online sale gone bad

[Deltastorm26]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Colorado

So I have a problem with an online sale recently and needed to ask a question. So I have a collection of physical cardboard gaming cards that are worth quite a bit of money, I found an online store that purchases the cards at about 50% of their retail value and decided to sell to them. I live in Colorado and the Store I mailed them to was in North Carolina. I sent them a bunch of cards and they quoted me a price of $1,300. I packaged and mailed them to the store and about 2 weeks later they replied and said they were canceling the transaction. They claimed that a handful of the cards were not authentic and that they were going to keep the cards that they thought were fake and mail me back the rest. I got the package today and indeed about $500 in cards are missing from the package. here is the reason they gave:


Due to our contract with WOTC, we will be reporting the sale of counterfit cards to them. In addition, our store policy is to prosecute all crimes to the fullest extent allowed by law, including theft by selling counterfits. All cards that we are unable to authenticate will be held and all other cards from buylists # 1738003 and # 1789673 will be returned to you.

Am I not understanding the law here because 1. The cards I sent in were not fake cards and 2. even if they were how can a company just decide to violate a sale agreement and keep the cards without returning the merchandise "in full"? It's that just theft?

 

[justalayman]

who is WOTC?



Unless you entered into a contract with the buyer at the time of the sale that allowed them to take such action, they cannot just keep the cards. They could make a report to the police who could keep the cards if they chose to investigate the matter as a crime but the buyer could not keep them.

so, was there anything in any contract you entered into with them at the time of the sale that would allow them to retain suspected counterfeit cards?

 

[Deltastorm26]

response

WOTC (Wizards of the Coast) is the company that makes the card game, I assume they have some contract set up with them to sell WOTC merchandise but I don't see what that has to do with them keeping my property.

No there is nothing in their selling details that I can find that allows them to be able to do this.

 

[Deltastorm26]

site

here's a link to their site: www . capefeargames . com

 

[justalayman]

No there is nothing in their selling details that I can find that allows them to be able to do this.

they weren't selling the cards so their sales agreement would not be applicable.


from what you have stated they have no legal right to retain the cards. If it was me I would contact them and tell them that they either return the remainder of the cards or I would be calling their local police to report the theft.

 

[Deltastorm26]

response

will do, thank you.

 

[Zigner]

If the cards are in fact counterfeit, then don't plan on getting them back.

 

[single317dad]

Was there any intermediary in this transaction? Many transaction/payment facilitators such as eBay and Paypal address alleged counterfeit items in their user agreements.

 

[justalayman]

Was there any intermediary in this transaction? Many transaction/payment facilitators such as eBay and Paypal address alleged counterfeit items in their user agreements.

Part of the problem, even if those entities were involved was the fact the buyer said; they cannot verify their authenticity.

That in itself does not mean the cards are counterfeit. It may simply be the buyer is not capable of verifying the authenticity. That would mean regardless of eBay or PayPal involvement the buyer has no right to unilaterally retain suspect cards.

Even if they could refuse to retain the cards they still cannot simply keep them. They would have to be turned over to the police or destroy them but that is very risky and could end up with them on the losing end of a lawsuit

 

[single317dad]

Part of the problem, even if those entities were involved was the fact the buyer said; they cannot verify their authenticity.

That in itself does not mean the cards are counterfeit. It may simply be the buyer is not capable of verifying the authenticity. That would mean regardless of eBay or PayPal involvement the buyer has no right to unilaterally retain suspect cards.

Even if they could refuse to retain the cards they still cannot simply keep them. They would have to be turned over to the police or destroy them but that is very risky and could end up with them on the losing end of a lawsuit

Right, but the policies of the companies I mentioned (just as examples) require that the buyer contact the service and let them act as mediator to resolve the dispute over the counterfeit item(s). The buyer and seller both agreed to those terms when using that service, assuming they used one (and one can assume they used some sort of payment service to facilitate a transaction across such a distance). That certainly does not grant any right to the buyer to hold the items indefinitely, but they may be responsible to hold them temporarily.

That, of course, is not what the buyer said they are doing; buyer's statement (as related here) is that they intend to hold the cards for an entirely different reason. My intention was to offer the OP a possible defense in a chargeback situation, which this appears to be. If the buyer doesn't follow the payment provider's procedure for counterfeit items, then their chargeback should be denied.

That said, it's not entirely clear that the OP was ever paid. In that case, the above advice is moot.