Discussion moved to PM

[Powder_Keg]

If I got an empty box, I'd freak out too.

Hope this ends well for you, I hate to see this crap on CalGuns.
As a seller, I can understand forgetting to put a small item in a box if the box contains multiple items. Maybe forget to put an Allen Hex wrench or something small. BUT to send a completely empty box? The weight alone should have set off an alarm for the seller.

[Mssr. Eleganté]

...because he had 200 positive reviews.

Does he have 200 positive reviews or 94 positive reviews?

[Sleighter]

I would contact the seller and see what he says. Based on his itrader feedback, it seems like he buys and sells a lot on here. So I doubt that he would randomly choose you to stiff for no reason. I'm sure there's an easy explanation before you go getting the feds involved and everything, at least give the guy a chance to make it right.

And he only has 94 positive feedback, not 200. And not a single negative feedback.

[Citadelgrad87]

Hang on a second.

If he is conversing on the thread with someone else that has the item, then this cannot have been a mistake, right?

I could be convinced he accidentally mailed an empty box, but that's impossible if he sold the item to someone else and took money twice.

I am not weighing in except to say I can't understand how this could have been an accident.

[REDdawn6]

I agree. Seems very unlikely it was a mistake.

[pterrell]

Hang on a second.

If he is conversing on the thread with someone else that has the item, then this cannot have been a mistake, right?

I could be convinced he accidentally mailed an empty box, but that's impossible if he sold the item to someone else and took money twice.

I am not weighing in except to say I can't understand how this could have been an accident.

That was my thought too. Pretty tough to explain selling one item to two buyers and sending an empty box to one of them.

Does he have 200 positive reviews or 94 positive reviews?

Looks like it.

[Superduper2013]

Hang on a second.

If he is conversing on the thread with someone else that has the item, then this cannot have been a mistake, right?

I could be convinced he accidentally mailed an empty box, but that's impossible if he sold the item to someone else and took money twice.

I am not weighing in except to say I can't understand how this could have been an accident.

Like OP said, seller may have had two of the item.
Maybe he was keeping one and decided to dump both when he found to buyers

[SDM44]

Does the empty box look like it was re-taped back up at all?

Might be hard to tell, but I've seen where USPS and UPS (often when I've shipped stuff at a prior business) had taped up a box when there was a huge hole in it or it was really torn, and items inside were visible or nearly falling out through the gaping hole.

Did the box look at all to have been tampered with, like re-boxed during transit? Or were there any identifying marks, logos, or anything written/typed in the Notes on the shipping label that would say "Trijicon ACOG" or anything like that. I've seen cases where shipping company folks take stuff out of boxes that they think there's a high priced item inside, and leave you with an empty box... mostly during the holiday season.

I'm not on the seller's side here (the OP definitely knows that), but just throwing out some ideas to cover every basis.

[Beatone]

Waiting for OP to reply with more info before I say 'out the seller".

[pterrell]

Like OP said, seller may have had two of the item.
Maybe he was keeping one and decided to dump both when he found to buyers

How often does someone happen to have two identical $2000 scopes?

[REDdawn6]

Baller?

[retired]

i like how the seller listed the "item" for $10 under the current grand theft amount...

That's incorrect. The value of the item (depending what the item is) has to exceed $950, not $900 as you inferred. If it is a firearm or automobile, it does not matter what the value is:

(d) When the property taken is any of the following:
(1) An automobile.
(2) A firearm.

[REDdawn6]

Scope is not a firearm.

[PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE]

[SDM44]

i like how the seller listed the "item" for $10 under the current grand theft amount...

According to section 487 of the CA Penal Code (starting on page 164 of West's Annotated California Codes), taking or more than $400 benefits a 'wobbler' offense rather than a straight felony. Offense of grand theft would not be considered "misdemeanor" under California statute providing that "wobbler" offense was to be treated.

A lot to read under section 487, but the point being that the seller committed grand theft in this case.... if what the OP describes truly did occur between him and the seller.