thefigrhed
New Member
i would like to know that if a person lists an item for sale on an online auction and then does not accept the money for the transaction as well as deciding not to sell the item, if that is considered ILLEGAL?
-
Welcome to our legal community! Click here or the create new topic button to ask a question and receive answers and comments from our friendly and helpful legal community.
Articles that answer frequent legal questions are in our Law Guide. Important legal news is reported in The Law JournalYou can find a lawyer near you in the Lawyer Directory. If you know that you need to hire an attorney, you can submit a case review from a lawyer.
not completing a transaction on an online auction
- Thread Starter thefigrhed
- Start date
- Status
You need to look at the rules of the auction to determine whether you can refuse a bid and recall the item prior to the end of the auction, or even at the end of the auction. We'll look at e-bay's User Agreement, section 4, as an example. All users of e-bay agree to these terms and conditions.
Bidding and Buying.
You are obligated to complete the transaction with the seller if you purchase an item through one of our fixed price formats or are the highest bidder as described below. If you are the highest bidder at the end of an auction (meeting the applicable minimum bid or reserve requirements) and your bid is accepted by the seller, you are obligated to complete the transaction with the seller, unless the item is listed in a category under the Non-Binding Bid Policy (at http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-nbb.html) or the transaction is prohibited by law or by this Agreement.
It seems that the answer is clear -- unless the bid is placed in a non-binding bid category, where it is clear that a seller has the right to retract the offer to sell to the highest bidder at any time, the seller is obligated to sell. For an agreement you need an offer, an acceptance and consideration paid/to be paid. In the typical instance, the seller makes an offer to sell to the highest bidder. If the auction finishes, the highest bidder has accepted the offer for the consideration bid and the agreement has been consummated. By the same token, the buyer cannot back out of the agreement since the buyer accepted the offer. It wouldn't be fair if this worked one way, would it?
In the situation of the retractable bid, the seller may state that the auction is an offer to sell to the highest bidder with the right of retraction at any time before accepting payment. Some might view this as an offer not being made by the seller but by the highest bidder. The high bidder is the offeror and the seller has the right to accept the offer by the high bidder.
What could potential liabilities be? The buyer and e-bay could sue you for any damages that occurred and you may very well be banned from usage of the system. You may also be liable for attorneys fees.
That's just my take on the agreement FWIW.
Bidding and Buying.
You are obligated to complete the transaction with the seller if you purchase an item through one of our fixed price formats or are the highest bidder as described below. If you are the highest bidder at the end of an auction (meeting the applicable minimum bid or reserve requirements) and your bid is accepted by the seller, you are obligated to complete the transaction with the seller, unless the item is listed in a category under the Non-Binding Bid Policy (at http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-nbb.html) or the transaction is prohibited by law or by this Agreement.
It seems that the answer is clear -- unless the bid is placed in a non-binding bid category, where it is clear that a seller has the right to retract the offer to sell to the highest bidder at any time, the seller is obligated to sell. For an agreement you need an offer, an acceptance and consideration paid/to be paid. In the typical instance, the seller makes an offer to sell to the highest bidder. If the auction finishes, the highest bidder has accepted the offer for the consideration bid and the agreement has been consummated. By the same token, the buyer cannot back out of the agreement since the buyer accepted the offer. It wouldn't be fair if this worked one way, would it?
In the situation of the retractable bid, the seller may state that the auction is an offer to sell to the highest bidder with the right of retraction at any time before accepting payment. Some might view this as an offer not being made by the seller but by the highest bidder. The high bidder is the offeror and the seller has the right to accept the offer by the high bidder.
What could potential liabilities be? The buyer and e-bay could sue you for any damages that occurred and you may very well be banned from usage of the system. You may also be liable for attorneys fees.
That's just my take on the agreement FWIW.
thefigrhed
New Member
thank you for the info. it seems as though if one refuses the winning bid, one is NOT obligated to sell!
No problem and sounds good! Are you talking about selling on e-bay? I'm not sure what "bid is accepted" means here and I'm assuming that "accepted" is defined as within the reserve level that has been set by the seller. See section 5.2 below, which I should have included in the original post.
In general, the rules for online auctions would apply to offline ("with reserve" and "without reserve" rules) and because bidding is taking place on the Internet, it doesn't mean that the law or basic transaction is any different. I'd be surprised if auctions allowed you to refuse the high bid but perhaps it is the case!
Here is what section 5.2 states, which seems to be quite clear about what "acceptance" means if section 4 was not:
5.2 Binding Bids. Except for items listed in a category under the Non-binding Bid Policy, if you receive at least one bid at or above your stated minimum price (or in the case of reserve auctions, at or above the reserve price), you are obligated to complete the transaction with the highest bidder upon the auction's completion, unless there is an exceptional circumstance, such as: (a) the buyer fails to meet the terms of your listing (such as payment method), or (b) you cannot authenticate the buyer's identity.
- Status
Share this page
