Evidence in small claims court?

Ok this is kinda a long story...bear with me.
I'm military and lived in Portugal for 2 years. During this time I became pregnant and bought a 3-in-1 baby bed off of ebay. They wouldnt ship overseas, so I had planned on storing it at my step fathers house. Well, my sister offered to buy it from me at the full cost $500. Fast forward about 3 months, she's had the bed, and still I havent recieved payment. She offers me a deal, her wedding dress for the bed. I agree, with the stipulation she send me the dress before Xmas so I could sell it and buy my kids presents. She never sends the dress. Its 2 years later, and she's trying to now say she doesnt owe me any money, and the only thing I'll get is the dress or the bed back. *The bed is pretty damaged now as they had a dog and their child did a number on it*. The dress is also a few years old, hasnt been cleaned and isnt worth 500 dollars. Would it be lucrative to take her to small claims court? Or should I just eat the loss?

I no longer live overseas. I'm back in Ohio, the same state she resides in. There is already hard feelings and I have email proof of a threat of physical harm from her husband. Is this more ammunition against her?

Yes, take her. One of the problems with small claims court is that you will probably have to sue her where she lives or she will claim that the suit presents overt logistical problems for her to attend.

One of the good things is that you can march a witness in, if you have something in writing all the better, and they will usually carry some weight. It is a moot point that you accepted an alteration of the originally deal because she defaulted on the alteration also; hence the original remains in effect.

You should win.

Take he on a TV court..they seem to make money on both sides and you can show the world she is a loser

just take the loss. that way there's no hard feelings.

Sounds like you have a real winner for a family. The logical thing to do is to eat the loss. However, I am not the type of person to sit still while getting screwed. Call a lawyer. They usually have a free consultation. During the consultation, they will tell you if you have a case (as long as you bring proof).