A new risk when selling high value items or taking an offline offer?
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Pensioner who cancelled sale of tape recorder on eBay is ordered to pay would-be buyer £11,600

Pensioner who cancelled sale of tape recorder on eBay is ordered to pay would-be buyer £11,600 (msn.com)

 

???? A German Court "ordered" a British Pensioner ( not longer in the EU jurisdiction ) to pay in Pounds ? How will that be enforced? The Buyer might have a Title. Maybe frame it and hang in the living room.... Daily Mail is not known for reliable, non sensationalist , accurate, non BS reporting.....

 

That's mental. So he noticed it wasn't working correctly so he withdrew the item. Ebay rules say you can do this up to 12 hours before and he was days before. He's then sued by a bidder in Germany who successfully sues under EU law even though the seller is in Britain - that left the EU. Absolutely bonkers!

 

That's crazy. I don't understand how the 'winning bidder' can claim he was even entitled to it. If I read correctly, the item had 8 days left to run and was withdrawn from sale because it was broken.

He may not have even been the winning bidder.

 

It's unbelievable. That's why I don't trust web platforms for trading with precious, high valuable items..

 

Mind blown. So eBay’s rules for selling on their own site don’t matter? Scares me off using it as who is going to look at what the laws are for each country that you are selling to?!

 

Seller can file the judgement away in this cabinet.

 

No. eBay is a virtual world facilitator and never sees the merchandise. Once you cross over into the real world with payments, banks, courts, police, Judges wherever they are, eBay rules have absolute no standing. Never had. Never will have. It's virtual. Not real.

 

Fair point, but where does it end with that sort of ruling? A house gets passed in at auction? Car doesn’t meet reserve? It’s mine because I was highest bidder?

 

There is so much about this story that doesn't make sense. But it also claims that the seller has paid the judgement.

 

It said they had a UK bailiff to enforce it - It can be a bit of a poker game with increasing fees which does not sit well for people with the least resources if they keep fighting. The bills keep going up and might can be right sadly.

 

A bit more info / it looks like this does have legs....

A spokesman for eBay said: “We discourage sellers from ending auctions early, as listing an item and accepting bids from potential buyers creates a contractual obligation to sell the item.

“However, we understand sellers may occasionally need to cancel an auction and there are legitimate reasons for them to do so, including if the item is lost or broken. If they do end an auction early, sellers need to make sure they have proof of a legitimate reason.”


German court orders British pensioner to pay £12k after he cancels his own eBay auction - World News - Mirror Online

 

clown world strikes again

 

Hah!

Yesterday someone listed a watch for 15 bucks on a 7 day auction. They also had an OBO.



Of course I made an offer way over the low bid. Naturally this was rejected as expected as it was a fraction of what this sort of item sells for. I suspect others did as well. What is bothersome is that eBay makes it look like it sold for the low bid. Not the accepted offer. (unless the seller was an idiot.)

As they say "If you can not win the lottery, you have better odds winning the lawsuit."

Sellers remove things all the time, when they do not get bids. At least this one was up front regarding accepting offers to end the auction early.

I like the idea that like a live auction, Bidding should go till no one bids for a certain length of time (say 24 hours.) Live auctions have their own faults, mostly that they are regional and require local pick up.

(and if auctions confer ownership, then things like apple watches should be unlocked when the new owner takes possession. As @RevZMan123 stated it is a clowns world.)

 

Seems like the seller didn’t verify the condition before he put it up for sale. First mistake.

When he received bids, which are binding, he ended the auction. Mistake #2.

When the highest bidder, who he has entered into a contract of sorts with until that person is outbid, he cancels the sale and ignores messages from the high bidder. Mistake #3.

It will be interesting to see how his demands on eBay goes...I suspect they will tell him to pound sand, and they would be right to do so.

I know it’s the forum pastime here to crap on eBay, but the seller is really the one responsible for this. Policies do not override laws.

 

We see people cancel auctions all the time during active bidding on eBay (I have had this happen several times) and eBay never seems to care. I usually suspect they got a back door offer and just shut down the auction. Can I legally go after them for the value of the item? I didn’t even know this was a legally binding contract through eBay.

 

I guess the guy should have shipped the broken item to the winning bidder and let him file a claim with eBay to return it for a refund instead of canceling the auction?

 

A lot of the Yahoo Japan auctions automatically get extended by 5 minutes if you bid at the end. I like it. Gets rid of that snipe bidding stuff and let’s people bid to a real price.

 

I don't think eBay cared this time either...I gather the legal action was taken outside of eBay.

 

Or maybe not ignore the guy after you cancel.

Like has been stated, this is often a sign of getting a better offer outside eBay, so if you are going to ignore the guy I suppose you risk them taking action against you.