[19Yzerman19]

At this point this is an academic exercise; I would never take legal action against someone for a kijiji furniture purchase.

Originally Posted by 4X4

That's no more legally binding than you telling him you're going to buy it, then you show up, and you see that it's broken and not worth the agreed price, and therefore, you're no longer interested. He can't sue you for that, and you can't sue him for not holding an item for you.

In your example, we don't have certainty of terms - I agreed to buy a product in a certain condition, it turns out it isn't in that condition, therefore no contract. At minimum it would be a misrepresentation which is grounds for rescission. This is not a good analogy. And yes, it is legally binding - offer and acceptance for valuable consideration = contract.

A contract isn't a contract until consideration has been exchanged. Lol. You think you can sue him for this?

Yes I do. Now, it's basically never worth suing anyone for less than a few grand, but technically yes, I could. As far as consideration, it doesn't have to actually be exchanged, it simply needs to be included in the deal. The contract is concluded when the agreement is made, not when the terms are carried out. I can draft a purchase and sale agreement that doesn't close for 6 months, but it's still a binding contract when executed.

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

Not only should you have gone over to give him the money, but also to look at the damn stuff too. How was this going to go down? Delivery company picks up stuff, delivers it to your house. Upon satisfactory inspection, you would EFT the money to him? At what point was this guy going to get his money or have the purchase completed?

I go to his place with delivery driver, look at items, hand him money. Stuff is then loaded by delivery drivers and taken back to my place, where I pay the delivery guys. Really, is this that hard to figure out?

Hell, I have even had people return the full purchase price that I gave in advance because I couldn't pick it up within 2 days, but someone else could. Have you not purchased anything used before? Always go by "First come first served, as-is where-is"

If this is how you want to sell your item, don't conduct yourself as if you have a deal with someone else. How hard is it to put this in the ad?

Binding contract? LOL, good luck suing the guy. You have ZERO damages, nothing out of pocket unless you paid a deposit for the delivery guys.

I'm out of pocket the difference between this and what I end up paying for something else. EDIT: Also, in cases of efficient breach it's possible in some cases to obtain a disgorgement of any profits (i.e. his extra $100).

But I already said it's not much and not worth it, the point was it's still a breach of contract and people should honour their agreements.

Originally Posted by Dion

Unless you got it in writing you are SOL.

Wrong. This makes literally no difference.

Originally Posted by ken0042

The problem with Kijiji is that the seller had no guarantee that Yzerman was going to go through with the purchase. So while the seller was waiting for Yzerman to show up with the cash in hand, somebody else came through with a better offer; both in terms of monetary amount as well as being able to close the deal quickly.

Had I not done so, I would've been the one in breach, and technically if he had then been forced to sell for less I would be liable to him for the difference. But I don't do this; I honour my agreements.

Originally Posted by flameswin

Yep, the people thinking the seller is a ###### gotta realize. There's just as many deadbeats that agree to buy something and don't show as there are sellers that pull moves like that.

Totally, and those people are #######s too.

Originally Posted by btimbit

Certainly don't disagree with any of that, essentially the issue is too many people are dicks.

Yep.