I recentley sold a website on ebay (a new website, that was listed as new and didn't claim to have any stats, earnings etc). The bidder made a "best offer" which I accepted. I then received an e-mail saying that they did not intend to pay as my listing was misleading with regards to stats and traffic - there were none listed! In the q&a section, it stated that it was new and the listing said that the website was new. I had an e-mail this week, offering less than half the amount from the bidder, I refused and said I wanted the full amount. The buyer then agreed, but has since sent two e-mails, listing Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 Claiming that "any contract has a 7 day cooling off period from receipt of goods / and as i have not received the goods and you have not done any extra work at my request then i can cancel / withdraw my bid at any time as it is my right to do so" I'm pretty sure he is misguided here, as the payment has not been sent, so no "goods" have been recieved. Has anybody ever come across a similar issue? I'm looking for any advice....
Doesn't eBay have its own system for dealing with deadbeat bidders? I think you can file a dispute claim with them or something like that. Legally, the buyer has to pay up. The person's bid was a legally binding contract. If the buyer won't cough up, you should file a dispute with eBay. Different states and countries have so called "cooling off" periods for contracts. I do not know what they apply to, but they DO NOT apply to your auction. Read this: http://couponing.about.com/od/smorgasbord/a/coolingoff.htm Only goods for personal, family, or household use qualify for the "cooling off" period. A website bought to earn money doesn't fall under any of those, unless it's a website for the buyer's pet dog. Also read this guide meant for Ebayers who want to retract their bid. No where does it mention anything about "cooling off".
After 7 days, file an Unpaid Item Dispute through ebay. If the buyer gets three of these they are NARUed (banned). And yeah, his claim is complete crap. He has to pay before that actually comes into effect.
Yes they do and that is about the only recourse this seller has. Do that and if the buyer doesn't pay, just move on and relist the item. It should be free to do so if he moves quickly.
If you are both in the UK then the CPR may apply but to my knowledge it does not include B2B sales - I would recommend contacting your local trading standards office or consumer direct as they are both set up to give advice to both businesses and consumers and should be able to confirm if this transaction is covered by it or not.