Auction Law - eBay Make an Offer

[feelBetrayed]

My jurisdiction is: New York

Hello Forum,

I made an offer on a vehicle, first offer got declined, the second offer was 3 hours before the end of the auction. My second offer didn t got declined but either accepted, ...did i won the auction to the end as the last and highest bidder (total of four offers, and two of them are been from me)?

What is the legal law status? (the thing is that i really wanted the car, because i need it for my job and the whole thing is to find out IF the seller can revoke his item on the end of the auction, or is he reliable via law and MUST sell me the car)?

i have here a chat protocoll with some "ebay live chat person", which still don t answered my question, because they don t wont have some trouble,

CHAT PROTOCOLL:

Hi Rhea, ....i made an offer on a bus, and it was the highest offer however i didnt received an email confirmation that i won the auction
10:29:05 PM Rhea F.
I'll be more than happy to check this up for you. May I ask for the item number please?
10:29:14 PM neverbad
(I gave her the item number)
10:31:00 PM neverbad
in "my ebay" shows me that i won 0 auctions, but the seller didnt declined my second offer.
10:34:20 PM Rhea F.
Is this regarding the car Bus ?
10:34:25 PM neverbad
yes
10:38:06 PM Rhea F.
As I have checked on this, it shows that the vehicle was not sold.
10:39:17 PM neverbad
how can this be, when i didnt got declined? ....is this legal? What are the consequences?
10:41:57 PM Rhea F.
I understand that the seller was not able to decline it. However, the offer has expired when the listing ended and the seller was not able to decline or accept it.
10:43:15 PM neverbad
I don t understand, is this legal? How will a
10:44:34 PM Rhea F.
Yes it is legal, when you send an offer and the seller was not able to take actions within the alloted time, the offer will automatically expire.
10:45:04 PM neverbad
i gave the
10:45:46 PM neverbad
i gave the seller 3 hours time to answer me, ...isnt he interested on selling his bus and follow his own auction?
10:46:27 PM Rhea F.
That would be up to the seller, we are not sure why he was not able to take action for the offer.
10:49:08 PM neverbad
...how is it that a seller is running an auction on ebay, and find it impossible to answer an offer, its like a game!!!
10:49:27 PM neverbad
....is there somebody i can speak with reguarding this?
10:50:48 PM Rhea F.
The best thing to do is to send a note to this seller. On our end we do not have the reason why this seller is not able to take actions, it could be a valid or invalid reason.
10:51:48 PM neverbad
3 hours is enough time for someone to reply to an offer, i found this to be unexceptable
10:54:33 PM Rhea F.
I do get your point, however it is also possible that he or she may experience problems with transactions on occasion due to emergencies, illnesses, or computer issues.
10:55:30 PM Rhea F.
But if you would like this to be investigated by our Trust and Safety team, I would personally report this for you.
10:55:58 PM Rhea F.
But this team will not disclose the results for privacy .
11:02:35 PM neverbad
YES iin all fairness to me I will like for it to be investigated, because i think ebay is a competent online business for buyers and sellers and i belive at times people abuse it! (...what does it mean the team will not discloce the result for privacy)???
11:04:26 PM Rhea F.
Our trust and safety team will not let the members know the results of their investigation for seller's account and the actions that they may take.
11:06:17 PM neverbad
I was really locking forward to own this vehicle to start my own business!
11:09:36 PM Rhea F.
I am sorry to hear that. The seller might be relist the ad, when they relist it you will show a notification that the item has been relisted.
11:10:10 PM Rhea F.
Or you can search for other vehicle on the site that are for sale by dealers.
11:10:44 PM neverbad
Guess what, ...he is a dealer!!!
11:12:17 PM Rhea F.
No, he is not a registered on eBay Motors. Dealers has a yellow circle beside their user ID.
11:12:18 PM neverbad
how can you not answer in more than 3 hours on an item what you want sell for, ....not a dollar, NO, we talk about 20.000 US Dollar, ...you would be on the page only to be sure to get what you want!!!
11:14:46 PM neverbad
...this seller hat a choice to decline me, but he didnt, ...end of story, ...and thats the person what got from ebay an award???
11:16:58 PM Rhea F.
I understand , I have already reported this issue to our Trust and Safety team, would there be anything else I may assist you?
11:21:35 PM neverbad
What are my rights as a consumer, and would it be the same if I would made an offer on an item and then decline to pay??? And how do I know that there is some action from the "Trust and safty team" when they dont let members know the result???
11:26:13 PM Rhea F.
For further complaints , you may report complaints to the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs by contacting them in writing at 400 R Street, Sacramento, CA 95814.
11:27:45 PM Rhea F.
Have a restful day ahead and thank you for contacting eBay Motors!
11:30:03 PM neverbad
I am very dissapointed and hopefully something can be done!



...hopefully somebody can help me here if i would have a solid case or not, because i really feel tricked

...thank you so much.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

What the ebay rep is saying is that something was put up online and, whatever the mechanism, it was subject to the seller accepting the bid. It wasn't a standard auction with no reserve, apparently. There are all types of auction and listing mechanisms with different options. Was this a special type of auction? Do you have the email receipts that would explain the listing type, etc.?

 

[feelBetrayed]

Auction Law, isn't the seller obligated to sell to me, ...need help

Hello Thelawprofesser,

...thank you for your answer.

That was the object
(can t post links so far, but this is the ItemNr. 120448969677 on ebay that you see)

No, it was not a special auction, it was a "make an offer" (you can make maximum 3 offers) or "buy it now" (for 29.900 $).

My 1. offer got declined right away. On my 2. offer (20.500 $) what I made 2 days later and 3 hours before the auctions end I didn t got a response at all! (the NEXT DAY after 12 hours the auction was finished, i got a response),

- QUOTE:
Hi, Thank you for your offer. We are in the process of finalizing a sale with a local customer at a higher price. If the deal falls through, I would appreciate having your phone number so we could discuss this bus or another that may be available shortly with you. QUOTE END -

In the 12 hours i assumed that I won the auction with my hightest and the last offer what I made), there been only 4 offers, and the last two ones been from me!!!

...what doesn t add up is the auction ended in the evening arround 9pm, and he wrote me the next day at 9am, ...when he had time to make a deal with somebody in this twelfe hours without informing me that he wouldnt sell me the car???

I am really mad and feel betrayed (for me AND my starting business, all what i needed was this bus). Somebody must put this seller in his place, (or ebay to aloud this business manners), because it cant be possible that you offer something to sell with absolutley no consequences! For me this wasnt or is a game, in compare to the seller.

Thank you so much for your help and sorry that i write so much, but i want that everybody understand the situation.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Now I understand. You seem to be mistaken and perhaps didn't understand how the eBay "Make an Offer" system works.

In this context, the "make an offer" means you can place several bids, all of which remain open until it is formally accepted. The seller does not have to take the highest bid. He/she might take a bid of a person who is located nearby at a lower dollar amount if they choose. Furthermore, no deal is final until the seller says "accepted" - the highest bid does not automatically win.

eBay's rules concerning make an offer

As long as the seller didn't formally accept any of your offers, the seller could negotiate with anyone. I can understand and sympathize with your disappointment. But the only issue I see here was your misunderstanding of how this eBay make an offer system works.

1. Enter the price you'd like to pay. You can enter any amount, but try to choose a price that has a good chance of being accepted by the seller.

2. If your offer is accepted, you'll be notified by email; you can also check My eBay for the status of your offer. Then pay for your item and you're done!

Thus, your offer remains open unless it is accepted. You do not have an automatically accepted offer just because you believe you are the highest bidder.

3. If your offer is accepted, you'll be notified by email; you can also check My eBay for the status of your offer. Then pay for your item and you're done!

This confirms the fact that you need to be notified of an acceptance for a deal to be complete. It does not revolve around highest bidder. Being the highest bidder only increases the likelihood of a seller accepting your bid.

 

[feelBetrayed]

Hello thelawprofessor,

...thank you sooo much for clearing the situation, because of you, I learned a lot, again, ...thank you for your time.

Gunter