I ordered a plasma TV from a website, paid for it, but never got it. On a large scale (later I discovered) 25-30% of people got what they ordered, the rest of us didn't. It was a legitimate website, registered company (Canada) but now it seems they declared bankruptcy.

If this was an individual who was selling and not delivering it'd be a criminal matter (at least I think so) so how come now it isn't? Someone must be behind the company but it seems the company itself is to blame so I can hope they had enough assets to liquidate so I get at least some money back.

If it had been an individual who suddenly went bankrupt, no, it's not necessarily fraud.

In this economy this type of thing is happening all the time - and that's the advantage of incorporating. No individual responsibility, liability. Obviously the honest people buying from the corporation are the ones who get hurt.

What seems unfair to me is that you could really prove intent, it's easy to collect money from 1000 people and then deliver items to a third of them and keep the rest. Why that can't be fraud.. it's easy to declare bankruptcy and then simply open new company to start over.

Yes, but proving it will be the issue. This is common today with car dealerships, furniture stores and more, people were lined up outside of a local store when it closed, everything they had put on layway was lost in the bankruptcy.

If you wish to hire an attorney, have them dispute this in bankruptcy court, but again that is the issue, with a small amount 1000 or so, it would cost you double or more to get an attorney to even try and dispute the bankruptcy