Non-Paying Bidders - Small Claims Court Action?

knight-on-the-town

If my understanding is correct winning bidder have made a legally binding contract to buy the goods.
Does know if it is possible to take action in the small claims court against non-paying bidders? I have done this successfully with a copier company (but nothing to do with Ebay) and it was quite easy to do. I am interested to know if NPB's can likewise be taken to the smalls claims court.

angelcake

Is there any point? You have the item and are not out of pocket. Doesn't ebay have its own policies deaing with this? no matter what nothing is for certain, I don't take any buyer for granted until I have sucessfully completed transaction. You don't know what other peoples lifes are like, there could be some reasonable explanation for this, court is a stressful and unecessary as you will get fees back for NPB.

MarkyMarkD

You are right that it's a legal contract and in theory you could sue for your losses.

If you sold an expensive item and got a good price for it, and then sold at a significantly lower price on re-listing, there is a genuine loss for you to re-coup.

I'm not sure how easily you would get hold of the buyer's details to take them to court, though.

knight-on-the-town

Ok .. the winning NPB details are easily available from Ebay so have full name, address etc.

Small claims court action is easy ... can be done on-line via Moneyclaim which was set up specifically for this. I have done it before, but not for a NPB.

NPB may also be liable for costs which can be awarded

I recently auctioned tickets on Ebay at the last minute, which were effectively worthless once the concert date had passed, so I lost out. Bloke messed me about, no reply to my emails and put phone down when I called him. He then immediately deregistered from Ebay.

If there is effectively no deterent to stop NPBs Ebay will become a joke. I find Ebay exceptionally useful but unless meaninful action is possible and taken (ie in court if necessary) the vast majority, who abide by the rules will increasingly suffer from the hassle and finacial loss caused by NPBs

angelcake

I now understand why you feel so angry at this! I hadn't thought about concert tickets and too would feel annoyed at this.

How about threatening court action in a formal email or even send them a letter, this may scare them enough to make them pay. I know I would!

soolin

There is one way to protect yourself with time limited items, you can use immediate payment required. That means the person buying them has to immediately complete payment by paypal otherwise the sale doesn't go through.

Well worth considering for selling tickets and such like.

One word of warning for buyers though, don't do this if the tickets are not 'in hand' and available for immediate despatch as you only have 30 days to start your paypal chargeback in case of problems.

Soo

soolin

Ok ..  the winning NPB details are easily available from Ebay so have full name, address etc.

When you request seller or buyer details you no longer get the full postal address. You get the town and district and the telephone number only. For small claims you need a full postal address which I think you can sometimes get by doing a reverse look up if you have the sellers telephone number.

Soo

angelcake

There is one way to protect yourself with time limited items, you can use immediate payment required. That means the person buying them has to immediately complete payment by paypal otherwise the sale doesn't go through.

Well worth considering for selling tickets and such like.

One word of warning for buyers though, don't do this if the tickets are not 'in hand' and available for immediate despatch as you only have 30 days to start your paypal chargeback in case of problems.

Soo

Thats a good point soo, I didn't know oyu could do this!