Buy it now, when is a contract made?

gringobble

This does follow on from a previous post that got quite in depth then petered out. I hope to keep this brief.

I recently bought an item on e-bay, I was invoiced but before I paid the seller informed me he had changed his mind and would not sell the item to me.

The item is pretty rare, so I do want the seller to sell to me, but I am not sure whether it would be foolish to pay anyway, knowing that the seller has no intention of following through. Any advice out there?

Thanks, Gringo

PS I'm unable to complain through e-bay until I pay

forgotmyname

If you pay you get to leave feedback. If you dont pay they can give you a non payment strike and you dont get to leave feedback.

jeffuk

I'm not sure why you started a new thread, when you were given perfectly good advice in the original (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5049683&page=2).
Ebay may say that there is a legally binding contract but in reality there is no way to make a seller sell or a buyer pay. As you have been told you may even win a small claims decision but the judge can't make them pay.
Move on.

soolin

I have merged the two threads as they do both ask the same question and I don't think it is helpful to cover the same ground again.

gringobble

jeffuk wrote: »

I'm not sure why you started a new thread, when you were given perfectly good advice in the original (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5049683&page=2).
Ebay may say that there is a legally binding contract but in reality there is no way to make a seller sell or a buyer pay. As you have been told you may even win a small claims decision but the judge can't make them pay.
Move on.

Well the second question is slightly different- if a seller tells you they won't sell, is it prudent to pay anyway, knowing you at least have fulfilled your part of the bargain? I saw this as a general question which might be relevant to other cases. I'm not sure about you, but I tend to search forums for info that I might be looking for rather than read everything.

celestius

gringobble wrote: »

Well the second question is slightly different- if a seller tells you they won't sell, is it prudent to pay anyway, knowing you at least have fulfilled your part of the bargain? I saw this as a general question which might be relevant to other cases. I'm not sure about you, but I tend to search forums for info that I might be looking for rather than read everything.

I would not send £1200 to a seller who you know has no intention of selling this item to you.

soolin

gringobble wrote: »

Well the second question is slightly different- if a seller tells you they won't sell, is it prudent to pay anyway, knowing you at least have fulfilled your part of the bargain? I saw this as a general question which might be relevant to other cases. I'm not sure about you, but I tend to search forums for info that I might be looking for rather than read everything.

As this is (from memory) a car you will be looking to pay cash or some other unsafe payment method, so no I wouldn't pay as you may have delays in getting your money back.

If it was a cheaper non motor item then paying by PayPal would probably be OK as you could then show you acted in good faith and made payment, but as it isn't I would walk away.

gringobble

Hi Soolin, I was planning to use paypal., though my gut says, as celestius suggests, not to pay since the seller has been so clear about not wanting to sell!

E-bay's money back guarantee does not apply to motors, running or not.

The thing is, as others have said, without paying my options are limited e-bay wise, though the seller and I do have a contract.

soolin

gringobble wrote: »

Hi Soolin, I was planning to use paypal., though my gut says, as celestius suggests, not to pay since the seller has been so clear about not wanting to sell!

E-bay's money back guarantee does not apply to motors, running or not.

The thing is, as others have said, without paying my options are limited e-bay wise, though the seller and I do have a contract.

Seller is not obliged to take PayPal though if this was listed in the car / motoring categories. He can insist on cash or bank transfer .

bris

gringobble wrote: »

This does follow on from a previous post that got quite in depth then petered out. I hope to keep this brief.

I recently bought an item on e-bay, I was invoiced but before I paid the seller informed me he had changed his mind and would not sell the item to me.

The item is pretty rare, so I do want the seller to sell to me, but I am not sure whether it would be foolish to pay anyway, knowing that the seller has no intention of following through. Any advice out there?

Thanks, Gringo

PS I'm unable to complain through e-bay until I pay

This is a different situation and more facts are needed.

The law works on offer and acceptance, you make an offer and the seller accepts it, no money needs to change hands at this point but the contract is formed and bound on both parties.

Auction sales are different, auction sales have been around since the middle ages and the law on them is clear, the winning bidder in auction format is bound by law to complete the deal as is the seller, so offer and acceptance has no bearing in this type of sale.

However a buy it now is not an auction sale so offer and acceptance takes precedence. If the rare item you were wanting to buy was buy it now then when you click the button all you are doing is making the offer to buy, in this case the seller rejected your offer so no contract has taken place.

Ebay are not the law, they are bound by the same laws as the rest of us so their T&C's can be ignored legally (if they differ from UK law), however you risk your account by breaking their T&C's.