craftgrrl | Trades, sales, etc gone bad. (Reply)

I know we have a lot of gals that do trades, sales and whatnot. I also know that some of those transactions go bad. I was thinking about this because of

evilpinkbear's Bad Luck, and on

bunnyhoover's experiences.

So I thought it would be nice to compile a post about how to deal with this, and try to get the items you trade/bought and who you can contact. This seems to happen sometimes on purpose, or because of ignorance. Either way I thought it would be nice to round up ideas. I am going to start a new faq section called "bad business" so we can keep track of our experiences, etc.

I know if it's a business you can go to the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint. This is also a good place to look up businesses you are thinking of purchasing from before you buy anything.

If it's a case of obvious fraud through the mail in the US you can go to US Postal Inspector and file a fraud charge.

I would love to hear about other countries as well. I know I can't be the only one that mail orders from practically everywhere. So please if you know how to resolve these unfortunate situations will you post a link to the institution, and an explanation?

**Edit**
I forgot to mention, I felt this was very on topic for the community because so many of us mail order supplies, or run small businesses. I know I couldn't create as much as I do in my small town without mail ordering half the stuff I use.