Ebay seller refusing to sell......

[Deleted User]

Item bought using 'Buy it Now'.

Seller 'cancels' deal as he made a 'mistake' and listed the item for less than he wanted for it.

Is this a breach of contract ?

paddyrg

No. Well maybe, but no. At least, not one you can do anything about, really.

arcon5

I'm under the impression the contract of sale for ebay purchases happens at time of using the 'buy now' ?

Irrespective of that -- you can't force the seller to package the item and send it to you so my advise irrespective of whether you have any legal rights or not would be to move on and buy elsewhere.

Kite2010

All you can do is to Report the seller as a non-performing seller and mark down on feedback & DSRs.

Might be worth someone moving this thread to the ebay section.

[Deleted User]

arcon5 wrote: »

I'm under the impression the contract of sale for ebay purchases happens at time of using the 'buy now' ?

Irrespective of that -- you can't force the seller to package the item and send it to you so my advise irrespective of whether you have any legal rights or not would be to move on and buy elsewhere.

Which is a shame really. Why should a seller be able to enter into a contract, knowingly fail to honour their side and be able to do this because it is difficult to enforce ? It is a business rather than an individual who is the seller.

arcon5

charles_w wrote: »

Which is a shame really. Why should a seller be able to enter into a contract, knowingly fail to honour their side and be able to do this because it is difficult to enforce ? It is a business rather than an individual who is the seller.

The problem is many sellers have hundreds of listings and sometimes make mistakes when listing the items.

Although I can sympathise with your situation, I can also sympathise with the sellers if it was simply a mistake i nthe listing price which nearly turned a loss for them.

wealdroam

charles_w wrote: »

Which is a shame really. Why should a seller be able to enter into a contract, knowingly fail to honour their side and be able to do this because it is difficult to enforce ? It is a business rather than an individual who is the seller.

Sounds like he didn't enter into a contract intending not to honour it.

He simply made a mistake.

Maybe posts #8 and #9 on the thread entitled READ ME FIRST PLEASE . . . Useful links, Resources and FAQs will help.

ayayay

The legal position is that you have a binding contract and the seller is in breach. Depends upon what the product is as to your remedy. If it is a readily available product (albeit you have to pay a higher price to get it from elsewhere) then you are entitled to claim the difference in price from the seller. Obviously depends upon how much we're dealing with as to whether it is worth your while to sue (since that is what you would have to do to get anywhere).

bris

ayayay wrote: »

The legal position is that you have a binding contract and the seller is in breach. Depends upon what the product is as to your remedy. If it is a readily available product (albeit you have to pay a higher price to get it from elsewhere) then you are entitled to claim the difference in price from the seller. Obviously depends upon how much we're dealing with as to whether it is worth your while to sue (since that is what you would have to do to get anywhere).

Wouldn't this be similar to a website making a mistake in the pricing, they can by law be allowed to make a mistake as long as the contract has not been concluded, usually by dispatch. If the seller has made a genuine mistake and informed the buyer before concluding the contract then I can't see why this would be any different.
If it was an auction format then the seller takes his chances and can't reneg on the deal because he didn't get enough so this would be a binding contract. Being a buy it now then I would say no its not a binding contract, just a mistake.

Oliver14

ayayay wrote: »

The legal position is that you have a binding contract and the seller is in breach. Depends upon what the product is as to your remedy. If it is a readily available product (albeit you have to pay a higher price to get it from elsewhere) then you are entitled to claim the difference in price from the seller. Obviously depends upon how much we're dealing with as to whether it is worth your while to sue (since that is what you would have to do to get anywhere).

Ahh no it's not. No matter what ebay it's not a legal contract. The seller legally can refuse to sell. if they made a habit of it they could be referred to trading standards but thats as far as it goes. The bit about claiming the difference is just a myth i'm afraid.

[Deleted User]

bris wrote: »

Wouldn't this be similar to a website making a mistake in the pricing, they can by law be allowed to make a mistake as long as the contract has not been concluded, usually by dispatch. If the seller has made a genuine mistake and informed the buyer before concluding the contract then I can't see why this would be any different.
If it was an auction format then the seller takes his chances and can't reneg on the deal because he didn't get enough so this would be a binding contract. Being a buy it now then I would say no its not a binding contract, just a mistake.

I see your point. However I paid immediately by paypal and the payment was accepted. A couple of days passed and I heard nothing until the email today. I suspect that it was not a mistake. The seller had multiple copies of the same item and they all sold fairly quickly. I suspect he 'underpriced' them and now realizes he could probably get more for them rather than it being a genuine 'mis-price'. Funnily enough they are now re-listed at an increased price.