Buyer pulls out - What do I do with the deposit?!
Discussion
Hi guys,
I had my car on eBay, guy called, agreed price and sent £400 deposit.
He is located 150 miles away and was unsure about the deposit being sent without seeing the car, so I said that if when he turns up to collect the car, he isn't happy with the condition etc, that I would refund it...
He is due to collect on Wednesday
Just got a text saying that he would like to pull out of the sale, due to the fact the wheels are black (were grey, refurbed black) and it doesn't have recaros. BOTH points are unbearably obvious from the advert/pictures...
So, what should I do? I'm fairly sure I should tell him he's not entitled to a refund, despite my offer of refunding if he wasn't happy with the condition upon collection...
Over to you!
I had my car on eBay, guy called, agreed price and sent £400 deposit.
He is located 150 miles away and was unsure about the deposit being sent without seeing the car, so I said that if when he turns up to collect the car, he isn't happy with the condition etc, that I would refund it...
He is due to collect on Wednesday
Just got a text saying that he would like to pull out of the sale, due to the fact the wheels are black (were grey, refurbed black) and it doesn't have recaros. BOTH points are unbearably obvious from the advert/pictures...
So, what should I do? I'm fairly sure I should tell him he's not entitled to a refund, despite my offer of refunding if he wasn't happy with the condition upon collection...
Over to you!
adeel_gt said:
Keep it, deposit is there to secure the car. His problem that he cant read the advert.
He knew full well it didn't have Recaros, we even discussed about the possibility of putting some second hands ones in from else where, but ended up doing a deal 'as is'Listing was only £10..
tjob said:
Hi guys,
Just got a text saying that he would like to pull out of the sale, due to the fact the wheels are black (were grey, refurbed black) and it doesn't have recaros. BOTH points are unbearably obvious from the advert/pictures...
Over to you!
What an eejit - dont reply to his text, wait till he phones you - then tell him ok thats fine to pull out of the sale but he loses the deposit.Just got a text saying that he would like to pull out of the sale, due to the fact the wheels are black (were grey, refurbed black) and it doesn't have recaros. BOTH points are unbearably obvious from the advert/pictures...
Over to you!
In reality the thing to do would be send the deposit back, but it annoys me when people do that as it erases the entire point of a deposit. If people all just started refusing their return people might stop bidding on cars without looking at the advert and causing everyone a ball ache.
rallycross said:
tjob said:
Hi guys,
Just got a text saying that he would like to pull out of the sale, due to the fact the wheels are black (were grey, refurbed black) and it doesn't have recaros. BOTH points are unbearably obvious from the advert/pictures...
Over to you!
What an eejit - dont reply to his text, wait till he phones you - then tell him ok thats fine to pull out of the sale but he loses the deposit.Just got a text saying that he would like to pull out of the sale, due to the fact the wheels are black (were grey, refurbed black) and it doesn't have recaros. BOTH points are unbearably obvious from the advert/pictures...
Over to you!
As above, wait til he mans up and calls you. If he's decent about it, hold back £30 to get it washed, relisted, etc and return the rest. If he's an arse, or can't even be bothered to call you, I'd be minded to leave him to sweat on it.
How did he pay the deposit? If it's by paypal, He'll probably just raise a dispute and get the money back anyway. Paypal always shafts the seller on ebay sales.
If i wasn't worried about him raising a dispute and getting the money back anyway, I'd relist and that substract the original listing fee + any difference in final sale price from his deposit, Give back whats left.
If i wasn't worried about him raising a dispute and getting the money back anyway, I'd relist and that substract the original listing fee + any difference in final sale price from his deposit, Give back whats left.
I had a guy win my 15yr old car on ebay & he promptly paid a £250 deposit.
Following weekend he drove 8hrs from Kent to Edinburgh and stayed in a travel inn overnight. Viewed the car 1st thing in the morning, spent a good bit of time going round it, agreed it was great and just as described but knocked it back as the history wasn't full & his mate told him to leave it if it wasn't full.
In the end I sold the car for more than the winning bid and returned the ebay deposit.
Following weekend he drove 8hrs from Kent to Edinburgh and stayed in a travel inn overnight. Viewed the car 1st thing in the morning, spent a good bit of time going round it, agreed it was great and just as described but knocked it back as the history wasn't full & his mate told him to leave it if it wasn't full.
In the end I sold the car for more than the winning bid and returned the ebay deposit.
Whats the point in a deposit if you just give it back?
The point of a deposit is to show your commitment to the deal and secure it from being sold elsewhere, if you pull out and get it back anyway then you might aswell of not bothered accepting it in the first place.
The people who like to think they are holier than thou on here (There are alot of them) will say give it back, however I am very much of the belief that you pay a deposit for a reason and this is a classic example of where the deposit should not be refunded, if you had misrepresented the car in some way or other then fair enough but if the guy is just pulling out then thats just tough luck.
Deposits will lose all meaning if people continue on the preferred pistonheads route of just give it back anyway.
The point of a deposit is to show your commitment to the deal and secure it from being sold elsewhere, if you pull out and get it back anyway then you might aswell of not bothered accepting it in the first place.
The people who like to think they are holier than thou on here (There are alot of them) will say give it back, however I am very much of the belief that you pay a deposit for a reason and this is a classic example of where the deposit should not be refunded, if you had misrepresented the car in some way or other then fair enough but if the guy is just pulling out then thats just tough luck.
Deposits will lose all meaning if people continue on the preferred pistonheads route of just give it back anyway.
Keep the deposit. The punter who lost it by a penny may have turned up, shook your hand, and driven away a happy man. This timewaster made it so that wouldn't happen. Deposits are non-refundable, tell him it's a shame he's backing out as he's just lost £400, move on (and block him if necessary).
ETA - just noticed he was a call it and buy it type. Point still stands, the auction may have ran to the same price (maybe even more) than what he was willing to pay. Keep his deposit and re-list the car.
I'm sure there's an entrepreneur out there somewhere who's making a living collecting non-committed deposits off dreamers on a car that's being relised every few days.
ETA again - I won a Golf GTi on eBay a little while ago and sent the buyer a £500 deposit (out of £7,500 car). Unfortunately I had a few issues come up, I didn't tell the seller what they were but said I'd regrettably have to pull out and my deposit was his to keep. As I wished him well with the re-sale, he thanked me for a genuine reason and understood my plight, he refunded me my deposit minus £50 to cover a re-list, I offered him another couple of quid for a nice bottle of wine or two but he declined. Someone who's decent and genuinely stuffed deserves a bit of leeway IMHO, someone who leaves a deposit and then says "no thanks i dont like it" doesn't need their money back.
ETA - just noticed he was a call it and buy it type. Point still stands, the auction may have ran to the same price (maybe even more) than what he was willing to pay. Keep his deposit and re-list the car.
I'm sure there's an entrepreneur out there somewhere who's making a living collecting non-committed deposits off dreamers on a car that's being relised every few days.
ETA again - I won a Golf GTi on eBay a little while ago and sent the buyer a £500 deposit (out of £7,500 car). Unfortunately I had a few issues come up, I didn't tell the seller what they were but said I'd regrettably have to pull out and my deposit was his to keep. As I wished him well with the re-sale, he thanked me for a genuine reason and understood my plight, he refunded me my deposit minus £50 to cover a re-list, I offered him another couple of quid for a nice bottle of wine or two but he declined. Someone who's decent and genuinely stuffed deserves a bit of leeway IMHO, someone who leaves a deposit and then says "no thanks i dont like it" doesn't need their money back.
Edited by sebhaque on Monday 22 October 22:51
keep it, thats what its for.
a guy left me a deposit on my last car after i told him someone else wanted to come and pick the car up that day if it didnt sell. he thought i was lying but it was the truth. he left a deposit on the condition he would be back to collect on tuesday night and he just never showed so i sold to the other guy
a guy left me a deposit on my last car after i told him someone else wanted to come and pick the car up that day if it didnt sell. he thought i was lying but it was the truth. he left a deposit on the condition he would be back to collect on tuesday night and he just never showed so i sold to the other guy
Most correspondence has been done via text up to this point to he honest, but yes I guess it would have been better to call rather than a text with his bank details at the end expecting refund..
I replied via text anyway just saying that both factors he's using as a reason for refund are not really fair as they are both obvious (pictures/written & even spoke on phone about them).
So as it stands right now, he's either not getting a refund or he buys the car!
I replied via text anyway just saying that both factors he's using as a reason for refund are not really fair as they are both obvious (pictures/written & even spoke on phone about them).
So as it stands right now, he's either not getting a refund or he buys the car!
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