New (old addition to the family - revisited (NEED OPINIONS) Long

[Michael Riebs / Audi V8]

DISCLAIMER: I am not an attorney, nor do I have any formal legal schooling.

That said, I have been in business for myself for a number of years, and
have had legal experience through business dealings. It is my understanding
that a contract is made binding as follows:

Offer + acceptance + consideration (payment) + acceptance of payment =
binding contract.

Offer: Ebay auction
Acceptance: Highest bidder at close of auction
Consideration: Payment via PayPal, as per the terms of the auction
Acceptance of payment: PayPal's deposit into sellers account

As far as I can tell, the car is yours! The fact that you have not come to
pick it up yet is completely beside the point. The seller has not asked for
any storage charge either (as far as we have heard, anyway).

Go pick up the car. It's yours! If the collector wants it, he can either:
1) Meet you a small distance from the sellers home to make the swap; or
2) Come to your home to buy it from you.

Go get your beautiful car!

JMHO.

Michael L. Riebs
Grand Rapids, Michigan

'90 V8Q
'98 A6QA

www.1stchoicegranite.com



----- Original Message -----
From: "J. Lyons" <raudi1 at value.net>
To: <quattro at audifans.com>
Sent: Monday, September 16, 2002 4:28 PM
Subject: New (old addition to the family - revisited (NEED OPINIONS) Long


> Hello all,
>
> Sorry about the length,
>
> Well this has been an exciting week, to say the least. I had posted about
my
> recent purchase of an 81 5000s off of E-bay about a week ago. Suffice it
to
> say alot has happened since then. I was hoping the collective opinions of
> the list could help me see this through.
>
> I made my payment to the buyer via Paypal, with every intention of picking
> up the car the following Monday 9/16.  I was contacted by an individual
> (non-list member) who is a German car collector out of Tennessee. He made
me
> an offer to buy the car prior to my picking it up. I declined his offer.
He
> then e-mailed me again, upping his bid. Again I declined (I really wanted
> this car). He then sent me an e-mail offering nearly double what I paid.
>
> It was at that point I decided to accept his offer. I emailed the seller,
> asking if he would mind releasing the car to the person from Tennessee.
> Suffice it to say he went ballistic on me, accusing me of taking advantage
> of him and his father (who owns the car) even though he has no idea the
> amounts of $ involved. His big issue, apparently is that I had not taken
> possesion yet and so it is not mine to sell. I, on the other hand have a
> receipt from him & Paypal telling me to come get the car. So near as I can
> tell, the cars is mine.
>
> In an attempt to defuse the situation, I spoke again to my buyer about the
> circumstances involved, and we both agreed that maybe I should just get
the
> car for myself and be done with this. I then made arrangements with the
> actual owner (the father) to do just that.
>
> Now today, I get an e-mail from the seller (the son), attemting to refund
my
> money via Paypal so he can sell it for a higher amount, to the same guy
that
> contacted me.
>
> I am just not sure what to do?! I went into this with every intention of
> owning this clean nice car and now everything has gone straight to hell!
>
> Was I wrong in what I did? Or is this guy out of his mind, and now being
> sorry he couldn't sell it for more?
>
> Any help / opinions would be appreciated. Especially since this is now
> looking to be a legal battle with these people.
>
> Regards,
> J. Lyons
>
> 84 CGT turbo
> 86 4KCSQ
> 79 5KS
> maybe an 81 too....
>
>
>
>