I bought an item at a very good price and the seller says the listing price was an accident and I am wondering if legally they still have to sell it to me, since it would seem like false advertising. Any legal or ebay experts who know if I should fight to get the item at the price I paid or give it up?
2006-12-06 02:03:06 · 11 answers · asked by henne831 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
they definately HAVE to. thats the risk of setting up an auction. they took the risk, they didnt get the price they wanted. oh well, they chose to start the auction! you can and should report them to ebay/paypal.
or you could be super nice and let them slide, but thats entirely up to you. personally i would threaten to report them and demand the product at that price. if he doesnt, then oh well. negative comment him and move on.
2006-12-06 02:10:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes and no. Let me explain..
According to the Terms of Service, the seller is obligated to sell to you. The deal is a binding contract and if the seller sets a price in error, that's their fault and they should sell the item to you.
Now, that said, let's also enter reality here. There is really nothing you can do short of sueing the seller to get the item. If they don't want to sell you the item they really don't have to and there is little you can do to force them to do it. Sueing them for the item is a costly affair (not counting the fact that you must sue them in California as Ebay is based in california as the TOS points out that all auctions are subject to the laws of California. If you are both NOT in California it gets very complicated and even more costly.)
In Ebay, you can open a dispute where you and the seller can both enter statements of what you believe, responding back and forth; but Ebay will never get into the middle of it. The dispute resolution is between the two of you. Ebay is not going to step in and make the seller sell the item. So what you'e left with is an open Dispute and no item and lots of anger and lots of lost time.
In the end, you can leave a Negative feedback for the seller, and let others know of your terrible ordeal. Do that and you can surely expect a Negative Feedback on YOUR account from the seller. No, it's not fair, but it is part of the system.
The best you can do here, is to let it go. Make a note to never buy from this seller again and move on. Yes, it would be nice to get an expensive item for very little, but in the long run, forcing someone into such a situation is merely taking advantage of someone's innocent mistake. If you ever made a mistake you'd probably like it if people just ignored it and went away, too.
2006-12-06 02:11:22 · answer #2 · answered by Marvinator 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
That would depend. If the seller claims that it was a typographical error and had just posted it with a "Buy it Now" price and you reponded within a few minutes of the posting, he might have a case. On the other hand, if it had been up for several hours or days then the seller would not have a strong defense that it was a typo.
About the only thing that you could do to force the seller to sell the item to you would be to sue.
2006-12-06 02:35:33 · answer #3 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, as a general rule in contract law an offer to sell is binding on the party making the offer. Exceptions to the general rule usually involve fraud or obvious "puff" advertisements not intended to be taken seriously. An honest error may also be excused where it is expected that a reasonable person would make further enquiries to verify an unusually low price. The problem with the law is getting judgement can be expensive and enforcement difficult if it involves more than one judicial regime.
2006-12-06 02:51:46 · answer #4 · answered by Will 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not either a legal or e-bay expert, but my husband and I have been doing research on E-Bay. If the person lists an item at a price and you pay the price, he should deliver the item to you. Otherwise, I believe you could complain to E-Bay about it.
2006-12-06 02:12:45 · answer #5 · answered by Tigger 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To be honest, you should probably just let it slide. If it's a really big difference in price, they are likely just going to take the negative hit on their record anyways. Plus, if they refunded your money, they didn't steal anything from you, so their account isn't likely to get frozen.
So, you could fight for it, but I guarantee you're not going to get them to send the item if there's a big price difference, so you'd just be wasting your time and breathe on a fight you can't win.
If they didn't refund your money, then you should file a claim with ebay. It'll be a long drawn-out process though, so be prepared for that.
2006-12-06 02:18:21 · answer #6 · answered by antheia 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Leave negative feedback that he stiffs his buyers who bought in good faith and then refuses to send the goods at the agreed upon price.
If you really want it, tell him he should send it to you at the agreed price because you had a contract which can be backed up by records from e-bay. You can always take him to small claims court.
I'd also call e-bay customer service and see what they have to say. I'm sure this has happened before.
2006-12-06 02:12:55 · answer #7 · answered by parsonsel 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Technically he should send it to you, but he does not HAVE to. If hes said hes not going to send it, contact EBAY and file a dispute with them, and they will get your money back for you if the guy you bought it from wont send the money back to you. Thats pretty much all you can do besides leave negative feedback
2006-12-06 02:06:35 · answer #8 · answered by Molly323 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
hm..he should send it to you. whenever you list an item on ebay for sale, you get an email with a confirmation. if he didnt agree to the price he would've changed it ..its yours now !!
good luck
2006-12-06 02:12:00 · answer #9 · answered by [ jD ] 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is a question for eBay.
Contact them.
I've been in similar situations and the folks at eBay have helped me out.
2006-12-06 02:14:02 · answer #10 · answered by docscholl 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋