Bidding Rules

debbiebear

I recently bid for a watch on a timed auction of an auction house in Norfolk who used ibidder.com. I placed my bid, received a confirmation email to say that my bid had been received however the reserve hadn’t been met. Soon afterwards I received another email to say that I had been outbid by another bidder who had bid £50 more than me. I didn’t bid again and assumed I’d been unsuccessful. I emailed the auction house to ask if the watch had sold because I noted that even the higher bidder’s bid didn’t reach the reserve. I received a response to say that they had sold the watch to me at my bid price. Initially I was pleased but soon felt uncomfortable that something wasn’t right. I emailed the auction house to say that I hadn’t agreed to buy the watch and didn’t want to. They didn’t reply to my emails so I called them. The man was very unpleasant and threatened me with court action plus a cost of £20 per day to store the watch if I didn’t pay up. He said that I’d entered into a contract and couldn’t back out. Can someone please advise/help? Can he make me buy the watch even although I’ve got an email from ibidder.com stating than I was unsuccessful? 

RFW

If it was me I'd write to the auction house and Ibidder, let them know as you were told your bid was unsuccessful that you purchased elsewhere. It may even be an idea to say that you now can't afford it, to put them off any possible court action. I don't really mind defending myself in court so wouldn't be too bothered by that. So if you are bothered then you may want to try something else, although  I'd probably still write and let them know your position.
It's worth checking the terms for the auction house and Ibidder but a judge, if it went to court, would dismiss £20/day storage charge and likely reject the rest too. You may need to get legal advice though as this a bit of a tricky legal area.
It sounds like we're talking a fair amount of money though, so they could pursue it. Also keep your eye on Ibidder to see if they offer it for sale again. Once that happens then you're off the hook anyway.