are ebay bids legally binding?

Bamber19

Marty_J wrote: »

Is eBay really an auction?

No, ebay is not really an auction. For ebay (the site) to be an auction, ebay (the company) would have to be an auctioneer and they are not. They are never in possession of the items that are sold.

pinkgem

sorry just to confirm i meant to ask it 'winning' bids were legally binding

TKPeters

Yes, they're Legally Binding, although as stated, if they didn't pay, you'd have to resell the item & sue them for difference

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/unpaid-item.html

Buyers automatically enter into a legally binding contract to purchase the item from the seller if they win the online auction-style listing or use the Buy It Now feature. eBay's Unpaid Item policy requires buyers to pay the seller for the items that they commit to purchase.

pinkgem

so you can't sue for the amount of the winning bid then?

RFW

pinkgem wrote: »

so you can't sue for the amount of the winning bid then?

You could try, but the judge would look on it that you weren't in a worse position than when you started as you still had the item. This would probably be different on timed items, eg holiday tickets, perishable items.

pinkgem

it's not me wanting to sue anyone btw, and i'm not a non payer either.

i was told that someones work mate was being taken to court for non payment of a vehicle, that they apparently bid on by mistake, and were having to pay the seller in monthly installments, so presuming that would be for the full bid price, if true.

zappa9

You can sue for breach of contract if a buyer on eBay pulls out and you then have to sell your item for less than the winning bidder's bid.

I sold my motorcycle on ebay recently for £4,503. The buyer came to my house and mumbled some excuses about mud on the paniers and the brake pads being a bit low (the bike had passed its MOT three days prior to the sale). They walked.

I was leaving the UK that day to work abroad for five weeks so I HAD to sell. Another buyer called who had seen the bike advertised on Motorcycle News online and they had £4,000 to spend. Given the circumstances I had to sell and was consequently £500 worse off.

I got the ebay buyer's postal address from eBay and went to Moneyclaim Online, a UK court website. You can register claims online very cheaply here. It cost me £35 for the claim (this is the cost for a claim of up to £500). The claim was issued in the post and arrived in 72hrs, the full claim details going to the Defendant and a summary to me.

The basis of my claim was as follows:

1) The Defendant entered into a legally binding contract when he bid for (and won) my motorcycle.

2) My loss was “within the reasonable contemplation” of the Defendant, meaning that he must have known that there was a possibility that I would have to sell at a lower price if he pulled out. As it happens I sold to a buyer sourced outside eBay but this would also apply if you gave the next highest eBay bidder a 'second chance offer' through eBay and they accept.
3) I am suing for 'unliquidated damages' which are designed to compensate the innocent party (me) for any losses incurred as a result of a breach of contract.

4) The breach of contract caused and preceded my loss.

5) My loss was financial. This is known as a pecuniary loss, which is the usual ground upon which damages are awarded for breach of contract.

This is all explained quite nicely on the website of a law firm called Gillhams so if you do a search for Gillhams and include some of the terminology used in this post then you will find it.

We are currently at the stage at which the papers have been served by the Court. The Defendant has 14 days to respond. If he does not respond then I can request that a judgement be made against him. This is free and you use the form N255. It's a very simple form.

Fingers crossed that the Defendant takes legal advice before responding (or not responding) so that he will realise that he has no chance of winning any defense of the Claim.

If it goes to court then so be it. It will be an interesting day out and I have almost nothing to lose.

So, buyers on eBay who bid with little or no intention to buy - be aware that you may well be subject to a process that is extremely easy for the seller to use and you may well find yourself out of pocket. For those sellers asking 'is a bid on eBay a contract or legally binding?' the answer is most certainly 'yes'.

A few points to remember:

1) Obviously none of the above applies to bids that have been retracted before the end of the auction.

2) All court forms are straightforward and simple to fill in.

3) For every court form that you have to fill in there is a sub-form that gives you step-by-step guidance notes on how to complete the form properly. Simple!

4) Suing an eBay buyer who pulls out of the sale and causes you loss really is worth doing. It's an interesting process regardless of the outcome, it doesn't cost much and you get your costs back when you succeed.

5) Try to guage if the buyer has money to pay. If they are in the market for an eBay item that costs a few thousand then the answer is likely to be 'yes'. Even if they prove that they do not have any money the court will impose a payment schedule on them.

6) Don't make it personal and never make personal remarks on the court forms. State the facts and get somebody to read the form before you send it (or before you submit it online).

7) If you win and the Defendant doesn't pay then you can ask the Court Bailiffs to go to their property and recover goods to the value of your claim. If the bailiffs don't recover the money (or you simply want to crack a walnut with a hammer) then you can personally serve a 'Statutory Notice' on the Defendant. This is very interesting. A Statutory Notice gives the Defendant 21 days to pay up or the court appoints administrators to bankrupt them, sell their house, car etc. to pay ALL their debts, not just yours. You can only do this if they owe you more than £750.

8) Finally - AND THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT - there is an obligation on you to mitigate your losses (keep your losses to a minimum). If the court thinks that you did not make a reasonable effort to keep your losses to a minimum then they will reduce the amount that you can claim or they may even throw your claim out. So, for example, you sell a car on eBay for £10,000 and the buyer pulls out. You can't then sell the car to somebody else for £50.00 and sue the original buyer for £9,950. The court will not accept that you did your best to keep your loss to a minimum. The Defendant will argue that you could have got much more money for the car, even as a quick sale and the court will agree.

Good luck.

soolin

Old Thread alert- this thread is 2 years old.

JPS29

@zappa. If the original sale price was £4503 and you sold for £4000 then it could be argued that you did not mitgate your losses as the second chance offer would have been a lot closer to the original price than the sale price. I will be watching this thread with interest as I know it is "possible" to sue for non completion on ebay but realistically I never thought it would get you anywhere. I have also had buyers mess me round on vehicles but I wouldnt go to these lenghts, just second chance or relist, although I undertsand you couldnt due to imminent departue of country.
Good luck with your case, please keep us posted

mikey72

It'll be interesting.
If the buyers defence is the seller mis- described it, he could argue the seller broke the contract, or there never was one.
I'm sure many people will be watching.