Rules around Auctions (Ebay)
Discussion
Hi All,
Recently I bid for and won a phone on the Bay. It was, in my opinion, a good price, significantly less than what others have gone for from the same vendor. (£120 vs £190). The vendor still has several auctions for identical devices open.
The phone never arrived and there was no tracking number - so unable to see what happened.
Vendor refunded immediately with no issues
A suspicious chappy like myself might entertain the possibility that the phone was never sent as the vendor didn't like the price. Obviously I am unlikely to be able to prove this whether its true or not.
Vendor has stated that all his remaining stock is already listed so he cannot send me a different phone.
Vendor has stated I should bid on his other auctions if I want a phone.
I would much rather have the phone than the money.
Ignoring practicality, what is the legal position around this? Any ideas?
Recently I bid for and won a phone on the Bay. It was, in my opinion, a good price, significantly less than what others have gone for from the same vendor. (£120 vs £190). The vendor still has several auctions for identical devices open.
The phone never arrived and there was no tracking number - so unable to see what happened.
Vendor refunded immediately with no issues
A suspicious chappy like myself might entertain the possibility that the phone was never sent as the vendor didn't like the price. Obviously I am unlikely to be able to prove this whether its true or not.
Vendor has stated that all his remaining stock is already listed so he cannot send me a different phone.
Vendor has stated I should bid on his other auctions if I want a phone.
I would much rather have the phone than the money.
Ignoring practicality, what is the legal position around this? Any ideas?
Did you open it as a "item not received" case through eBay? I don't think there's anything you can easily do (ie. without suing etc), however I'm sure eBay tracks the statistics for that sort of thing, and sellers identified as doing it often would be negatively impacted in some way.
Edited by Gareth79 on Friday 26th April 15:47
The position, technically, is that the seller was in breach of the contract for sale when no phone reached you. And therefore liable on the face of it for the losses you suffered as a result of the breach. Which sound like about the amount of the refund plus £70 (the difference between the price he agreed to sell it to you at and the price for obtaining the goods from another source).
The reality is that before you opened the case and accepted the refund, you had no realistic chance of enforcing that position and recovering your losses.
The further reality is that now the case has been opened and a refund has been given, you have no chance of enforcing that position whatsoever.
Sorry
The reality is that before you opened the case and accepted the refund, you had no realistic chance of enforcing that position and recovering your losses.
The further reality is that now the case has been opened and a refund has been given, you have no chance of enforcing that position whatsoever.
Sorry
NugentS said:
Hi All,
Recently I bid for and won a phone on the Bay. It was, in my opinion, a good price, significantly less than what others have gone for from the same vendor. (£120 vs £190). The vendor still has several auctions for identical devices open.
The phone never arrived and there was no tracking number - so unable to see what happened.
Vendor refunded immediately with no issues
A suspicious chappy like myself might entertain the possibility that the phone was never sent as the vendor didn't like the price. Obviously I am unlikely to be able to prove this whether its true or not.
Vendor has stated that all his remaining stock is already listed so he cannot send me a different phone.
Vendor has stated I should bid on his other auctions if I want a phone.
I would much rather have the phone than the money.
Ignoring practicality, what is the legal position around this? Any ideas?
If you have the sellers name and address you can persue him to make good his contract with you. Either supply the phone at the price it was won at or supply the money to purchase a like for like phone at £190. This backing out of auctions when the seller does not get a high enough price goes on all the time but flebay do nothing about it.Recently I bid for and won a phone on the Bay. It was, in my opinion, a good price, significantly less than what others have gone for from the same vendor. (£120 vs £190). The vendor still has several auctions for identical devices open.
The phone never arrived and there was no tracking number - so unable to see what happened.
Vendor refunded immediately with no issues
A suspicious chappy like myself might entertain the possibility that the phone was never sent as the vendor didn't like the price. Obviously I am unlikely to be able to prove this whether its true or not.
Vendor has stated that all his remaining stock is already listed so he cannot send me a different phone.
Vendor has stated I should bid on his other auctions if I want a phone.
I would much rather have the phone than the money.
Ignoring practicality, what is the legal position around this? Any ideas?
section 51(3) of the sale of goods act applies. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1979/54/secti...
So the conclusion is:
Either:
1. Chalk it up to "life sucks" - the vendor is a git
OR:
2. Small claims for the difference - but I need his name and address first - which I have. Obviously after a letter giving him the option of either paying the difference OR sending me a phone (and I pay him back with the original amount)
3. Pursue through Ebay and see what happens / if they do anything. - assuming I feel like wasting some time
Sean
Either:
1. Chalk it up to "life sucks" - the vendor is a git
OR:
2. Small claims for the difference - but I need his name and address first - which I have. Obviously after a letter giving him the option of either paying the difference OR sending me a phone (and I pay him back with the original amount)
3. Pursue through Ebay and see what happens / if they do anything. - assuming I feel like wasting some time
Sean
Gareth79 said:
Did you open it as a "item not received" case through eBay? I don't think there's anything you can easily do (ie. without suing etc), however I'm sure eBay tracks the statistics for that sort of thing, and sellers identified as doing it often would be negatively impacted in some way.
I did not - that was the next step. I only got as far as informing the vendor that the phone did not arrivebladebloke said:
The reality is that before you opened the case and accepted the refund, you had no realistic chance of enforcing that position and recovering your losses.
I did not get a chance to accept or reject the refund - he just refunded me after I told him the phone was lateEdited by NugentS on Friday 26th April 23:03
Edited by NugentS on Friday 26th April 23:04
A1VDY said:
This is an easy one...never ever have anything to do with ebay...ever, ever, ever..
I buy quite a lot from Ebay and I very rarely have an issue. None of the issues I have had have cost me money.This is in fact the first that might "cost" me money - and that's not really
Sean
It sucks, I once "won" an auction for a tuning device for my motorbike, it was collection only which obviously reduced the interest. I bid a fair price (£150) on an item that would be nearly double that new, the auction ended with me as highest bidder at around £30. I asked for the address to arrange collection & got the reply "f
k off you chancer, did you really think you'd actually buy it for that?", I replied "well actually I did, as you obviously didn't think it was worth paying a little bit more for a reserve! Oh & by the way ebay have provided your address so perhaps you would be kind enough to have the item ready when my agents drop by to pick it up, you'll recognise them easily, they're both around 6'6" tall & look a bit intimidating but they don't bite"
I didn't actually take it any further even though it did piss me off as I'd have happily paid more if his attitude hadn't got in the way.
k off you chancer, did you really think you'd actually buy it for that?", I replied "well actually I did, as you obviously didn't think it was worth paying a little bit more for a reserve! Oh & by the way ebay have provided your address so perhaps you would be kind enough to have the item ready when my agents drop by to pick it up, you'll recognise them easily, they're both around 6'6" tall & look a bit intimidating but they don't bite"I didn't actually take it any further even though it did piss me off as I'd have happily paid more if his attitude hadn't got in the way.
NugentS said:
So the conclusion is:
Either:
1. Chalk it up to "life sucks" - the vendor is a git
OR:
2. Small claims for the difference - but I need his name and address first - which I have. Obviously after a letter giving him the option of either paying the difference OR sending me a phone (and I pay him back with the original amount)
3. Pursue through Ebay and see what happens / if they do anything. - assuming I feel like wasting some time
Sean
No, the only real conclusion is the first of the above.Either:
1. Chalk it up to "life sucks" - the vendor is a git
OR:
2. Small claims for the difference - but I need his name and address first - which I have. Obviously after a letter giving him the option of either paying the difference OR sending me a phone (and I pay him back with the original amount)
3. Pursue through Ebay and see what happens / if they do anything. - assuming I feel like wasting some time
Sean
Forget about court action - the sum at stake is £70 and I rally don’t think the court, online or not, will thank you for wasting the court’s time on it. You’d also be spending your own time, and the court fee, pursuing it. And even if you do all that and win, if the vendor doesn’t pay, what enforcement action are you really going to think about taking over £70? A charging order on his house?
Agree completely that time spent pursuing anything through eBay would be time wasted.
NugentS said:
So the conclusion is:
Either:
1. Chalk it up to "life sucks" - the vendor is a git
OR:
2. Small claims for the difference - but I need his name and address first - which I have. Obviously after a letter giving him the option of either paying the difference OR sending me a phone (and I pay him back with the original amount)
3. Pursue through Ebay and see what happens / if they do anything. - assuming I feel like wasting some time
Sean
It happened to me so I wrote to the seller telling him that he had to deliver up the said item or pay the difference between what I had won the item at and the market value at the fall of the hammer.Either:
1. Chalk it up to "life sucks" - the vendor is a git
OR:
2. Small claims for the difference - but I need his name and address first - which I have. Obviously after a letter giving him the option of either paying the difference OR sending me a phone (and I pay him back with the original amount)
3. Pursue through Ebay and see what happens / if they do anything. - assuming I feel like wasting some time
Sean
He came up with a story that the item had been damaged so I told him to get it repaired and even sent him the detail of the repairers. I asked for photos of the damaged item.To which he said I am not in a position to send photos.
I then wrote a letter to him telling him if he did not supply the item or the difference in price between my winning bid and the market value I would issue proceedings in the County Court.
He went to Citizens Advice who told him I was correct and to supply the item (he addmiited that to me) He then began saying he had made a mistake with the auction and reailised how it all worked now and could I please let it go as he had refunded my money.
I told him no if you do not want proceedings taking against you deliver up the item.
He did not so I issued the summons(MCOL) to which he tried the defence of 'how does anyone know what the market value is at the fall of the hammer'. I produced 2 adverts selling the said item at a far higher price than my winning bid.
He did not follow the matter through so I won by default the full amount which was the difference between the winning bid and the market value at the fall of the hammer.
Fleabay will do nothing at all to enforce your statutory right to have the item supplied at the winning bid price. I took issue with them and they are acting in their own interest in not applying any force to sellers to make good their contract.
If you have his name and address hammer him!
HE AGREED HE WOULD SELL TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER
I don’t think you’ll get very far with this, although eBay do actually cover it in their terms. They call it “non-performing seller” and sellers can get booted off if they get too many of these complaints against them. That won’t do you any good of course.
I’d be more upset that the seller expected me to believe that he’d sent a £120 item with no tracking, then was prepared to suck up the loss when it inevitably went missing.
I’d be more upset that the seller expected me to believe that he’d sent a £120 item with no tracking, then was prepared to suck up the loss when it inevitably went missing.
Silverage said:
I don’t think you’ll get very far with this, although eBay do actually cover it in their terms. They call it “non-performing seller” and sellers can get booted off if they get too many of these complaints against them. That won’t do you any good of course.
I’d be more upset that the seller expected me to believe that he’d sent a £120 item with no tracking, then was prepared to suck up the loss when it inevitably went missing.
That is the bit that makes me suspicious and pissed off.I’d be more upset that the seller expected me to believe that he’d sent a £120 item with no tracking, then was prepared to suck up the loss when it inevitably went missing.
I am going to chase this up with Ebay - see what this concierge service is worth when it ain't so simple. I have now bought a new item - actually for less than what some of his almost new items are going for...... [but still not what I won an auction at]
I took Slough Council to MCOL cos I wanted to see how it all worked. I am quite happy to do the same again and I do have the time to waste
Sean
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