Did I sell the car?

I put my car on eBay and Craigslist, asking $4900 on CL starting at $1 on eBay. A guy called me asked if I would end the auction early. He asked if he showed up with $4200 would I sell him the car tonight. I said yes. He said he would come tonight. This was all on the phone early this morning. He is three hours away. I said I would email him about the details, and I did around 9:00 this morning saying we needed to talk about form of payment and when he wanted to come.

Fast forward to now. I haven't heard back from the guy. The eBay auction has shot up from $1,800 this morning to $4,050 now. And it doesn't end until Sunday night. I emailed the guy an hour ago saying we really needed to talk about payment and that I was getting a lot of other activity and I need to hear back from him.

A) Do I have a deal with the guy?

B) If I don't, should I still sell it to him at $4,200 if I hear back at some point or should I wait out the auction and deal with possible eBay flakes and the $120 eBay charge for a completed auction?

Hmmm... if it was me the first guy with the money gets the car. Especially since he already dishonoured your deal by not showing up. "Show me the money!"

In reply to Lesley:

To clarify, we made the deal this morning. We were supposed to finalize the details later this morning and he was to come early this evening. So really, to get here in time, he needs to be leaving in the next hour or so. And I haven't heard back.

If he shows up tonight you have a deal with him.

If he does not show up then no deal.

"He asked if he showed up with $4200 would I sell him the car tonight. I said yes."

He didn't show up with the money. The car isn't sold.

This guy expressed interest in your car, until he shows up, or at least contacts you again, I would say: "NO, you do NOT have a deal with him". Same story if the "winner" of the E-bay auction doesn't show up/contact you but someone else appears with money in hand.

no money = no deal

but then I'm not a lawyer

Should I contact him and say don't bother and hold out for more money on eBay? The dude in question hasn't made a binding bid on eBay. The high bidder on eBay wants the car and says he is willing to pay what it takes, presumably more than Dude one.

I just don't want to screw Dude one to make $200 bucks or something. But I kind of feel like telling Dude one not to bother coming since I've been waiting all day to hear something and haven't. Or risk having him drive show up with a post dated third party check or something.

but if you dont end the ebay auction, aren't you under contract with ebay to sell it through them?

He made an offer, you accepted. That is a legal binding contract.

The contract burden on his end is tonight & $4200. Anything less and he negates the contract.

So, if he shows up tonight, sell him the car. If he doesn't show or tries to negotiate, let the ebay auction continue.

Don't pull the ebay listing until the car is down the road and out of sight, and you are recounting your pile of greenbacks.

Otto Maddox wrote: Should I contact him and say don't bother and hold out for more money on eBay? The dude in question hasn't made a binding bid on eBay. The high bidder on eBay wants the car and says he is willing to pay what it takes, presumably more than Dude one. I just don't want to screw Dude one to make $200 bucks or something. But I kind of feel like telling Dude one not to bother coming since I've been waiting all day to hear something and haven't. Or risk having him drive show up with a post dated third party check or something.

That's completely your call. If you want to hold out, then hold out. He hasn't responded to you, so I wouldn't feel too bad about it. But if he shows up with cash, then that's something to consider.

Having been boned hard by a verbal handshake, no.

Money talks.

GTFO.

Datsun1500 wrote:

moxnix wrote: If he shows up tonight you have a deal with him. If he does not show up then no deal.

This. For all you know he is on his way now with cash in hand. If you drove 3 hours and the guy backed out, how would you like it? You were fine with $4200 earlier. Blow that off and watch both deals not go through...

this.

foxtrapper wrote: He made an offer, you accepted. That is a legal binding contract. The contract burden on his end is tonight & $4200. Anything less and he negates the contract. So, if he shows up tonight, sell him the car. If he doesn't show or tries to negotiate, let the ebay auction continue. Don't pull the ebay listing until the car is down the road and out of sight, and you are recounting your pile of greenbacks.

And it's worth the paper it's printed on too.

If the guy shows up, sell it to him. If not, keep the auction going.

You have nothing to lose by waiting until this evening. I know I have run afoul of my own promises and then had to run all over town trying to get a damn stack of cash from 2 credit unions to back it up.

I'd sell for $4200 if he shows and pull the ad before bed. If you hear from him tomorrow you can say "let's start over - it is $xxx on ebay right now and you were a no-show last time we had a deal" guilt free.

If he shows up tonight with the money the car is his. If not let the auction run its course and get what you can.

I agree with you guys. If he shows up tonight with money in hand, the deal will be done.

Still haven't heard from him.

foxtrapper wrote: He made an offer, you accepted. That is a legal binding contract. The contract burden on his end is tonight & $4200. Anything less and he negates the contract. So, if he shows up tonight, sell him the car. If he doesn't show or tries to negotiate, let the ebay auction continue. Don't pull the ebay listing until the car is down the road and out of sight, and you are recounting your pile of greenbacks.

This seems to be how used car lot dealers use ebay. They list the car on ebay with no reserve as well as on Craigslist. In the ebay ad, they say, "reserve to end the auction early as car is posted elsewhere..." This is code for, "search my area CL, find my ad for the car and you'll find how much I really want for the car. Stop by before the auction ends and we'll make a deal." Don't wait to try and snipe it as if it doesn't look like the car will hit the dealer's number, he'll pull the auction no matter what.

This is exactly how my g/f went about buying her latest Volvo off ebay. We went to the guy with cash, looked at and drove the car, and she made an offer.

Dude finally contacted me. Says he can't come until tomorrow afternoon but he will be bringing cash. I told him we can discuss again in the morning.

Well, the deal was $4200 tonight. That was to end the auction and not have to deal with it.

IMO, once he said he's not coming tonight, he's out of the game until the auction ends considering where the bidding is at.

IMO, if he brings cash, the offer is valid up until the auction ends, either via a winning bid or otherwise, or if by some stroke of good fortune, the bidding passes his offer. The auction doesn't end until you have cash in your pocket and the tail-lights are out of sight.

He's not out of the game. He can always offer more, based on the increased bid value. If it were me, I'd consider the value of cash in hand vs. the possibility of a non-paying ebay bidder. Only you know what you really want out of the car.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: http://youtu.be/bjZRAvsZf1g

A CL phone promise isn't worth much, and when he failed to make his first estimated time, my faith in his making the second would be lower.

Zomby is of course right that you could get someone useless on ebay. Worth considering, for sure, but...

How's this: Tell dude that if can get to you, holding a pile of cash equivalent to within $x of what the bidding is at on eBay when he gets there, you will sell him the car.

That way he's paying you for stretching things out, or he's out of the running.