mistake in ebay listing

[whyandhow]

What is the name of your state?
Arizona

Buyer and Seller are both in the same state, so the state should not matter. Item was listed on ebay and was listed as a fixed price item with a "buy it now" price of 1 cent (free shipping). The seller had intended to list this as a 7 day auction style listing with a start price of 1 cent (free shipping). The seller did not realize their mistake and in less than a hour someone purchased the item for the buy it now price of 1 cent. The item was originally listed about a month prior as a fixed price item with a "buy it now" price of over $200.00 (free shipping) and was not sold.
The buyer wants the seller to honor this sale for the item and the seller is claiming this to be a OBVIOUS mistake. The seller told the buyer he would like to relist the item as intended, auction style, with a starting price of 1 cent, but the buyer has refused this option. The buyer made a paypal payment of 1 cent and the seller refunded the payment.
Now the buyer is threatening to take legal action if necessary, stating this as a legal binding contract. My question is does the buyer have a case in forcing the seller to sell the item to them for 1 cent? Can the buyer take legal action against the seller in this case?

veronica1228---sorry since the buyer and seller were in the same state, did not think that was needed---put the state in, thank you

 

[Veronica1228]

What is the name of your state?

Buyer and Seller are both in the same state, so the state should not matter.

The state does matter because they have different statutes that may pertain to your issue.

Why should anyone help you if you can't follow the rules of this site?

 

[ablessin]

Mistake or not, e-bay gives sellers the chance to review all listings prior to clicking "submit listing"

you have to follow thru with the sale as is and learn from the mistake made.

Next time, be very careful in wording and double check - I made that same mistake - I went from BIN to auction - or so I thought........ fortunately my item was not at great value, so it wasn't much of a financial loss for me!!

 

[divgradcurl]

Can the buyer take legal action against the seller in this case?

Of course -- but the buyer would almost certainly lose. Mistakes in contracts, when the mistakes are "clerical" in nature and are serious mistakes, can make the contract unenforceable -- and that's especially the case when the other party had reason to know of the mistake, and took advantage of it.

Now, had the seller deliberately underpriced his item and then wasn't happy with the final sales price, that's just a bad decision, and not something that will get him out of the contract. Also, a relativelty minor mistake in pricing -- putting $450 instead of $550 -- especially when it is not immediately clear that the wrong price is a mistake -- would also not make a contract unenforceable.

But a major mistake in pricing -- especially when the buyer apparently knew what the real price should have been, or should have been able to determine that the price was obviously wrong -- is likely going to make the contract unenvorceable.

But sue if you want. Because this is a breach of contract, the most the seller could possibly be out is the lost "benefit of the bargain" -- $200 -- plus court costs -- and who knows, he might win, so he is better off NOT shipping and breaching the contract, especially since the contract would probably be found to be unenforceable anyway.