Hi All,

New to forum, but you guys seem in the know.....I hope this is in the right place...

I recently advertised a car for sale, and I was contacted by a chap over email/phone. This guy paid me £105 via paypal as a deposit on the car, WITHOUT seeing it.

I agreed to return his deposit if he felt the interior shots I was to take THAT evening were not up to his standard, OR if he turned up to collect the car and it was NOT as described in the advert.

He stated the interior was fine, and wanted to collect the car the coming Saturday.

 He emails me on the Friday to say that the buyer for his car has offered him £500 MORE to hold it to the new year, and therefore he isn't looking to buy my car any longer, and will get something in the new year, perhaps even a different model, and therefore wants his deposit back.

I have said its not my fault his circumstances have changed, and I now have to re-advertise the car. of course his immediate response was "On closer inspection of the interior photos it is not up to the standard I want, so PLEASE return the deposit".

 Where do I stand, surely this is not my fault?? He is saying I didn't state the deposit was non-refundable, but my view is that a deposit, is a deposit, 99% of the time its non-refundable, thats the point surely??

 Please advise as I want to know where I stand.. I am sure I am in the right??

 Thanks,

Mike

Hi --  This buyer has entered into a private contract with yourself to buy your car at the price agreed, the deposit paid acts as part of that full price agreed, he is a private buyer and not buying on a finance agreement, so providing the car is in the condition as stated, he has no legal right at all to the return of the deposit paid.

He has already said he was satisfied with the photographs THAT evening and indeed has been given the full opportunity to inspect the car which he has declined, stating he was happy to proceed with the deal and further reinforced it by paying £105 towards the full price on the understanding you kept it for him.

You are not therefore obliged to return the deposit in this case, as the buyer is breaking his contract with you to go ahead with the sale, the reason he is breaking the agreement does not entitle him to breach this contract he has entered into with yourself. ( Keep a record of the email he sent you. )

In any case you may have had to turn down other prospective buyers, and will now be facing further costs in advertising the car again, for which purpose you are fully entitled to use the deposit to offset your losses incurred, through him giving backword on the deal. You could keep it all, or decide to return any unused balance after you have covered your loss, it's up to you to decide. !!!

Read the articles below to further satisfy yourself, that you are acting legally within the law.

As you used Ebay (I assume!) the normal and expected road for this situation is this:

If he is a regular user of ebay then he knows the unwritten rules! He is pushing his luck here!

Offer to refund his money less the cost of the original sellers fees and the percentage of the paypall costs that you will be invoiced for. Explain this to him and if he is a normal person with common sense he will accept this. If not, report him for non payment to ebay and claim back your sellers costs through ebay and refuse to give him his money back until ebay or paypall make you. Make sure you leave neg feedback stating he never came to look at the car could not sell his own car and is a timewaster. Re advertise the car again making sure ebay can see this as "re-advertised due to timewaster" in your discription.

Have a look at othr sellers "terms" You will find that most have put info like this in their listings. It does keep the timewasters at bay!

conmankiller:

Hi --  This buyer has entered into a private contract with yourself to buy your car at the price agreed, the deposit paid acts as part of that full price agreed, he is a private buyer and not buying on a finance agreement, so providing the car is in the condition as stated, he has no legal right at all to the return of the deposit paid.

He has already said he was satisfied with the photographs THAT evening and indeed has been given the full opportunity to inspect the car which he has declined, stating he was happy to proceed with the deal and further reinforced it by paying £105 towards the full price on the understanding you kept it for him.

You are not therefore obliged to return the deposit in this case, as the buyer is breaking his contract with you to go ahead with the sale, the reason he is breaking the agreement does not entitle him to breach this contract he has entered into with yourself. ( Keep a record of the email he sent you. )

In any case you may have had to turn down other prospective buyers, and will now be facing further costs in advertising the car again, for which purpose you are fully entitled to use the deposit to offset your losses incurred, through him giving backword on the deal. You could keep it all, or decide to return any unused balance after you have covered your loss, it's up to you to decide. !!!

 

Read the articles below to further satisfy yourself, that you are acting legally within the law.

http://www.whatcar.com/news-special-report.aspx?NA=217545&EL=3143810

 

http://www.whatcar.com/advice-special-report.aspx?NA=217156&EL=3141776

 Superb my friend, that is exactly what I wanted to hear, you have been VERY helpful.

 To the ebay reply, much appreciated, however the sale was not done via ebay.

 Thanks All,

 Mike

All the buyer needs to do is issue a chargeback via paypal and paypal WILL give him money his money back unless you can provide tracking information, of which in this case is not feasible.

I suggest you refund him a set amount otherwise you may lose it all. Even if you win the case, a quick trip to the bank and it will start again.

I've been using paypal for a number of years with my online business, so I know what i'm talking about, beware.