Puchased from a professional trademe seller/company, and product not supplied.

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mattwnz

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Topic # 182599 22-Oct-2015 18:28

I won an auction on trademe, being sold by a professional dealer, paid via credit card and expected to pick it up later in the week. A few days later they emailed me to say that they no longer had the item, and it had been misplaced, and either they would refund, or I could choose a different product to buy with the amount I had paid. I emailed them back asking if they could source me one from somewhere else...no reply for a week...so I followed it up again, and they replied to say they couldn't. Can they do this? I thought that an auction was a legally binding contract, and neither party can get out of the auction, so they have to source the product from somewhere in order to fulfill the auction contract? I know that if you win an auction and you want to pull out, you can't and the seller can take you to court to retrieve the money.
What is more annoying is that they had a number of the items and I was outbid on all of them over a few weeks, but this was the final one, and eventually won it. I suspect that another one of the items they had sold to someone else was faulty, and they used mine as a replacement. If it was a private seller, I would probably just get the refund and be done with it. But I think professional traders should know better. I could buy from elsewhere but would be paying more than double what I paid.

PeterReader

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Reply # 1411284 22-Oct-2015 18:28

Hmmmm. Here we go.

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johnr

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Reply # 1411308 22-Oct-2015 18:32

They offered a refund just take it, You will not be out of pocket

gzt

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Reply # 1411314 22-Oct-2015 18:44

Are you thinking the seller may be avoiding becasue the price did not meet expectations?

Bad behaviour. Either way place exact feedback and call trademe, yeah this costs x.99 per min but anyway that's the service.

mattwnz

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Reply # 1411316 22-Oct-2015 18:47

johnr: They offered a refund just take it, You will not be out of pocket

They did, but they also wasted a lot of my time, and pretty abysmal service. If I want to buy the product, I have to pay more from somewhere else. My point is if the shoe was on the other foot, the seller would possibly purse me for payment via the disputes tribunal or a collection agency, if I pulled out after winning the auction. At the least I would have expected some form of goodwill gesture from them. It does seem there is more protection for the retailer, and the consumer in auctions.

Hammerer

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Reply # 1411317 22-Oct-2015 18:48

Did it say "in trade" or are they a NZ business? If so then refer to the Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA) and the Fair Trading Act (FTA).

I don't think that you have a lot of options if the trader reasonably thought they had the item and later found out that they don't. You doubt what they say but unless you have actual evidence to support your view then it will be difficult to prove they are not telling the truth... at least, unless you are prepared to spend money to investigate.

You might be able take it to the Disputes Tribunal but even if you can it will cost you too. You might only get a payout if you can prove some loss consequent to not receiving the product you paid for.

Hammerer

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Reply # 1411318 22-Oct-2015 18:51

mattwnz:
johnr: They offered a refund just take it, You will not be out of pocket

They did, but they also wasted a lot of my time, and pretty abysmal service. If I want to buy the product, I have to pay more from somewhere else. My point is if the shoe was on the other foot, the seller would possibly purse me for payment via the disputes tribunal or a collection agency, if I pulled out after winning the auction. At the least I would have expected some form of goodwill gesture from them. It does seem there is more protection for the retailer, and the consumer in auctions.

It's not all one sided. It just costs more money than it is worth to enforce. Buyers can get out of sales in certain circumstances. Even if there is no good reason not to pay for what was won, most businesses will not pursue the buyer who fails to pay.

mattwnz

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Reply # 1411319 22-Oct-2015 18:52

gzt: Are you thinking the seller may be avoiding becasue the price did not meet expectations?

Bad behaviour. Either way place exact feedback and call trademe, yeah this costs x.99 per min but anyway that's the service.

That is possible, but I don't think so because they appear to have fulfilled other auction winners with the product for around the same price I won for. I think a refund and giving them bad feedback is my only remedy. Just hope they don't retaliate. They have had some other bad feedback for the exact situation, from other buyers on other products, who weren't supplied with their goods.
It was just lucky that I didn't make a special trip to pick it up, and then found they didn't have it, so at least they did email me before I went out to pick it up, to say they didn't have it anymore.

Lias

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Reply # 1411320 22-Oct-2015 18:52

Not an auction, but I once purchased a "New" Xbox 360 controller form FirstIn that when it arrived was clearly a used secondhand one. They initially declined to replace it, as "they had none left".. I pointed out we had a legal contract to supply and they had taken my money, and I'd see them in disputes tribunal if they really wanted as there was no shortage of said controllers in NZ. I got a nice shiny brand new one drop shipped from PBTech.

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mattwnz

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Reply # 1411321 22-Oct-2015 18:54

Hammerer: Did it say "in trade" or are they a NZ business? If so then refer to the Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA) and the Fair Trading Act (FTA).

I don't think that you have a lot of options if the trader reasonably thought they had the item and later found out that they don't. You doubt what they say but unless you have actual evidence to support your view then it will be difficult to prove they are not telling the truth... at least, unless you are prepared to spend money to investigate.

You might be able take it to the Disputes Tribunal but even if you can it will cost you too. You might only get a payout if you can prove some loss consequent to not receiving the product you paid for.

Yes, they are intrade, and they are a Limited company. I have purchased from them before and the trade was ok, but their office and warehouse is a mess, so not surprised if the item was lost. Certainly not worth taking them to the DT, it is only worth that on higher value items.

gzt

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Reply # 1411335 22-Oct-2015 19:39

mattwnz:
gzt: Are you thinking the seller may be avoiding becasue the price did not meet expectations?

Bad behaviour. Either way place exact feedback and call trademe, yeah this costs x.99 per min but anyway that's the service.

That is possible, but I don't think so because they appear to have fulfilled other auction winners with the product for around the same price I won for. I think a refund and giving them bad feedback is my only remedy. Just hope they don't retaliate. They have had some other bad feedback for the exact situation, from other buyers on other products, who weren't supplied with their goods.
It was just lucky that I didn't make a special trip to pick it up, and then found they didn't have it, so at least they did email me before I went out to pick it up, to say they didn't have it anymore.

Trademe has a policy against and will remove retaliatory feedback.