isn’t—this eBay bully had struck before. Cindy Burleson of Dallas encountered a strikingly similar outcome when they questioned the seller about some comic books he was selling. Burleson said the bully actually threatened her life. According to Burleson, he said, 'I'm going to kill you. Scumbags like you shouldn't be allowed to live.' (He said) stuff like that." Like the Schimkes, Burleson filed a police report, but got no results.

When San Diego television station KGTV learned of the eBay bully and the lack of response his victims had gotten from the police, they went looking for the bully themselves. Reporters tracked his mailing address to a house in Cleburne, Texas, near Fort Worth. The bully’s name is Frank Esquitin, and the house is both his home and his business.

Esquitin, who goes by the eBay aliases Old School Riderz, Cool Cat Cycles, and Cool Cat Biker, has been arrested on charges related to drugs, weapons violations, and harassment, according to police records. A reporter from a Dallas station knocked on the door of Esquitin’s house but got no response. Some time later a reporter from KGTV was able to get Esquitin on the phone and ask him about the accusations made by eBay buyers he had dealt with. Esquitin told KGTV that his accusers are deadbeats and sociopaths, and that if he threatened them, it was because they must have threatened him first.

Despite complaints, Esquitin is still selling on eBay, because the company assumes no responsibility for offline encounters between buyers and sellers. But the experiences of the Schimkes and Burleson should serve as a warning to anyone who participates in an online auction. Anyone you communicate with via the Internet should always be considered a stranger, and you should use extreme caution in dealing with them. Tina Schimke says that she will probably use eBay again, but she’ll hesitate to be so trusting. As for Burleson, she will tread more carefully as well. "We were terrorized. He terrorized us. If he wanted to terrorize us, it worked," Burleson said.

The book eBay for Dummies offers good advice for people who wish to participate in online auctions, in their list of "10 Tips For Surviving eBay:"

• Don't exchange personal information.
  
• Read all of the information about the seller.
  
• Verify recommendations from other buyers.
  
• Read all of the information about the listing.
  
• Be patient. Allow sellers to respond to your question.
  
• Let eBay know if you receive racist, obscene, or harassing language.
  
• Report invalid e-mail addresses.
  
• Tell eBay if you start receiving spam after a transaction.
  
• Tell eBay if someone tries to intimidate you by threatening to post negative feedback about you.
  
• Beware of anyone asking for your passwords to eBay or PayPal.

The world of online auctions can be a terrific place to explore and exult over getting a great deal. Just be sure to remember that the online world is a big place, and although most people are good citizens, there are a few bad apples in the bunch.