🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Dec4.173924.29743@news2.cis.umn.edu>
naft0001@student.ec.umn.edu (Gene Naftulyev) writes:
 
>
>Subject: Don't sell to or buy from Gary Goldberg
>>Gary Goldberg recently advertised a couple of cards for sale here on the
>>net. I jumped on the 8Apple 8 24 card he had for $100 within an hour. He
>>said it worked fine and that he would ship it the next day. Except that
>>the next day I got the all too familar "Gosh Darn it, it broke before I
>>could send it to you" backout reply. I have experienced this a number of
>>times when purchasing on the net. People are so uncreative that they use
>>almost the exact same words...What this translates to, ofcourse, is "I
>>guess I sould have asked more, someone else offered more for it so I'll
>>back out"...
>>
>>Now granted the card could have broken right before I bought it, BUT to
>>test my theory I asked what chip was broken (he said 'chip' in his
>>message to me) and that I would still like it since I can probably repair
>>it. In his reply he said that a 'ram sim' had broken off and that he
>>feels alot wore than I do because he lost money on the deal.
>>
>>He then goes on to say that a verbal (message) deal on internet is not a
>>contract (true, but I try to be honest when I buy or sell anyway) and
>>that I am SOL.
>>
>>Be forewarned...he lacks internet morals.
>>
>>naft0001@student.tc.umn.edu
>
>As an update (this topic is very active in computers.mac) Garry has
>replied twice but both times has essentially sid SOL and that he can do
>anything he want's since no money had exchanged hands...
 
Legally, "Offer + Acceptance = Contract".  If a person offers a product
for $X, and someone responds with an acceptance at that price, then a
contract for sale has been established.  The offer and acceptance can
be electronic, paper or verbal.  Someone who reneged on such a contract
could probably be sued for specific performance, that is, he could be
forced to deliver the advertised product at the agreed price.
 
That said, the legalities are largely irrelevant.  There is a maxim "a
verbal contract is not worth the paper it's printed on".  Unless the
seller is very close to you, the expense and hassle of dragging him
into court is not worth it.  Even if he is close to you, the legal
costs would eat up your savings.
 
The point of all this rambling is that the seller is legally (and
morally IMO) obliged to sell, even if he priced the item too low.  On
the other hand, if he reneges, there is very little you can do about
it.  You can probably ruin his reputation by publically complaining on
the net, but would open yourself to possible slander/libel lawsuits.
Of course, he has the same problems filing a suit as you.
 
Jim McMaster