are ebay bids legally binding?

JPS29

Indeed Mikey, and as the item is no longer available for inspection then there would be no way to substantiate the claim....

terra_ferma

there was a case of a buyer suing a seller who pulled out of a sale and winning, legal papers were on line as evidence.
obviously I don't have the link (where is a link when you need it....?)
It was posted on the ebay forum a couple of months ago.

esuhl

As I understand it... eBay are not legally auctioneers, but the contract that you enter into when placing bids is legally binding. Of course the police aren't interested since contracts are enforced by civil law (where individuals can sue each other in court), rather than criminal law (where the police would bring a case to the Crown Prosecution Service to consider prosecution).

I read the eBay terms & conditions a long time ago, so maybe I've got this wrong (or things have changed), but I think that bids on cars are not considered to be contractually binding.

There are plenty of examples where someone has sued someone else for breach of contract - it would be the same process for suing someone who breached a contract entered into via eBay.

martindow

It would be interesting to know the outcome of the motorbike story. Sometimes making and 'winning' the claim is just the start. Getting the money can be much more difficult or impossible.

forgotmyname

This was posted on here a while back, Info from ebay ...


Certain eBay listings involve non-binding bids, such as items listed in Property and eBay Motors classified listings. A non-binding bid isn't a formal contract between the buyer and the seller, but it does represent a buyer's serious interest in buying the item. Insincere bidding isn't allowed on eBay.


Difference between classified listings and normal listings?

Proving the bike was as described would be difficult as you sold it.

Oopsadaisy

How did you force ebay to give you the sellers address????

forgotmyname

As mentioned ebay are not a real auction company. They would have to offer more protection if they were.

I forgot where i read that but it was used as a get out clause for them.

Bid legally binding i doubt that. From my link above they prove that not to be the case in some categories, Why only
some though?

Maybe form a contract to buy? But a simple defence would see a buyer walking out without paying a penny.

mcjordi

Oopsadaisy wrote: »

How did you force ebay to give you the sellers address????

they will give you it willingly simply request buyers details after the auction has ended.. then ebay will email you what they have on file..

buyer and seller address and phone number are emailed to you

easyhost

RFW wrote: »

It's a strange one this, yes they are legally binding, but as far as I know it hasn't been tested in court. In fact it very rarely gets tested in bricks & mortar auction rooms.
The main problem is that if someone doesn't pay, then the probable rason is they haven't got the money so taking them to court is pointless. The usual route is to resell the item and sue for the shortfall (if there is any) this has happened and is usually found in favour of the auctioneer.

Ebay say it is legally binding as per their policies, but ebay are under the impression that they are above any laws and their policies will stand up in a court of law.

Mistral001

I cannot believe that this question is being asked. Of course it is legally binding. Why even bother to use it for buying or selling stuff by auction if it is was not legally binding?