This article is more than 1 year old
Missing eBay DVD claims ‘exaggerated’, says trader
Zippymilk speaks out
Zippymilk, the elusive trader who's left hundreds of people waiting weeks for the arrival of DVDs they've paid for after winning auctions on eBay, has denied any wrongdoing.
As first reported on The Register earlier this month, patience is wearing thin among the estimated 800 customers of zippymilk (aka Adrian Bailey, 33, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk). They are growing tired of a succession of excuses he has offered for the non-arrival of goods they secured in eBay auctions.
Many have banded together to form a members-only Yahoo! Group called Zippyvictims to share their experiences. Membership of the group has swelled to 360 since its formation in mid-July.
zippymilk speaks out
Bailey has declined our repeated requests for comment on the story.
However he did reply to questions posed by him by Stephen Pullinger, a journalist with local paper the East Anglian Daily Times, in an email interview last week.
"I under-estimated the amount of time that it would take to sort these auctions out. In the past I had only sold the odd few things," Bailey told Pullinger.
"I believe that it was a case of a few rather impatient individuals kicking up a fuss because their item hadn't arrived in the timescale that they expected, and then everyone else jumped on the 'bandwagon' too."
He's very critical of his customers. He even goes as blaming them for allegedly infecting his computer with a virus, one of the reasons he has given for his tardiness in dispatching goods.
Bailey writes: "It's worth noting that I have been using the Internet for eight years and in all of that time have never had any problems with a virus. It seems strange to me that I contracted one so recently and can only conclude that it must of been sent to me by one of my customers."
Bailey says figures for the numbers of people who are waiting on goods from him have been wildly exaggerated.
Rather than the £30,000 worth of DVDs alleged to be outstanding by members of Zippyvictims, Bailey claims that "less then ten" people are yet to receive either their goods or a refund from him.
Bailey said: "This £30,000 figure that someone has picked from the air makes me laugh. It's probably nearer £50."
"The last of the items were sent out over two weeks ago. As far as I'm concerned it is all sorted," he added.
Show us the DVDs
Bailey's assertions stand in sharp contrast to those from members of the Zippyvictims group who maintain they are yet to receive their goods.
Radio 4's consumer news magazine programme You and Yours ran an item on the case yesterday. It spoke to two members of the group - Heidi Griffiths and John Carver (a serving police officer) - who have waited in vain for the delivery on DVDs that they paid for weeks ago.
Their experience is typical of those we have spoken to about the case. Members of the group estimate zippymilk ran 3200-plus auctions and that 800 people, many of who purchased more than one DVD, are still waiting for their delivery. These estimates are backed up by documents posted on the Yahoo! group which suggest only a few of the DVDs purchased from zippymilk have arrived with buyers.
Paul Branwick, a prominent member of the Zippyvictims, told You and Yours that buyers "should expect things in a maximum of one month" yet this has not happened in the case of auctions run by zippymilk. Contrary to zippymilk's latest protestations, which were discussed in the Zippyvictim group last weekend, DVDs worth thousands of pounds remain unaccounted for, Branwick alleges.
As previously reported, Norfolk Police are investigating the case. ®
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You and Yours item on zippymilk and eBay (Real Player required)