When all is said and done, focussing purely on statute in relation to contract law is ignoring the bigger picture. Gradually contract law is becoming codified but much of contract law is still based in the common law.
I've been reluctant to mention the following for fear of upsetting a number of regulars (one in particular!) who roll their eyes at its very mention. Nevertheless if someone keeps asking me what 2+2 is, I'm not going to answer 5 to throw in a bit of variety.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2007/844.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=...
In Smythe, the NSWSC ruled on 2 particularly relevant issues that had largely been untested in Australian courts at the time.
1. That eBay is not an auctioneer (as mentioned previously)
2. That a sale on eBay constitutes a valid contract
This was a C2C sale and the Court found in favour of the plaintiff. The Judgement was based almost entirely on the common law with the only legislation cited (with any relevance to the case) was, you guessed it, the Sales of Goods Act.....
Irrespective of the method of sale, auction or otherwise and whether the sale involved a corporation/business/trader/private individual, the common law of contract applies to ALL sales within Australia.
If the contract is not performed (this includes non delivery and misrepresentation), the aim of the arbiter, which is usually a Tribunal or Court, is to restore the wronged party to the same position that they would have been in had the contract been performed as originally agreed. The aim of the ACL and other applicable legislation is to simply codify certain elements of the common law of contract, it is by no means exhaustive and does not claim to be.
Non delivery is pretty clear cut but there are differing levels of misrepresentation which each have specified remedies available to the aggrieved, rescission being one that is common to all levels of misrepresentation.
I won't attempt to give a lecture on contract law (not my area of expertise anyway!) but the following is not in dispute by virtue of the Smythe judgement (and others not cited here).
1. eBay is not an auctioneer.
2. A sale on eBay constitutes a valid contract.
3. A sale between private parties at auction gives rise to potential remedies should the contract not be performed satisfactorily (at common law).
4. The Sales of Goods Act applies to C2C transactions, including those on eBay.
I'm like a dog with a bone when it comes to legal debate but to continue from here would just be repeating myself so I must respectfully bail out. Either yourself or anyone reading this thread can come to their own conclusions. Oh and as for the 2 Acts to which you linked, I'm aware of their existence, was just pointing out that the Crimes Act (Cth) does indeed exist 😉 Best of luck, I enjoyed the sparring.
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