eBay bids do create binding contracts

sequence

Is this not on any other website other than "e-sue" ?

mo786uk

sequence wrote: »

Is this not on any other website other than "e-sue" ?

it was only a country court judgement by the sounds of it therefore the court probably doesnt publish anything or make a hoo ha out of it.

it would get published if it went to the High Court.

so unless the claimant publishes more info than they already have done we have to take what they give us.

RFW

Certainly an interesting case, I wouldn't have thought it would open up the floodgates though.
Sounds like the seller was a bit of an idiot all round. I won't put on here what the seller could have done and that case wouldn't have got anywhere.
Also before anyone rushes out to take court proceedings be aware that it costs money (sometimes more than the final result would be) and not every seller owns a house that can have a charge taken against it or indeed any assets at all, so that will always be a gamble.

PasturesNew

sequence wrote: »

Is this not on any other website other than "e-sue" ?

Yes, it's on a popular UK site known as MSE

Optimist

Was there ever any reason to think a concluded contract wasn't legally enforceable ?

Invalidation

Several years ago I won an Auction for an MG. However the seller didnt put any reserve price and wasnt happy with the winning bid, so he refused to sell.
I went to a local Solicitor who advised me to sue the seller and Ebay as they were acting as agents for the seller and receiveing fees to do so.
Once the court papers were issued the seller backed down and sold me the car.
Ive always maintained that Ebay are acting as agents for the the sellers, yet that would need a court case to establish.

Pembroke

Totally irrelevant that this was Ebay as it could apply to any sale on or off line.

Oliver14

Legal_Academic wrote: »

Ever landed a bargain on eBay only for the seller to back out?

Last month an English court ruled that a contract concluded by winning a bid on eBay is legally enforceable.

A seller who backed out of a sale following a disappointing bid ended up with a judgment against her for over £650.00 (see http://www.e-sue.co.uk/recent_work.htm)

I would guess there is far more to this story than legal Academic is telling us. I assume the OP works for e sue (you still haven't answered that question). Also the judgement doesn't say what the judge actually said. If this was actually a case like the OP is telling us it would more than likely be a legal president (yes I know amall claims can't set a president but the possibility would have an effect) and have possible effects on all levels of business and would be all over the National newspapers.

I would be interested to know the whole story from other sources rather than someone promoting their own site.

Legal_Academic

Oliver14 wrote: »

I would guess there is far more to this story than legal Academic is telling us. I assume the OP works for e sue (you still haven't answered that question). Also the judgement doesn't say what the judge actually said. If this was actually a case like the OP is telling us it would more than likely be a legal president (yes I know amall claims can't set a president but the possibility would have an effect) and have possible effects on all levels of business and would be all over the National newspapers.

I would be interested to know the whole story from other sources rather than someone promoting their own site.

Well the reason why I "still" haven't answered the question as to whether I work for e-sue is simply because nobody asked it. However since you raise the issue, I'm a full time law student so I don't work for anyone yet.

County Court judgments (Form N24) don't touch on the facts - just the liabilities of the parties. Full narrative approved judgments are quite expensive to produce and can take several months to be published, and this is a new case.

It's unclear from your posting what more you suspect there is to "the whole story" other than eBay bids form a binding and enforceable contract which, as another poster mentioned, is hardly surprising.

I'm sorry if you took offence by my posting this interesting new case ... you weren't the eBay seller described by any chance?

nomoneytoday

On the flip side, it was worth contesting (IMHO) for £650.
If the proved difference was significantly less, and had possible associated costs, such as court fees and travel would it still be worth persuing?