Selling an item without ownership on ebay

[ItzMe]

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

I am currently involved in a discussion on another forum regarding a particular seller on ebay. We are debating the legality of his methods, and I was wondering if I could find any definite answers here.

The seller in question specializes in selling musical instruments. As I understand it, what he does is comb craigslist for used instruments for sale from private sellers. When he finds an item he thinks will be in demand, he takes the pictures and information from that ad and uses them to place a "buy it now" listing on ebay for the item at a much higher price, without the knowledge of the current owner or potential buyers. If someone purchases the item from him, he then buys the item from the original seller, and flips it to the new buyer he found, making a profit on the price difference. If he is unable to obtain the item after making the sale, he refunds the buyer's money. He covers this possibility by stating in his ads "I reserve the right to end this listing without prior notice when sold locally!" Through this method, he can post many ads at once (currently 180) without any cash outlay for inventory.

There are some people claiming he is doing nothing illegal, but I can't believe this is true. Does anyone know for sure?

Thanks.

 

[JustAPal00]

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

I am currently involved in a discussion on another forum regarding a particular seller on ebay. We are debating the legality of his methods, and I was wondering if I could find any definite answers here.

The seller in question specializes in selling musical instruments. As I understand it, what he does is comb craigslist for used instruments for sale from private sellers. When he finds an item he thinks will be in demand, he takes the pictures and information from that ad and uses them to place a "buy it now" listing on ebay for the item at a much higher price, without the knowledge of the current owner or potential buyers. If someone purchases the item from him, he then buys the item from the original seller, and flips it to the new buyer he found, making a profit on the price difference. If he is unable to obtain the item after making the sale, he refunds the buyer's money. He covers this possibility by stating in his ads "I reserve the right to end this listing without prior notice when sold locally!" Through this method, he can post many ads at once (currently 180) without any cash outlay for inventory.

There are some people claiming he is doing nothing illegal, but I can't believe this is true. Does anyone know for sure?

Thanks.

There is nothing illegal about what he is doing. However if enough people repoort him as a non performing seller to eBay, he will lose his ability to sell there. His disclaimer isn't worth the paper it's written on!

 

[JETX]

There are some people claiming he is doing nothing illegal, but I can't believe this is true. Does anyone know for sure?

Yep... perfectly legal. Done all the time.... called 'selling short' (in finance world).

In finance, short selling or "shorting" is the practice of selling a financial instrument that the seller does not own at the time of the sale. Short selling is done with the intent of later purchasing the financial instrument at a lower price. Short-sellers attempt to profit from an expected decline in the price of a financial instrument.

 

[Country Living]

Bumping to get spam off the main page. I'll come back later and delete this.

 

[Zigner]

Legal? Yes
Against eBay's polices? Yes

 

[ItzMe]

Looks like the consensus here is his methods are legal.

In the discussion, the point was brought up that he may be violating copyright law by using people's photos without permission. Of course, this kind of thing is rampant on ebay, and on the internet in general.

I made the point that ebay considers a sale to be a contract between buyer and seller, and that every time he can't obtain an item, he breaks his contractual obligation to the seller.

I also brought up the issue of misrepresentation as defined: "A false statement of fact made by one party to another party, which has the effect of inducing that party into the contract." The false statement being that he possesses the item and is able to deliver it to the buyer.

Thanks to all for your input.