In Australia, An Ebay Sale is a Sale

syousef writes "An eBay sale is a sale says an Australian New South Wales State Judge in a case where a man tried to reneg on the Ebay sale of a 1946 World War II Wirraway aircraft. The seller tried to weasel out of the deal because he'd received a separate offer $100,000 greater than the Ebay sale price. The buyer who had bid the reserve price of $150,000 at the last minute took him to court. 'It follows that, in my view, a binding contract was formed between the plaintiff and the defendant and that it should be specifically enforced,' Justice Rein said in his decision." I haven't found anything like this in previous discussions; have there been similar decisions like this handed down in the US, Canada, or Europe?

Comments

What's more relevant...

[craznar]

.. is that it means there is no out for buyers to change their mind either :)

Good news for sellers....

Does there have to be more precedent?

[Angst Badger]

The legal status of auctions considerably pre-dates electricity, much less the web. I have a feeling that if you tried to argue that there was some difference between a web auction and a traditional auction in a US court, you'd get pretty much the same result this guy did.