Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Massachusetts

Re: How do I file a small claims suit

Likely there is a dispute resolution regime as part of the Yahoo process -- there certainly is on eBay.

I think that you are unlikely to get a MA court to exercise jurisdiction over the MI defendant unless the MI defendant continuously and systematically sells goods into MA.

Re: How do I file a small claims suit

Normally you fill in a simple one page form that the clerk of the local district court gives you and pay the fee ($19 or so). Then they will mail notice of the suit to the party you are suing.

However, I don't believe they will mail anything outside of their local jurisdiction, i.e., the territory covered by that court. Even if they would, you have bigger problems: collecting on a judgment (even if they default). You can't do it.

All in all, your local small claims court doesn't have so-called in personam (personal) jurisdiction over the defendant, a due process / constitutional law issue that would block your suit.

So, ask Yahoo for help, and sooon! If you paid by credit card, notify the credit card company even before that and if they can, they will reverse the charge that went through. They USUALLY CAN! That has made all the difference in the world in several mail order transactions; always pay by credit card for just that reason.

Then after a day, call back to the seller to ask for a corrected vendor telephone number and/or send a fax to that number giving your phone number for a (collect?) return call.

How much did you spend?