Any eBay legal experts here?

[The Barry]

You aren't bound to buy it at a later inflated price.

Contact Ebay, they might very well want to know that this is going on.

[Laird O'the Cowcaddens]

I agree with all that has been said by everyone;having said that,I suggest that you begin the dispute process and see it through to its culmination. I'm not a legal scholar, but I think that under English Common Law the phrase is YOU ARE GETTING HOSED. Is it possible that your being in Japan gives them the idea that they can stick it to you without fear of reprisal.

[Mipi]

Just drop it CDNSushi!

It's not worth of your time and nerves. You still have your money and can shop somewhere else. In this economical state the sellers must be happy to sell anything. There are far more important things and your money is still with you.

Regards!

[CDNSushi]

Just a quick note... Again, please bear in mind that this company does not know that I'm in Japan. As far as they are concerned, I bleed red white and blue. My shipping address, payment info, etc are all US-based here.

I already received a letter back from the company, "deeply apologizing for any inconvenience" and that since they've already changed the price on their website, therefore it's "impossible" to let me have the item at the price I agreed to pay.

I responded to their e-mail essentially pointing out that we had a legally binding contract and that we already had a "firm offer" as defined by UCC § 2-205.

As such, I wrote them that irrespective of their ability or inability to change their website, any further attempt to repudiate the firm offer that was on the table, and any further efforts to prevent me from consummating what was otherwise a good and valid contract made in good faith was, essentially, unlawful.

Oh, and I also notified eBay as well.

We'll see what happens next.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I think you are reasonably solid ground as the company changed it published price after you made your purchase. They have, I believe, a legal obligation to sell at the price advertised, which is different than having to sell at at price inadvertently priced below the normal retail price. Basically, just because the price goes up at midnight it doesn't give them the right to charge you a higher price because you bought at 11:59.

[Chas]

Hi CDNSushi,

I was an eBay gold vendor (babyvalue) for some time and know a little about it's inner workings.

The screen you first showed, telling you that the price had gone up, is an eBay generated screen - not generated by the vendor. It will happen automatically in the circumstances you describe, totally outside the vendor's control. What the vendor should have done, was remove the goods from sale, change the prices, put the goods on sale again. This would have meant early closure of the sale and a re-listing - both of which would have cost the vendor. A large vendor, changing many hundreds of prices would incur considerable charges.

If the sale was by auction, then the vendor is prohibited by international law from lowering the final price (I think the Hague Convention, but I might be wrong). If nothing else they would have been banned from eBay for a minimum of 7 days (the higher the final price the longer the ban). Then there is the torturous process of trying to become a vendor again (there's an on-line course, which takes about 6 hours to complete, then there is the new vendors contract and the promise of never doing bad things ever again, then finally maybe up to 10 days later, the vendor gets re-instated). So he can't lower the final price, BUT he can give a refund - at no cost or penalty to himself.

Final observation: it matters not to the eBay software how you are going to pay (which bank in which country), nor does it matter where the shipping destination is to be. In the first instance all that matters is the country in which you are registered. Even if you are on holiday; go to a cybercafe and bid on goods; eBay deals with you as if you were in your country of registration.

Make a complaint to eBay - it is after all their software that caused the problem. When you sign in they now display a customer help number on your 'My eBay' page.

Regards

Chas

[CDNSushi]

Hey, good news everyone! Looks like I won this one.

I got an escalated e-mail response from the company today.

They agreed to honor the original price of $53.99. However, they still contend that they cannot change their website, so much like what Chas just said, they encouraged me to complete the transaction in the amount of $93.01 and that they would credit me the difference of $39.02.

So, that's what I did. A friend in WA who owes me a favor and a bit of money (just about enough to cover the shipping) will be receiving the package and sending it onwards.

Thanks to pdcorlis for being the voice of reason and telling me not to rely on my (obviously crappy) sense of ESP.

Cheers,

Jim.

[pdcorlis]

Great news Jim - I'm glad they finally saw reason in this transaction. It is always an added headache when these problems arise - sounds to me like you were both clear and more than fair in your "negotiation" with them.

Cheers!