Music Magpie are about to steal my phone

unholyangel

daytona0 wrote: »

I think Music Magpie would use the argument that the contract forms when you press the "Confirm your Order" button and that you accept that their valuation may differ from the online one.

Where would that leave OP?

But an agreement must be certain. If they argue that, then they need to give OP the £70. Remember, a contract is equally binding on both parties. You can't bind one and allow the other to unilaterally alter the terms.

daytona0

unholyangel wrote: »

But an agreement must be certain. If they argue that, then they need to give OP the £70. Remember, a contract is equally binding on both parties. You can't bind one and allow the other to unilaterally alter the terms.

The agreement could never be certain, as MM can only take OP's word for it as to the quality.

I'm trying to see whether they could argue that OP has agreed to sell it at the price they value it at, with the price displayed online being a guideline only (because they can't value it at X amount without physically having it!).

Much like the way you'd give an auction house an item to sell and they'd get X amount for it based on the condition. You can tell the auction house that it is "excellent condition" but ultimately it is not up to you whether this is true or not; you just agree to have it sold at whatever price other people think it is priced at.

Also, you can pull the item from auction before sale but you need to tell them to do that.

unholyangel

daytona0 wrote: »

The agreement could never be certain, as MM can only take OP's word for it as to the quality.

I'm trying to see whether they could argue that OP has agreed to sell it at the price they value it at, with the price displayed online being a guideline only (because they can't value it at X amount without physically having it!).

Much like the way you'd give an auction house an item to sell and they'd get X amount for it based on the condition. You can tell the auction house that it is "excellent condition" but ultimately it is not up to you whether this is true or not; you just agree to have it sold at whatever price other people think it is priced at.

Also, you can pull the item from auction before sale but you need to tell them to do that.

Exactly - so there is no contract at that point as a legally binding contract can only exist if the agreement is certain.

Cornucopia

It's pretty clear that the world of contracts includes many in which all or part of the financial consideration is variable in nature.

The sole question, really, is how reasonable are MM being in insisting that a customer can ONLY modify their instructions to MM using the MM website.

There is a secondary question as to whether MM has done all that it can in helping to restore the OP's access to their account. But at the moment, although the OP is in receipt of an unhelpful email, it's not clear that they have actually asked MM for help accessing the account.

daytona0

unholyangel wrote: »

Exactly - so there is no contract at that point as a legally binding contract can only exist if the agreement is certain.

I was querying whether the setup would be similar to an auction. You state to them that it is "excellent" but you are in effect contracting with them to sell your item at an unspecified price, based on the valuation of others.


Checking Ts and Cs:

"If your electronic item(s)/product(s) fail our quality assessment process we will contact you via email and inform you of the new valuation we have determined for the item(s) you have sent us. You have four (4) days known as the ‘Grace Period’ to accept or decline the revised offer price/valuation we have provided to you on email. In this email you will be provided with the option to ‘Accept’ or 'Decline’ our revised offer price/valuation. You must either accept or decline our offer by CLICKING THE RELEVANT BUTTON ON THE EMAIL AND FOLLOWING THE LINK within the 4 days allotted under the Grace Period. Failure to do so in the exact manner described, or outside of the timescale specified, will result in us proceeding with your transaction at the revised offer price. For the avoidance of doubt, we do not accept notification of declined offers via email............

..........If you take no action and do not respond to this revised valuation email correctly within the four (4) day Grace Period (this four (4) day period begins when the revised valuation email is sent to you and ends 96 hours later) then we will automatically process payment for the electronic item(s)/product(s) at the revised valuation price we have sent to you."


The clock is ticking

I tell you what though but its a wonder why people use MM in the first place! I paid for a course which I have no doubt that the books cost £18 as advertised on the back of them! Brand spanking new textbooks and up to date, but MM only quote me £1.50 for them! PASS!

unholyangel

daytona0 wrote: »

I was querying whether the setup would be similar to an auction. You state to them that it is "excellent" but you are in effect contracting with them to sell your item at an unspecified price, based on the valuation of others.


Checking Ts and Cs:

"If your electronic item(s)/product(s) fail our quality assessment process we will contact you via email and inform you of the new valuation we have determined for the item(s) you have sent us. You have four (4) days known as the ‘Grace Period’ to accept or decline the revised offer price/valuation we have provided to you on email. In this email you will be provided with the option to ‘Accept’ or 'Decline’ our revised offer price/valuation. You must either accept or decline our offer by CLICKING THE RELEVANT BUTTON ON THE EMAIL AND FOLLOWING THE LINK within the 4 days allotted under the Grace Period. Failure to do so in the exact manner described, or outside of the timescale specified, will result in us proceeding with your transaction at the revised offer price. For the avoidance of doubt, we do not accept notification of declined offers via email............

..........If you take no action and do not respond to this revised valuation email correctly within the four (4) day Grace Period (this four (4) day period begins when the revised valuation email is sent to you and ends 96 hours later) then we will automatically process payment for the electronic item(s)/product(s) at the revised valuation price we have sent to you."


The clock is ticking

I tell you what though but its a wonder why people use MM in the first place! I paid for a course which I have no doubt that the books cost £18 as advertised on the back of them! Brand spanking new textbooks and up to date, but MM only quote me £1.50 for them! PASS!

But with an auction, you're not entering a contract to sell the auctioneer goods, you're entering a contract for them to provide services to you to enable you to sell your goods to a third party. And they'll also have a certain agreement by either having a set price for you to pay or by agreeing a % of the value.

As for the T&C's - as I said earlier, you cannot make obligations dependant on complying with a formality, its covered by unfair terms. Nor can you unilaterally alter them after they have been agreed. If you want to make variations, you need to obtain consent from the other party. Again, silence does not amount to acceptance.