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Threatened with solicitor action as buyer did not win auction
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mippy
Posts: 497 Forumite
I had an auction for a pair of used shoes ending today. I went off for my lunch, the auction ended, the buyer paid. Simple.
Then I get an e-mail from the next-highest bidder. She told me she bid £50 for the shoes, and eBay acknowledged her bid with an e-mail. I checked the bid history and she bid once at £33, the winner bid £34. She told me that she called eBay and they told her if she had her e-mail then the bid went through, and the only way it would not have let her win is if I cancelled the bid - which I had not done.
I replied and told her that the bidding history didn't reflect this, I had cancelled no bids, and the winner had already paid for the shoes so I wasn't sure what she expected me to do at this point.
She replied and told me:
"I have spoken to William of the ebay
helpline at 14.16 this afternoon and he advised me that the confirmation
would not have been sent if the bid had nto been registered, meaning I
definitely placed that bid. He assures me that the only way I would not
have won in this instance was if someone bid more than £51.01 or if a
seller cancelled the bid, but I assume I would have had email notification
to say so if that had been the case. Obviously I'm pretty distressed at the
situation, I am still prepared to pay my maximum bid amount, I have sent
the emails and item details to ebay who are looking into it for me."
then
"hi there, i am not sure what else to do so have contacted my solicitor with
all my information, so that he can instruct further. he seems to feel that
unless the bid has been cancelled, the email correspondence sent from ebay
constituted enough to be held as a contract, but obviously he shall be
writing a report up to yourself formally"
I'm a private seller and I don't need the stress of someone contacting me via a solicitor. I want to sort this out, and it seems deeply unfair that the person who won the auction would lose out. I'm also slightly flabbergasted that someone would go to this trouble for a pair of used shoes
Any advice?
Then I get an e-mail from the next-highest bidder. She told me she bid £50 for the shoes, and eBay acknowledged her bid with an e-mail. I checked the bid history and she bid once at £33, the winner bid £34. She told me that she called eBay and they told her if she had her e-mail then the bid went through, and the only way it would not have let her win is if I cancelled the bid - which I had not done.
I replied and told her that the bidding history didn't reflect this, I had cancelled no bids, and the winner had already paid for the shoes so I wasn't sure what she expected me to do at this point.
She replied and told me:
"I have spoken to William of the ebay
helpline at 14.16 this afternoon and he advised me that the confirmation
would not have been sent if the bid had nto been registered, meaning I
definitely placed that bid. He assures me that the only way I would not
have won in this instance was if someone bid more than £51.01 or if a
seller cancelled the bid, but I assume I would have had email notification
to say so if that had been the case. Obviously I'm pretty distressed at the
situation, I am still prepared to pay my maximum bid amount, I have sent
the emails and item details to ebay who are looking into it for me."
then
"hi there, i am not sure what else to do so have contacted my solicitor with
all my information, so that he can instruct further. he seems to feel that
unless the bid has been cancelled, the email correspondence sent from ebay
constituted enough to be held as a contract, but obviously he shall be
writing a report up to yourself formally"
I'm a private seller and I don't need the stress of someone contacting me via a solicitor. I want to sort this out, and it seems deeply unfair that the person who won the auction would lose out. I'm also slightly flabbergasted that someone would go to this trouble for a pair of used shoes
Any advice?
0
Comments
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My advice, ignore her and go and have a good laugh at her inability to understand ebay.
You do not control the bidding process, whetheror not she bid £50 is immaterial as the sytem told her she did not win. Therefore if she wants to threaten anyone she needs to threaten ebay and I wish her luck with that.
had something similar with a bidder who claimed not to have bid, he did the whole lawyer thing and told me with great delight that ebay had told him I was not allowed to NPB him if he did not pay and if I did he would sue. I NPBd him anyway and never heard another thing.I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the eBay, Auctions, Car Boot & Jumble Sales, Boost Your Income, Praise, Vents & Warnings, Overseas Holidays & Travel Planning , UK Holidays, Days Out & Entertainments boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know.. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.0 -
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very bizarre! I can't see she'd get anywhere with a solicitor surely?! I'd ignore her tbh as see what happens , not a lot she can , i should imagine as ebay will look at the bidding history too and see you didn't cancel any bids.
Sounds like a bit of a nut job to say the least0 -
What a prat!
Just for the record, I thought bids could be cancelled anyway (not saying you did) for whatever reason the seller thinks fit.
Ignore this, bet theres hundreds more pairs of these listed!Please do not quote spam as this enables it to 'live on' once the spam post is removed.
If you quote me, don't forget the capital 'M'
Declutterers of the world - unite! :rotfl::rotfl:0 -
For the record, they cost me about £45 six years ago. The only other person to contact me was to ask if they fitted small as her daughter had a prom coming up - I was a bit sorry to tell her that they did
I can see if I did send these shoes to her, she'd find some 'defect' on them and claim via Paypal. She's won another auction of mine and I can forsee her trying not to pay until she gets 'her' shoes!0 -
"hi there, i am not sure what else to do so have contacted my solicitor with
all my information, so that he can instruct further. he seems to feel that
unless the bid has been cancelled, the email correspondence sent from ebay
constituted enough to be held as a contract, but obviously he shall be
writing a report up to yourself formally"
Any advice?
This is nonsense.
If this second 'buyer' goes to court, the only claim could be one for specific performance - ie to order to to sell the shoes (which the court is not going to do if you no longer have them, and anyway she'd ahve to prove to the court's satisfaction that she did in fact win the auction, which she can't do) OR she could sue for compensation for financial loss... except she didn't pay for them, and unless they are really unique designer shoes, she could presumably find something similar on e-bay for a similar price - since she has a duty to make reasonable efforts to mitigate her loss, that is exactly what the court would expect her to do.
The above comments are made on the basis that she would in fact go to court.... which is ridiculously unlikely - first she would have to lay out court fees without any guarantee of winning, second you would immediately apply to have the case moved to your own court which, depending on where she lives would cost her extra expense in travelling, and thirdly even the cheapest solicitor is going to charge her more than the shoes are worth each hour, and since solicitors fees are not recoverable in the small claims court, she would be well out of pocket!
This is a wind -up, in my view. She can't even neg you because she was NOT the winner.
Block her and ignore her.
Good luck!I'm a retired employment solicitor. Hopefully some of my comments might be useful, but they are only my opinion and not intended as legal advice.0 -
Some people make a lot of noise about legal action but in reality they just loike to be the centre of attention and appear to be more smart than they really are. If they have the money to pursue legally, then let them waste their own money. In reality, barks are worse than bites. Legal? Shmegal.
It's a pair of second hand shoes, how can she be "distressed" at losing out?! Some people just need a good sharp poke back into the real world! Or at least get them a copy of the Daily Mail to give them something else to vent their issues upon.
They haven't won the shoes, so can't do anything feedback wise on that, but I'd be VERY cautious about the other item they have won. Regardless of how well that sale goes, I'd be betting my bits that they will be the buyer from hell.
If they are paid, then consider upgrading to recorded delivery at your own cost just to make sure it does "not arrive"...<--- Nothing to see here - move along --->0 -
Send each 'winner' a shoe each and refund them half the cash! :-)0
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She just paid for the other shoes and told me her solicitor would be writing to us formally. I agree with zzzLazyDaisy in that I can't see how these could possibly be worth the hassle.
I just don't want to have to deal with legal threats over an auction. I'm slightly shaken now, to be honest.0 -
My bet is that you will hear precisely nothing from her "solicitor".0
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