I need some ideas.

I am in danger of losing a huge amount of money on a DVD player I won in an ebay auction. Oh, all right. It's only a little bit of money -- $32.60 plus shipping -- but it annoys me hugely. Does that count?

I really, truly do not believe that the seller is out to defraud me. I think he is just really busy (he owns and operates three carpet/flooring stores in Louisiana) and now that the auction has been over for six weeks and he still hasn't shipped the player, he is embarassed and just wants the whole thing to go away. He doesn't respond to emails. He won't take my phone calls.

The only time I got an email response from him was after three and a half weeks when I threatened to have PayPal rescind his payment, and ebay to take away his user id, and gave him 36 hours to respond. He wrote back very apologetic, said he thought his wife had mailed it, etc. so I gave him some slack -- enough slack that I am now well past the 30 day cutoff period for assistance from PayPal or ebay.

So what I want is realistic threats I can make that will goad him into either shipping the DVD player (preferred) or refunding my money (acceptable). I do not want threats that will put him on the defensive and antagonize him. I do not want to threaten him with actions that are illegal or even in bad taste. I do not want threats that could backfire (like: "If you don't give me my DVD player I'll send my 8 foot tall brother in law over to kick your ass" and then he has me arrested for threatening assault).

I do want threats that will get his attention and seem plausible. Things like: "If I am forced to turn this over for collection, I will make the claim against your business. This will very likely cause you to have credit problems with your suppliers."

The main thrust of my letter to him will be: "If I have not received by Noon on Thursday either notification from PayPal that my money has been refunded; or from you a valid UPS tracking number, then I will set in motion actions against you which will be very difficult to halt."

So, what I need are ideas for those actions.

tanstaafl.