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eBay: seller backed out

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Yanks12025

Junior Member
Saw a item Saturday listed as a buy it now. I bought the item and paid right away. I also messaged the seller and asked if they had other items( he wrote back and said he had this one and two other listed). I wrote back and said thanks and look forward to adding the item to my collection.

I wake up Sunday morning and he refunded me my money and said its no longer for sale. I message him to find out what's going on. And he said he had already made a verbal agreement with someone before i bought it.

I bought the item for $150. Buts it's worth around $2,000 to $3,000.

Can I bring this seller to small claims court? He lives in Ohio and I'm in Ma.

Thanks
 


TheGeekess

Keeper of the Kraken
Saw a item Saturday listed as a buy it now. I bought the item and paid right away. I also messaged the seller and asked if they had other items( he wrote back and said he had this one and two other listed). I wrote back and said thanks and look forward to adding the item to my collection.

I wake up Sunday morning and he refunded me my money and said its no longer for sale. I message him to find out what's going on. And he said he had already made a verbal agreement with someone before i bought it.

I bought the item for $150. Buts it's worth around $2,000 to $3,000.

Can I bring this seller to small claims court? He lives in Ohio and I'm in Ma.

Thanks
Your money was refunded; you have no damages. :cool:
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Your money was refunded; you have no damages. :cool:
Theoretically, the damages are the difference between what he contracted to pay and what he ends up actually paying for the same item elsewhere. I guess the question is whether this is a binding contract in first place. Also, the OP will need to sue where the seller is, so there's the non-recoverable costs for that too.
 

Yanks12025

Junior Member
The point is can I sue him for breaching our contract. He listed a item on eBay. I bought said item at his price and paid right away. So I held up my part of the contract and then he backed out.

I'm guessing someone after I bought it, informed him of what the value is.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
The point is can I sue him for breaching our contract. He listed a item on eBay. I bought said item at his price and paid right away. So I held up my part of the contract and then he backed out.

I'm guessing someone after I bought it, informed him of what the value is.
At this point, I believe that the value is $150 (because that's what was offered for it on the open market.)
 

FlyingRon

Senior Member
Brock, you are an experienced enough ebayer to know you've not got a chance. You can sue him in your state, but even if you were to win, it would be pretty impossible to collect. You can try suing him in his state, but that's probably going to be more than it's worth.
 

single317dad

Senior Member
Saw a item Saturday listed as a buy it now. I bought the item and paid right away. I also messaged the seller and asked if they had other items( he wrote back and said he had this one and two other listed). I wrote back and said thanks and look forward to adding the item to my collection.

I wake up Sunday morning and he refunded me my money and said its no longer for sale. I message him to find out what's going on. And he said he had already made a verbal agreement with someone before i bought it.

I bought the item for $150. Buts it's worth around $2,000 to $3,000.

Can I bring this seller to small claims court? He lives in Ohio and I'm in Ma.

Thanks
If you recover anything, please feel free to also sue the guy who I paid $2,400 to for 3 tickets to the 2004 ALCS game 7 which he then refunded and sold to someone else while I was on my way from Providence to NYC. Sellers like this really burn me up, and they give the rest of us a bad name, but your options for recourse are quite limited.
 

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