i shouldn't have posted yet. in this case, that the buyer had reason to know that the seller was making a mistake with the price, since it's so out of line from other ebay auctions. given that, if a contract is formed, it is still voidable at the seller's option.
IANAL.
a sale contract is formed by an offer to sell and an acceptance of that offer. where someone advertises that he is selling many widgets, courts interpret that as a solicitation for offers. so the buyer comes down and makes the "offer" and the seller is the one who "accepts." this is what happens when amazon has a price mistake and responds with "whoops, we're not going to be able to accept these offers."
however, where there is only one (or a defined number) of the item advertised for sale, and at fairly definite terms, then courts are willing to find that that advertisement constitutes the offer, and the buyer accepts the offer by attempting to pay. that's the case with an ebay buy it now.
that being said, what's legally correct isn't always what happens in the real world, so fat chance that this guy gets his $.99 ps3.
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i shouldn't have posted yet. in this case, that the buyer had reason to know that the seller was making a mistake with the price, since it's so out of line from other ebay auctions. given that, if a contract is formed, it is still voidable at the seller's option.
IANAL. a sale contract is formed by an offer to sell and an acceptance of that offer. where someone advertises that he is selling many widgets, courts interpret that as a solicitation for offers. so the buyer comes down and makes the "offer" and the seller is the one who "accepts." this is what happens when amazon has a price mistake and responds with "whoops, we're not going to be able to accept these offers." however, where there is only one (or a defined number) of the item advertised for sale, and at fairly definite terms, then courts are willing to find that that advertisement constitutes the offer, and the buyer accepts the offer by attempting to pay. that's the case with an ebay buy it now. that being said, what's legally correct isn't always what happens in the real world, so fat chance that this guy gets his $.99 ps3.