Can I take legal action?

[Wissam]

edited for privacy

 

[acronym007]

It's his/her domain, he/she can ask whatever they want for it. Ethically you may not like this strategy but legally they have no obligation to sell to you or anyone else unless they get their final price.

 

[Thomas Nash]

So did you agree to his asking price straight away or did you counter-offer with a lower amount?

 

[Deleted member 70408]

I don't think it really matters. I can't email someone who posted an LLL.com for sale here 2 years ago and expect them to honor the price they listed.

 

[tomsa]

Are the broker and the owner two different persons ?

 

[Wissam]

edited for privacy

 

[lotsofcoffee]

It's considered an "offer to treat" rather than an "offer to sell."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_v._Facey

 

[acronym007]

Thanks for the quick replies. To clarify a little further, I contacted the person outside of this forum through a link on their website that stated that the domain was for sale. The broker and owner of the domain are indeed two different persons, or so it seems. I also counter-offered with a lower amount to the broker since he clearly stated in the e-mail that "I would be willing to sell for $XXXXX, and of course, I am open to negotiation," but then I eventually went a little past the original asking price with the owner because he kept on rejecting my offers and asking way more than the original asking price. To my surprise, he ended up almost doubling his original asking price which was "open to negotiation." If I could buy the domain right now for the original asking price, I would. Question is, is he obligated to sell it. Thanks again for your comments.

What would make him obligated to sell? If you own a home and list a price and 2 offers come in, you have no obligation to accept either offer. Maybe he realized that he was selling too low based on multiple offers received. Maybe you discover your home is near the newest Casino in town and land is going to be worth a mint, all of the sudden your price goes up. The owner can simply decide not to sell too. There can be other factors also, such as payment type (Escrow or Paypal, timing of sale, speed of sale, etc...

I think the distinction you need to make here is whether or not a list price is binding or personal, it is not. You and the seller have not agreed on this list price it's just a guide. Unless you have agreed on the price & details with the seller and not the broker you have nothing but a domain with a list price that can change daily with no obligation to sell ever.

 

[Jack Gordon]

of course you can take legal action.

you won't win, of course, but nothing prevents you from trying.

 

[Dave Zan]

of course you can take legal action.

you won't win, of course, but nothing prevents you from trying.

That's what I was about to say, except there's no guarantee the OP will win.

 

[Wissam]

Thanks for the advice everybody, it's much appreciated. Now I know not to bother with this domain anymore. Besides, there are plenty of others )

 

[Gerry]

Based on what I have seen and read here on this forum and from within this thread, some believe NOTHING is binding, even when there is a contract to sell.

Does anyone want to buy perjures.com? Regged yesterday.

 

[revolution1]

Based on what I have seen and read here on this forum and from within this thread, some believe NOTHING is binding, even when there is a contract to sell.

Does anyone want to buy perjures.com? Regged yesterday.

Agreed, fu shady fake bidders and price gouging resellers...lol. No i do not think you can unless the transaction was already being processed.

 

[poulos]

you can take legal action, but you be wasting your time,
and why would you try to buy a domain for that kinda money from a broker,who is shady from the getgo,

 

[LizzeyDripping]

Hi

I'm in the UK so bear that in mind if you are not! Thought I'd try for the "why" aspect of this - sorry if I just end up confusing things!

To have a legally binding contract, there must be "offer" and "acceptance" - these 2 things create a contract. The email you received with the original "willing to sell" sum mentioned was (as mentioned above) an "invitation to treat" - which basically means an invitation to you to make an offer to buy. When you respond with the offer to buy, the seller can than choose to accept or reject the offer.

This idea grew out of contract case law (hope my memory is holding here!) involving a youth who tried to buy a knife displayed in a shop window. The shopkeeper refused to sell it to him due to safety concerns. If the display in the shop window was an "offer to sell" all the youth had to do to create a binding contract was accept the offer - i.e. go in with the money and ask to exchange it for the knife - and the shopkeeper was therefore in breach of contract for refusing to sell it to the child. In the interests of protecting the public in similar circumstances and avoid making the law "an ***" (sorry - this is a common English legal term and also describes a type of donkey but the forum seems to think I am swearing so it won't display!) judges chose to interpret the display in the show window as an "invitation to treat" rather than an "offer for sale". This means the contract is only viewed as legally completed when the buyer "offers" to buy the item and the seller "accepts" this offer.

I hope this helps your understanding of why you cannot legally enforce the statement that the guy was "willing to sell for £xxxx".