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Originally Posted by Canehdianman
While I appreciate the legal lesson:
1) I'm not sure there was a true meeting of the minds if he thought it was fine to sell to someone else before you got there;
2) you wouldn't have any damages; and
3) there was no exchange of consideration.
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Okay so this is
all wrong.
1. There is a meeting of the minds if you have certainty of terms as to the key conditions of the deal - i.e., we both know what he's selling me (the cabinets), we both know what I'm paying for them ($250), we both know the delivery date (today) and we both know the delivery method (I pick up). He didn't "think he could sell to someone else" any more than anyone else who enters into a contract for a prospective sale and undertakes efficient breach. This isn't an uncommon commercial practice, but it absolutely results in people getting sued.
2. I do have damages, in the sense that if I go out and now pay, say, $700 for a comparable set of cabinets, I'm out $450. This might be precisely what happens - the only other set I've seen lately that will fit the space I want to put them in is $700. My damages are the amount it takes to put me in the position I would've been in had the contract been performed. They're just not very much in this case.
3. What are you talking about? The consideration is property for money. It's the most basic consideration imaginable.
Quote:
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I'm not saying it isn't a dick move, but from the buying/selling I've done on Kijiji in the past, you are just going to be frustrated if you expect people to conduct themselves with honour. It certainly happens sometimes, but you'll be better off if you expect people to no-show and to sell it to whoever shows up first with cash in hand.
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This is fine if this is how you want to conduct your sale but you have to communicate these terms up front. You don't arrange everything, have someone rely on your word (and set up a time and place on his terms, by the way - if not for the fact that he told me that the earliest he could do this was Thursday after 5:30pm, I would have had them picked up before he ever had the chance to sell them out from under me), and then back out.