Private sale now buyer threatening legal action

unholyangel

Judas wrote: »

He needs the receipt to insure it (genuinely); he has bought it to resell and the original value is important.

I find it funny you said "plenty of reasons" then can name precisely 2.......the 2nd of which isnt a genuine reason they need the receipt.

The whole thing with private sales is that as long as they match up to their advertisement, the buyer has very little - if any - rights. I highly doubt the OP advertised "original receipt will be given as part of deal" and the receipt has no monetary value anyway therefore the chances of any financial loss being attributed to it is slim to none.

Judas

unholyangel wrote: »

I find it funny you said "plenty of reasons" then can name precisely 2.......the 2nd of which isnt a genuine reason they need the receipt.

The whole thing with private sales is that as long as they match up to their advertisement, the buyer has very little - if any - rights. I highly doubt the OP advertised "original receipt will be given as part of deal" and the receipt has no monetary value anyway therefore the chances of any financial loss being attributed to it is slim to none.

How is the 2nd reason not? ? It is the buyers perogorative what he wants to do with it after he bought it. If he wants to sell it on and use the original value as a driver for price that is his choice.

Some insurance may cover new for old on it.

Ultimately as said the OP breached the contract and it is the case that if the buyer takes it to court and quantifies a loss they will win.

The OP may or may not want to take this risk.

unholyangel

Judas wrote: »

How is the 2nd reason not? ? It is the buyers perogorative what he wants to do with it after he bought it. If he wants to sell it on and use the original value as a driver for price that is his choice.

Some insurance may cover new for old on it.

Ultimately as said the OP breached the contract and it is the case that if the buyer takes it to court and quantifies a loss they will win.

The OP may or may not want to take this risk.

When dealing with second hand goods, the CURRENT value is the only real thing that has bearing on the sale. The current value will be based on numerous things which yes, may include original value but more importantly, quality and current condition. Just because someone paid £3000 for a suite a year ago doesnt mean it was worth £3000 a year ago.

And if it was for insurance purposes he still doesnt need the original receipt.

And as i have already said, rights are limited/non-existent when buying 2nd hand goods!

Personally i would give him a copy of the receipt (if available from the retailer) and write over the top that it is for informational purposes only and the orignal buyer no longer owns it as they have sold it on. At least that way if he IS trying to commit insurance fraud, his insurance company may question it.

Remember, there is a difference between NEEDING the receipt and merely wanting it.

Judas

unholyangel wrote: »

When dealing with second hand goods, the CURRENT value is the only real thing that has bearing on the sale. The current value will be based on numerous things which yes, may include original value but more importantly, quality and current condition. Just because someone paid £3000 for a suite a year ago doesnt mean it was worth £3000 a year ago.

And if it was for insurance purposes he still doesnt need the original receipt.

And as i have already said, rights are limited/non-existent when buying 2nd hand goods!

Personally i would give him a copy of the receipt (if available from the retailer) and write over the top that it is for informational purposes only and the orignal buyer no longer owns it as they have sold it on. At least that way if he IS trying to commit insurance fraud, his insurance company may question it.

Remember, there is a difference between NEEDING the receipt and merely wanting it.

The OP made it a condition of sale by what they wrote. There is no doubt that a breach of contract now applies.

Its whether they could justify losses to do so in a court and get a pay out.

The £200 is an offer to not do this.

It does seem unlikely that the buyer can justify the claim; however; say they were a trader who had someone willing to pay £500 for the sofa with the receipt but without the receipt they can only get £300 they have a case for the £200 as the OP's breach of contract resulted in this loss.

That aside the OP is best telling the buyer that the receipt was posted (and must be lost) and that they do not feel £200 is a fair value of the loss of the receipt and they will thus not be making any payment.

I doubt they will hear anything after that.

adam.mt

As I said, sure technically the OP is in breech of contract but it is very minor since the receipt has little or no value. I can't see why you need it to insure the goods, you just need the purchase receipt so I don't buy that.

If this went to court I'm sure the buyer would be laughed out of there! (along with being forced to pay all costs). Unless other evidence is presented here I just cannot see how any reasonable person would judge it any other way.

EDIT: Proof of original value (when the sofa was new) could be made in other ways than a receipt, eg. price at retail for a similar item now. If the buyer said to the court that he had a purchaser willing to pay £200 more for the sofa with it's original receipt than without then I doubt that would hold much sway unless proper evidence was presented why the receipt is considered so valuable. I'd have thought saying there's somebody willing to pay that much more wouldn't be sufficient because he, for example, could just be a friend! Surely, there has to be some common sense here?

unholyangel

All depends on who's more convincing in court. I know of at least a few cases where although not all details of the "contract" were upheld, they were judged to be so minor that it did not constitute a breach of contract as the fundamentals of the contract were fufilled by both parties.

pmduk

Remind him that should he sue you, not only is he likely to lose and incur your costs as well as his own, the case would be on public record for all company's to see.

Torby

hannahhannah01 wrote: »

Hi,

I wonder if someone could offer advice.



A few weeks later i located the receipt, called the buyer and asked for their address so i could post it to them. I didn't receive anything back from them so after 2 weeks i disposed of the receipt as I no longer required it.

A couple of days after i disposed of the receipt the buyer called and asked for it (two weeks after I had requested their address so i could send it to them). I explained the situation and they have now demanded £200 (that is what they have valued the receipt as) or they will send me a court order.

Does the buyer have any legal recourse given that i wrote on the receipt 'Orginal receipt to be provided'?

Thanks everyone.

have I missed something on this thread, if you phoned them, why didn't they give you their address on the phone and what did you wait to receive back from them?


Like most things there's possibly 3 sides, their side of it, your side of it and somewhere in between, the right side of it.:cool:

cat04

Torby wrote: »

have I missed something on this thread, if you phoned them, why didn't they give you their address on the phone and what did you wait to receive back from them?


Like most things there's possibly 3 sides, their side of it, your side of it and somewhere in between, the right side of it.:cool:

Maybe they only got an answering machine when they rang, so left a message asking for the address and didn't receive a call back....

BigLee_24

Defo sounds like an insurance scam to me....