posted on January 31, 2004 09:56:40 AM new
Thomas Vartanian, a Washington, D.C., attorney and former chair of the American Bar Association's Cyber Law Section, said such reluctance is understandable given that many legal and jurisdictional issues surrounding e-commerce remain undefined.
“When you buy online, you don’t normally execute a sales contract to buy the goods that ... might determine some of the issues,” he said. “And in terms of Internet jurisdiction, there is still an enormous lack of clarity in terms of whose laws apply.”
posted on January 31, 2004 10:24:26 AM new
And as long as eBay operates on the basis of Napoleonic law many of the legal aspects will be contrary to the Jurisprudence of English law and contractual comittments.
posted on January 31, 2004 10:31:03 AM new
The only problem is that eBay's "Napoleonic law" lacks any authority in a court, as many litigants are finding out.
posted on January 31, 2004 01:23:53 PM new
Basically it's the honor system, isn't it. To me, making a bid is the same as giving my word on something. In all the years I've been selling on eBay, only 2 bidders have lacked the honor to follow through on their committment to pay for their items.
******
Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there --Clare Booth Luce
posted on January 31, 2004 01:34:54 PM new
Contracts are useless when everything goes as expected, it's when things don't go as expected that a contract becomes useful.
posted on January 31, 2004 07:30:23 PM new
Binding contract?,,,,,,hahahahaahah,,,,,,,,hahahaahaha,,hahahahahahaah,,,,,,,hahahaahaahah,,,,,
If it held any water there would be NO NPB's....It's just a scare tactic that MIGHT work until they've been around then,,,,,it means Nothing! Because it MEANS nothing. Worthless words that have NO legal power.
Your bid is a legally binding contract,,,,,,hahahahaha,,,,,,,hahahahaha,,,hhahahaa,,,,,,
MY Powersellers logo.
Annnnnnd,,,,,,The beat goes on...yeah the beat goes on,,,,,
posted on January 31, 2004 09:26:57 PM new
If it did have legal POWER and the SELLER was not paid,,,,,Directly,,,,,, THEN e bay would step in and Take the payment from the bidders Credit card,,,,,and e bay would then NARU them. That's what I,,,,,,,,call A LEGALLY enforced CONTRACT. OtherWISE,,,,,,it's a JOKE! Meaningless.
MY Powersellers logo.
Annnnnnd,,,,,,The beat goes on...yeah the beat goes on,,,,,
posted on January 31, 2004 09:36:54 PM new
Sorry to say it but that IS the bottom line,,,,,,E bay Corporation takes No REAL stance on enforcing their OWN threats! "A legally binding contract". it means Squat! and they Know it.
MY Powersellers logo.
Annnnnnd,,,,,,The beat goes on...yeah the beat goes on,,,,,
posted on February 1, 2004 07:15:47 AM new
when the buyer gets scammed big time,then it is time to take a look at the binding contract.
it is not really for the seller,it is for buyer who bot high ticket items,such as 18th century ornate wedding bed.
-sig file -------the lobster in the boiling pot of water who tries to prevent the others from climbing out.
posted on February 1, 2004 08:50:56 AM new
Binding contract? Ebay? No such thing! This is just a B.S. line from feebay. To have a contract never mind a binding one you would have to have a means to enforce it.
When it comes to the world wide web the laws are still 50 years behind the times. I can not see where this will change any time soon.
posted on February 1, 2004 04:16:52 PM new
The only way Ebay could possibly enforce a "binding contract" is to make the bid and payment a one sweep effort.
Ebay had added the feature in Buy It Now with immediate payment option (is this still available and does it cost money?). This is great, but it doesn't go far enough.
Ebay looses lots of money (not as much as the sellers) when a bidder doesn't pull through. Ebay needs to integrate with the Paypal system, so that everyone who registers through Ebay is hooked up to a Paypal account. If Ebay and Paypal can find a way to enforce their terms for sellers, there shouldn't be a problem enforcing this one. Once you place a bid and the auction ends, Ebay should have no problem processing that payment immediately through Paypal. All it takes is to require the Ebayer to agree to the processing prior to placing a bid (Ebay can simply run the charge against their card as a pending charge, and if they win it will be finalized). Yes, this doesn't help people who don't accept paypal, but this is the only way Ebay could ever enforce payment through a binding contract. They have the means to do it, they just haven't. I guarantee you that if they did, you'll see our fees jump as well. Ironically, it would not only benefit us for sales, but Ebay wouldn't have problems having to refund people fees nearly as much. The amount of FVF processed would drop significantly.
posted on February 1, 2004 08:59:57 PM new
I think the only way to enforce a contract is in a court of law. To expect eBay to enforce them would be the same as to expect a fleamarked to enforce the verbal contract between each individual buyer and seller. And yes, I know there is a difference between oral and written contracts,and fleamarkets and eBay.
I guess you could sign an agreement before signing up for eBay to allow them to be the arbitrator in any and all eBay transactions, but anyone familiar with arbitration knows that would be a foolish move.
Does anyone know the results of any completed auctions being taken through the court system seeking compliance? If not what is the debate about?
posted on February 2, 2004 12:06:01 AM new
Here's the url for instant purchase info --- I see no mention of an extra fee to the seller but there could be one.
posted on February 2, 2004 06:07:41 AM new
Ebay stood behind me and I received my $200 back through them. This took about 5 months but they were very good at answering my questions, ect. Just make sure you keep all your correspondence as proof from the guilty party! Most people doing business are very honest--just a few bad eggs!
posted on February 2, 2004 06:26:20 AM new
I don't foresee EBAY making everything a Paypal only transaction. Even though in an ideal world, that would be great. But what about sellers who use their own merchant accounts, would they be left out? And there are too many bidders who just don't want to be hooked up online and prefer money order or checks. The would be spiteing the buyers and SELLERs if they did that.
posted on February 2, 2004 07:33:50 AM new
getalife,
last year there is this ebay furniture dealer who sold an armoire to someone on ebay and the case ended up in court and the seller lost.
the seller came to this forum and many encouraged her to keep waging legal battle,the thread was miles long.
may be kiara can search and find the thread for you to read.
-sig file -------the lobster in the boiling pot of water who tries to prevent the others from climbing out.
posted on February 2, 2004 01:53:17 PM new
stopwhining, I read much of that thread but I wasn't exactly sure of the outcome. I remember there were several hundred entries some of them quite long. A lot of it had to do with the moving company and whether or not people were racists.
My point is however, that contracts are enforcable in a court of law, which is where it sounds like the above case was decided, though one party was unhappy with the results. That is generally what happens when things end up in court(one party ends up unhappy with the result). And it is usually expensive. You can of course agree to arbitration. My experience with that is that no one wins.
,,,,,,,hahahahaha