Further to what Walter said, and in response to what Mike Kone asked, the consideration given by the buyer in this case was his promise to complete the deal. That is enough - you do not have to pay 1$ to make a contract enforceable.
Now a question for John Price, who I must say displays a startling aloofness to the ethical implications involved in his retrieval of the Masi heirloom": What kind of garage sales does your aunt hold? I've never heard of a garage sale where the seller collects the name and number of the buyers. Or was your aunt already familiar with the person who bought the bike at her "garage sale?" Did the garage sale buyer return the Masi for the same price he bought it? If so, I can only assume he was a personal friend of yours or your aunt's." But if not...if he received more than what he paid for the bike at the "garage sale," I have to mention the term "unlawful interference."
In any event, John, I hope you realize that your story clearly shows that you subverted a binding contract between the eBay buyer and seller, only to satisfy your fortuitous and belated realization (thanks only to the CR posts, not your own interest in the bike while it was in your aunt's possesion), that your aunt's Masi (not yours) was valuable. Your gloss-over that the eBay buyer is OK with this due to the circumstances, simply does not ring true. I am sure the eBay buyer is fairly upset at the eBay seller - and you as well, now that you outed yourself as the saboteur of the transaction. I do not know the eBay buyer, and I am not sure if he is a current CR member, but I believe several CR members know him, so I'm sure we will hear about his side of the story soon.
In conclusion, I have to say that I am flabbergasted that you told us about what you did.
Ray Dobbins Miami FL USA
Walter Nash <wbnash@msn.com> wrote: The buyer would have had an enforceable contract when he accepted the buy it now offer prior to paying money. He could have sued for what we call "specific performance" and gotten the bike had he chosen to do so.
Walter 'a lawyer" Nash Tucson AZ USA
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 22:57:58 +0000 From: hersefan@comcast.net To: Thomas Adams >, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]ebay outing: cool Masi Message-ID: <033020072257.2248.460D95F600032AF7000008C82200734830020E000A9C9D0A08@com cast.net> Content-Type: text/plain MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Precedence: list Message: 2
Are ebay contracts really contracts? Ebay says up and down they are, but my limited understanding of the legal world tells me that for a contract to be enforcible, the buyer must have given consideration (i.e. that $1 bill again) - and unless the buyer actually had paid the money, than there really isn't any consideration and therefore its not a true legal contract.
Can those unlike myself who may really know what they are talking about add their input?
Mike "not a lawyer" Kone in Boulder CO