Backing out of an Auction

[reptile]

I won a car at an internet auction.

For unexpected personal reasons I am unable to honour the bid.

I am well aware of the ethics of this but i have no choice as the savings that the car was to be purchased with have to be used elsewhere unexpectedly.

The auction vendor are saying that they are going to sue me for the bidders' fee which amounts to approximately £1100.

They have sold the car to the underbidder who bid £100 less than me.

I have offered to pay them the £100 difference plus VAT so that the vendor is not out of pocket.

Where do I stand on this? The vendor will not be out of pocket and would be profiting by £1000 if i pay the bidders' fee.

How would it stand in court?

Thank you for any help you can offer.

Reptile

[Arcadian]

Re: Backing out of an Auction

They have to suffer, and be able to to demonstrate that they have suffered, "material loss" in order to take you to court?

Your offer to the vendor to pay them £100 is extremely generous. I imagine they will snap your hand off.

[reptile]

Re: Backing out of an Auction

Thank you for your reply.

No, they have said that even though they have recovered the £1100 bidders' fee from the under bidder they are still going to pursue me for the £1100 from my "purchase".

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I must add that in the T&C's there is nothing about pursuing the non paying bidder for the bidders' fee, just that non paying bidders will be pursued in court.

[Arcadian]

Re: Backing out of an Auction

Thank you for your reply.

No, they have said that even though they have recovered the £1100 bidders' fee from the under bidder they are still going to pursue me for the £1100 from my "purchase".

So just to clarify, what was the total of the bid that you made for the vehicle?

[reptile]

Re: Backing out of an Auction

I bid £5400 for the vehicle. On top of that was 20% VAT and 20% Bidders' fee.

They have sold the car to the underbidder who bid £5300. They also had to pay the additional 40% fees.

[Arcadian]

Re: Backing out of an Auction

What auction site is this? Those fees are barmy.

[reptile]

Re: Backing out of an Auction

It is i-Bidder.com

[Arcadian]

Re: Backing out of an Auction

It is i-Bidder.com

What We Do for You

• We provide online auction services (more particularly described in paragraph 2 of the Bidder Terms and defined as the Online Services) that facilitate online bidding at auctions. The Online Services are only a means of communication to participate in auction sales and we are not an online auctioneer. Therefore, we are not a party to the contract for sale and purchase entered into between you, the bidder, and the auctioneer and/or their principal.
• We are not in control of the information made available by auctioneers which you access via the Online Services. We cannot therefore make any representations, warranties or guarantees in connection with what the auctioneer may offer for sale through the Online Services or otherwise.
• We do not charge you, the bidder, for your use of the Online Services. We are paid by auctioneers to provide the Online Services to potential bidders.

So the contract that you are apparently being held to does not seem to be with the auction site, as they are just an online intermediary that provides bidding facilities to third party auction companies.

[reptile]

Re: Backing out of an Auction

Yes I know, each vendor sets their own terms. In the case of my listing the fees were 20%. This is not uncommon on i-Bidder.

[Arcadian]

Re: Backing out of an Auction

I'm still trying to understand why the seller imagines they are out of pocket by such a large amount, unless the auction site charged them the fee twice!