posted on October 24, 2000 06:49:17 AM
i made a deal outside os auction, i then changed my mind and now did not want to sell
the buyer is threating legal action, i know the buyer under law has about three days to change his mind but howabout the seller
posted on October 24, 2000 07:03:14 AM
You deserve the NEG you are about to get.
How could you market the item while it was on Ebay?
Did you consider the bidder some kind of chump?
Tacky...really tacky.
posted on October 24, 2000 07:11:44 AM
There can be no neg because there is no factual Ebay auction I am assuming. In saying that, how do you pride yourself as being a reputable seller? If you made a deal to sell an item, morally you should follow through. If you have not accepted money for the transaction yet, a simple e-mail to the buyer stating you have to retract the offer should do, apologize, and then...DON'T DO IT AGAIN!!!!
posted on October 24, 2000 07:19:27 AM
Mombo, This is the first time this has happened to you? It shows you have been a member of AW since 9/9/99. There are so many days to change your mind.
You could of just cancelled the auction and kept your item. But you know this, you are not a newbie like me.
We have all had that remorse about buying and selling. It has happened to me, and I just cancelled the auction. After that, I make very sure I want to sell the item. Now life is easy, because I decide and that is it and so should you.
You should tell your bidder, you are sorry for the mental anguish and will pay for shipping. Have a good day.
posted on October 24, 2000 07:20:46 AM
Boy, and I thought I felt bad because I nicked a plate and have to send the guy his money back!
No way can you sell it to someone else when you have it up for auction. The bidder deserves it.
Even in our brick and mortar we took it off the shelves and if they saw it and wanted it we told them it was now up for auction and they could bid on it and if they didn't have a computer we would try to put them in contact with someone so they could bid.They usually replied "well, if you don't sell it.....". No comprehension that we already had at least one bid and were not going to close the auction!
posted on October 24, 2000 07:47:58 AM
Do not get legal advice here for this kind of situation.
However, I can tell you that rarely do state and federal laws protect the SELLER in these kinds of cases. Generally, the law assumes that sellers are professional businesses that don't need things like the right to change their mind about selling something. So, I wouldn't be optimistic about finding a loophole in this case. Your only hopes are that you don't have a binding contract (it depends on the amount, verbal/writing, etc), or that the threats of legal action are only threats.
posted on October 24, 2000 07:55:27 AM
Can you refuse to sell? It's highly unprofessional and no different than a buyer deadbeating in that it wastes everyone's time, but since you asked if you can -- well, the item is still in your possession. Obviously the auction winner has no way of acquiring it if you refuse to sell. So, you'll get that neg you deserve, that's all. Don't worry about legal threats.
posted on October 24, 2000 08:08:50 AM
Maybe I am wrong on what I read on the original post....Isn't this an off-ebay sale? Still not real nice to do, but really don't think this is a "legal" contract??
posted on October 24, 2000 08:11:01 AM
Besides, I doubt if the buyer could interest a legal firm enough to sue you. If you don't like the idea of being sued for such a petty thing, c'mon over to Canada - we don't sue each other just for something to do
posted on October 24, 2000 08:11:07 AM
That's how I originally read it too, but Mombo said that they would like to back out of the deal because they made another deal outside of the auction.
posted on October 24, 2000 08:13:04 AM
The seller that started this thread indicated that he made a deal outside of the auction. So, there can be no negative feedback. eBay is out of the picture. The seller can change his mind just as the buyer could. There is no binding contract as long as no money has changed hands.
posted on October 24, 2000 08:34:04 AM
I hate to say this, but some of the last posts are good reasons not to seek legal advice here. There is NO way to tell, from the information given, whether there is a legal contract or not. It will surely depend on the location, value, words that were spoken/written, etc. Many contracts, for example, are definitely in force before any money changes hands. For example, you hire a contractor to fixup your bathroom, to be paid at completion of work. No money has changed hands, but if they do the work, you had better pay them, or be prepared to be sued.
posted on October 24, 2000 10:30:11 AM
Recently,
I had a sound card up for auction. It got a bid on the 1st day, a few hours before the end of the auction the bidder retracted their bid because "I didn't have an open expenasion slot".
I complained to ebay and was told that it is not a violation of ebay's TOS for bidders to pull bids, inspite of what it says on the bid retraction page, as long as they are not trying to manipulate bids.
So once again... its double standard time. Sellers have not choice, buyers can pick a broad range of blunt impliments to screw us with.
posted on October 24, 2000 10:51:36 AM
And I don't believe the number of cancelled bids/closed auctions is tracked for sellers, whereas bid retractions are now tracked for buyers.
Assuming i'm right, that's actually a "double standard" in favor of the sellers.
The biggest "screwing" going on at ebay, if you really want to compare "buyers versus sellers", is the screwing buyers get at the hands of dishonest sellers, who either don't ship the item after receiving payment, or ship an item that was badly described (in the seller's favor).
My point is that it isn't clear that, overall, the pain felt by sellers caused by buyers (retracted bids, fail to pay, etc) is actually more than the pain felt by buyers (shilling up bids, fraud, etc).
posted on October 24, 2000 11:41:52 AM
You did not make it clear if this deal outside the auction was stand alone or if it was on an item that was also listed in a running auction. If you had bids at auction you could cancel the bids and sell off auction. You are allowed to do that but if you ever did it to me I would never deal with you again.
The 3 days you are speaking of is only for certain consumer contracts under certain conditions. Don't try making an offer on real estate for example and then saying you have 3 days to change your mind. Won't fly at all.
If you made a deal and want to back out of it off auction there is little that can be done to you if no money changed hands.
If there is a complete record of e-mails exchanged and agreement reached with headers
viewable it might be worth suing you if the item was very valuable. I doubt if there is applicable case law - but you might create it for us if the amount of money makes it worth the try.
There is still the problem of being a liar.
But that doesn't seem to bother most people anymore.
[ edited by macandjan on Oct 24, 2000 11:44 AM ]
posted on October 24, 2000 01:20:58 PM
Actually, I did not read the first post properly so disregard what is below. If it was outside of ebay, then there is not much the buyer can do. It was however, not very ethical of you.
There is a binding contract if there is an offer to sell (which occurs when the item is placed for auction) and an offer to purchase (the bid from the seller). You now have a binding contract between the two parties once the auction closes. Here is an excerpt from ebays rules on cancelling bids, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE LAST SENTENCE.
Stop the Auction!
You may miss out on just the bid you've been waiting for if you end your auction early. Still, there may be times when you have a valid reason to end an auction. You may stop your auction when you decide not to sell. To do this, you must cancel all bids on your auction before it ends. If you do not do this, you are obligated to sell to the high bidder.
[ edited by guuuyyy on Oct 24, 2000 01:22 PM ]
[ edited by guuuyyy on Oct 24, 2000 01:22 PM ]
[ edited by guuuyyy on Oct 24, 2000 02:34 PM ]
posted on October 24, 2000 07:12:14 PM
Where does it say in the original post that the seller made a deal while the item was up for auction? It only says, "Made a deal outside of auction."
posted on October 24, 2000 07:21:18 PM
The buyer has no legal action, Just like the seller has no legal action against a deadbeat. When a 13 year old kid can bid on a million dollars worth of merchandise, well that shows me there is no law on eBay.
