I bid on a car on eBay with my max bid @ $9,300.10.

The car ended up 'selling' for $17,750. (the bid may have been fluffed, or the seller is the victim of at least 2 deadbeat bidders)

Seller offered me a 'second chance offer', and the email I received stated:

Good news! The following eBay item on which you placed a bid for US $9,300.10 on 20-Apr-06 14:56:52 EDT is now available for purchase:

Your price: US $9,300.10

Offer end day: 29-Apr-06 14:48:40 EDT

but the link to accept the offer took me to his ad, where he'd set a 'buy it now' for $17,750.

I accepted his offer per the terms of his email by notifying him of my acceptance via the ebay email system.

Long story short he's saying I must pay $17,750, nevermind what his offer email said. He's in Texas, so I'd like to PM with one or two people well versed in Texan consumer law to go over my options.

 

 

Sounds like a scam. What part of TX is the car at?

 

Houston. Well, Seabrook, which I understand is right next to/part of Houston.

 

oh snap! haha

 

If you can get an address maybe I could check it out for you. PM me the details if you want.

 

Contracts are 99% common law, so I guess the general rules apply in Texas as much as they do anywhere else.

Let's clear one thing up first: they'll never, in a million years, order the guy to give you the car for $9300. Best case scenario is that they'd make him pay you the difference between the "fair market value" of the car and $9300, which I have a feeling may not be what the car might actually sell for.

The analysis of this is pretty straightforward, I think. They'd ask, did you really have a deal. You could say that you have offer and acceptance; the guy would say that he made a mistake on a form or that the specific acceptance he asked for was not "I accept," but clicking "buy it now" on ebay.

If he knew you're captain rotorhead.ca or he's a car dealer (a "merchant" when dealing with cars) you might have a chance to do this one under the UCC in which case.. I'm not sure.

But what it's really going to boil down to is some judge is going to notice that you're asking for a windfall and he's going to find some reason to make sure you lose. Whatever they say about contract law that's how 99% of the cases are resolved.

 

I may be a texan.....but i don't know **** about laws. (jumps over MEX/US boarder fence)

 

Just out of curiousity, did you compare the names on the second chance email to the SN on the actual auction. $20 says they're different. It's a scam. How do I know? I bid on a ZX-11 last summer, and was outbid at the last minute. I got not 1, not 2, but THREE "second chance offers" on the bike with a link to the auction... All sent to me by DIFFERENT people, using the Ebay mail system. I emailed the actual person auctioning the bike, they said it was bought, picked up, and feedback left, and I was being scammed. When I asked for payment info just to **** with the people, one was in England "on business", another was in Colorado, and another was in San Diego. The bike was in New Hampshire.

 

Good to know.

 

you owe me $20

He's an auto broker, and I'm buying this vehicle with an associate who does own a dealership.

 

Texans? Legal experties?

*insert shotgun here*

 

total scam, same exact thing happened to me over some wheels I was trying to win, lost them at the last minute then mysteriously got an email saying "the other bidder didn't come through, I can sell you those wheels for $XXX.XX" etc. I never even responded, just made note of ebay seller name and went about my bidness.