Purchase of caravan

[jaksensmummy]

I bid on a caravan and won. I rung the seller immediately to organise that I would be there to pick up item in a fortnight. There were no terms of the sale on eBay. The seller demanded a deposit to secure my purchase and I paid $500. In the description the caravan is REGISTERED UNTIL MARCH. I took my husband and father to view the caravan as we live just over an hour away. My husband and father took a look under the van and there is significant structural damage that is not mentioned in the description. The chassis is completely bent. In fact, from an engineer's point of view the whole structure would need to be rebuilt.

If I were to drive the van out of the driveway the police would put it off the road simply because it is unroadworthy. Therefore the caravan is not technically registered.

I had to ring the seller and tell him that I cannot purchase the van simply because of the unlisted damaged and the costs associated with restoring the van which was far more significant than described. The seller was incredibly rude and refuses to refund my deposit simply saying that he wrote "bidding is buying" on the bottom of his description. It's strange that he didn't respect that notion when I rang him to organise the logistics of picking up the van. Bidding obviously wasnt buying because he required money (and a substantial deposit I would say) to secure my purchase.

Now I am forced to take civil action in order to get my "deposit back" because he requested bank deposit. 😞

As a mother with a young family and a hearing impaired daughter on the Autism spectrum, we didn't have a lot of money to spend and the description was deceitful. I feel very flat!

[thecatspjs]

OP I would be ringing ebay and seeing what their position is on an ebay seller demanding a deposit via unsafe payment method to secure goods purchased.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@thecatspjs wrote:

OP I would be ringing ebay and seeing what their position is on an ebay seller demanding a deposit via unsafe payment method to secure goods purchased.

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I agree, it would be interesting to know, but apart from that, what would be the point? (because I'm sure that if you just wanted to know for your own interest, you would ring yourself)

I'm sure that eBay will say it was naughty if he damanded it and refused the buyer's request to use Paypal, but breaching their policy (which I can't see how he has) does not negate the Law of Contract.

A contract was formed for the sale of the caravan. A contract which included safe payment options. The contract did not include an option to take 14 days to pay. Every listing comes with an implied term that a buyer has only 8 days in which to make payment. The fact that there was no express term stating differently or even the same, is irrelevant.

Regardless, tthe OP did not have to say yes to the request for deposit or the payment method, Seller only requested bank deposit, the buyer could have said no altogether or insisted on using PayPal.

Either way, the seller did not have to agree to allow payment to take place longer than 8 days, he required an additional term to be added to the contract which requires consideration additional to that already agreed upon.

They could have refused and either reconciled through a mutual cancellation or let the seller open and close an UID if they did not want to collect the van in 8 days.

without that deposit, which the buyer agreed to make, the seller was within his rights to have the contract terminated in 8 days, 6 days before the buyer was prepared to pay and take possession.

[lyndal1838]

What have unsafe payment methods got to do with anything.....paypal does not cover pickup items under any circumstances and there is no way that there could be any arguement that a caravan could be posted.

Also, paypal does not cover part payments, which is what the deposit was.

[thecatspjs]

It is another angle to the transaction.

The fat lady has not sung yet regarding this transaction.  There is still some hope that a cancellation can be negotiated - or a long shot ...  potentially forced by ebay, if hard evidence can be provided to them of sellers demanded a non-safe payment bank deposit of $500 that was not included in the listing details - for a buyer to secure their already purchased goods.  

The seller can still also open an unpaid dispute and if the OP lets that run its course, the contract will be cancelled through the ebay process, making it a tad easier to recoup funds through a potential civil action to regain their deposit. .

Based on the information outlined in the OP, and the information provided in the sellers description, the goods seem to me to be not as described - so there are grounds for the OP not to part with anymore cash and keep negotiating or putting pressure on the seller to return their funds. 

I think it is advisable to explore every avenue for potential resolution, but thats JMO.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@jaksensmummy wrote:
Anyway, thank you for the replies.

Ill cut my losses and move on.

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jakes, I have a list of things that may help if you choose to take legal action to terminate the contract, but I have no idea if they will help with the recovery of your deposit or release you from your overall obligation to pay for and take possession of the van.

But if you want some things to consider that are potentially in your favour, just sing out and I'm happy to put them up here.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@thecatspjs wrote:

OP I would be ringing ebay and seeing what their position is on an ebay seller demanding a deposit via unsafe payment method to secure goods purchased.

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cats, the deposit was not to secure the goods. 

The buyer had already secured their purchase by winning the auction.

a sum of money (additional consideration is necessary in order to add additional terms to a contract) voluntarily exchanged hands in order to extend the payment period (i.e. mutually agree to change the terms)  of the contract.

All the buyer had to do to secure their purchase (after gaining legal ownership and the obligation to pay and take possession) was to pay by whatever method agreed upon in the contract, within 8 days and take possession.

[thecatspjs]

OP - The seller demanded a deposit to secure my purchase and I paid $500.

As far as I can see the OP has only acted with goodwill, notwithstanding some poor buying decision making.

I still think there is room for negotiation before going any legal road ...

[*crikey*mate*]

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@thecatspjs wrote:

The caravan was purchased on 28 October - so what additional terms are you talking about ?

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to take longer than 8 days to pay.

The buyer has said that they couldn't do this for 2 weeks (14 days) from date of purchase, so an additional term allowing for 6 more days for payment have been negotiated and mutually agreed upon to be added to the contract as it stood on October 28.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@thecatspjs wrote:

OP - The seller demanded a deposit to secure my purchase and I paid $500.

The caravan was only purchased on 28 October - so what additional terms are you talking about ?

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Now I am forced to take civil action in order to get my "deposit back" because he requested bank deposit.

Cats, the buyer asked to changed the terms of the cntract after it was formed.

The seller could have said no, and asked for a mutual cancellation or done the UID process.

However, the seller also can, and did, agreed to change the terms of the contract, and his terms to do this were the payment of some money (consideration an essential element, without which would not have caused the term to come into effect).

The buyer did not have to agree to this. They could have declined the term completely and kept the original contract, or they could have offered some other form of consideration, but the seller was free to reject that.

The seller stated his terms, it doesn't appear that the buyer disagreed with them (or she would not have done the deposit or attemted to negotiate something different), and the deposit of $500 into his bank account does suggest that she did agree to his terms.

so, as mutual agreement was reached, an additional term for an additional 6 days to pay and take posssession of the van was legally added to the contract.

[thecatspjs]

Lol - clearly some know more about the details of who said what, and did what, than the OP does.

Giving into a demand is not always viewed as mutally agreeable contract terms BTW. 

Lucky the law is not so black and white.

PS - you are quoting a post that I was in the midst of editing as it was incorrect - I think thats a bit unfair, so can you please stop quoting it, my post was incorrect and incomplete and I changed my post accordingly. Thank you.