Help with eBay scammer

On the 1st January 2012 I purchased a PS3 repair service from Ebay as mine had developed a problem which rendered it unusable and had a new game stuck inside. I paid £34 for the service (£20 repair and £14 return recorded delivery). I also paid £14 to send it by recorded delivery to the given address. The listing from the seller stated 48hr turnaround. Tracking has established that my ps3 was signed for at the given address on the 6th Jan.

On the 17/01/12 I had heard nothing despite repeated attempts at contacting the seller by Ebay message and email. When a negative feedback posting appeared on the sellers site from a woman who claimed the seller had stolen her PS3 and the trader ceased trading naturally alarm bells rang. There are now 4 negative feedbacks posted all claiming the same thing.
All sellers have been reimbursed £34 by Ebay and the seller is banned from the site. I am in contact with all the other buyers. There are another 3 unidentified buyers who have purchased the service but have yet to leave feedback.
We have contacted the police only to be told that this is indeed a civil matter and they will not investigate.
The seller and the receiver of the Paypal payment are two different people who we have identified as co-habiting partners. Through a combination of personal information left on facebook, information from the police and Ebay we have both individuals telephone numbers and ones place of work. The police have confirmed that they co-habit at the address we were instructed to send the ps3s to.
Neither individual will converse through email claiming that they cannot and have no access to the internet.

The seller claims that two ps3s (including mine) have been sent back but lost in the post.
The seller claims that he has 3 ps3s at his address and buyers are welcome to go and collect them.
One buyer has been refunded £100 to not persue the matter any further.

To avoid legal channels I contacted the seller on Friday 27th Jan to once and for all try and work things out. He refused to speak to me and would only communicate by text.
He confirmed that my PS3 is not in his possession and that it was “lost in the post”.The seller did not send it recorded delivery and “hasn’t a clue” where it has gone.
The seller offered me a second hand working playstation and a replacement for the game. I told him that I had purchased a new PS3 so I did not require another ps3 unless it was mine as it contains a substantial amount of photos, download content and other software. I also said that his offer would leave me substantially out of pocket and this was not an option. I also had a suspicion that I would have ended up with a repaired ps3 that belonged to another buyer of his service.
My wife advised me that the stress caused by all this meant I was becoming impossible to live with and that I should accept the offer. Against my better judgement I replied that I would accept the offer but wanted £30 to cover at least the cost of purchased DLC software on the machine.
The seller withdrew the deal and said that he was contacting his solicitor as he had offered me reimbursement but I had tried to “extort” more.
I informed the seller I would have no more contact as I would persue my own legal path.

Since my claim against the individuals is less than £200 it would be unfeasible to instigate a protracted legal battle or make a small claims court case.

I am strongly under the impression that if I make a reasonable demand for compensation through a solicitor that the seller will comply once he realises I am indeed serious.

With this in mind I require a letter sent to the individual with the following notes:

1. The letter should be addressed to both occupants as they are both involved.

2. Since the seller has refunded one seller £100 for his ps3 I require the same plus £40 for the game inside plus £30 for software stored on the machine plus £14 for my initial postage costs. A total of £184.

3. Whilst I am happy to accept £184 within 14 days it should be stated that if the matter were to escalate to a court case* I would be claiming additionally for loss of intellectual property, stress caused by these events and of cause my legal fees.

4. Could I please review a scan of said letter before it is despatched.

* I would stress that, and I am sure you would agree that it is impractical to pursue this beyond one or maybe two letters. If the seller does not comply then naturally I have to accept my losses.

• If you decide you are able to help in this matter I would like a price for the initial correspondence. I will pay by return and enclose all relevant documentation including original advert, a copy of the sellers feedback and all other relevant information.