[bknblk]

Hey Gang,

Does anyone have any experience with a dealer refusing to honor their auction post closing on Ebay? There are apparently numerous horror stories about unscrupulous sellers not honoring their sale, but I have now become one of those victims :angry:

I won an auction on a 2012 911 Turbo S for $100k, but the dealer (Platinum Auto Group, Victorville CA, Platinumvv.com) is saying he forgot to place a reserve, so he doesn't have to sell it for the struck/close price. He's gone so far as to re-list it and say he has no intention of honoring the auction. They claim $100k was an unreasonable bid on the car, and I should have to pay their reserve (whcih they conveniently neglected to post or observe over the entire course of the auction). He says he'll " work with me on it" and has offered the generous price of $139,000 for an auction already won. I'm exceedingly disappointed in the lack of integrity of their dealership and management. Any thoughts on legal recourse or Ebay's ability to enforce the sale?

Then again, maybe a phone-in campaign (877-449-8849) from the L4P community might make them reconsider :spank:

 

[Pushn'lbs]

I'm ebay illiterate. However, I'm interested in the outcome. I believe they should be held to honor what they were advertising. Good luck man. Keep us posted on what happens! Hopefully wiser people than me will respond with options, if any.

 

[BigHoss]

Contact Paypall I'm pretty sure they handle this stuff. If not go to Jalopnik they LOVE running stories like this

 

[Sheldon07]

First contact Ebay and Paypal.

 

[///M3TZ]

Reminds me of this BMW dealer refuses to honor M3 Ebay auction

Although I think the M3 auction is a bit more reasonable than $100k for a 2012 Turbo S

 

[H J]

I checked into that last week. I owned one similar. Though it may not be good practice, $100K is unreasonable and the seller probably did forget to place a reserve on the car. Best of luck, either way.

 

[Gevojanyan]

Goodluck. But you can't blame them for not wanting to sell a car that is worth much more for that price, I know you wouldn't feel to good about yourself If you were in their shoes. That being said, they don't necessarily have to sell you the car, they may lose a couple grand and get a bad feedback score, but that'll pretty much be it..

 

[bknblk]

Great feedback and thoughts from everyone! I appreciate the input. Review of similar circumstances seems to show that Ebay washes their hands of the whole transaction by claiming variation in state laws makes a sale unenforceable. That's quite unsettling, if true, because it means sellers never have to honor a sale, and a buyer never has to follow through on a purchase.

Imagine you buy your dream car from a dealer and meet their "reserve", B-I-N, etc., and they get a better offer from a customer on the lot or by phone after auction. There would be no repercussions other than bad feedback to abort their auction sale and take the higher offer! Can you imagine the gavel falling at Barrett-Jackson on a car then having the seller refuse to honor the sale, because he didn't get the price he really wanted?!

I checked into that last week. I owned one similar. Though it may not be good practice, $100K is unreasonable and the seller probably did forget to place a reserve on the car. Best of luck, either way.

I've been following the market for a while now, and $100k is a low, but not unreasonable, price on the vehicle. I turned down the purchase of a CPO'd 2011 Turbo S with 18k miles through a Porsche dealership for <$105k to bid on this one. That car is now sold, and I have a dealer refusing to honor his own auction listing. I've attached an active Autotrader listing for a '11 Turbo S with warranty for $97k to help show that the wining bid is low, but market correct.

 

[Irelentless]

Good luck man, stealership will always be a stealership no matter what!! One more reason whay I never buy anything online especially cars and bikes..........too many crooks everywhere

 

[willis555]

This happened with a GTR a couple years back. The dealer forgot to place a reserve, and some guy won at $55,000. After a lot of hate from the public, they ended up selling the guy the car at that price.

Put this dealership on blast, contact local news, whatever you can to make them look horrible.

 

[lalasd]

To me it looks like the dealer is at fault and should honor the sale.

 

[Davi]

Mistake or not, you shouldn't have to deal with their bullshit excuse. Contact Paypal and Ebay

 

[Aaron]

Legally, eBay states they can't force it. But these things always end badly for the dealer. Approach them politely with the links about the GTR, M3, and I think there was also a BRZ or FRS that had a similar situation. The dealers caved in all three due to mounting public pressure.

 

[chidoks]

legally, they cant enforce it. The $100k price is very unreasonable and a lowball offer. You really expect the dealer to take a $39k loss because of a mistake? It didn't cost you anything to place the bid and you really aren't losing anything except for dreams of getting the car at a lowball price.. Let it go, not worth it

 

[Aaron]

Dealer refuses to honor Nissan GT-R eBay auction (UPDATE!)

Won ebay auction at 60K for E90 M3, BMW of Lincoln refusing to honor

 

[Aaron]

legally, they cant enforce it. The $100k price is very unreasonable and a lowball offer. You really expect the dealer to take a $39k loss because of a mistake? It didn't cost you anything to place the bid and you really aren't losing anything except for dreams of getting the car at a lowball price.. Let it go, not worth it

They're definitely not taking a 39k loss, and if this picks up steam they'll lose more than that anyway from loss of sale and bad press. It would be good business for them to negotiate in good faith and make it right.

 

[optomistic]

Contact Paypall I'm pretty sure they handle this stuff. If not go to Jalopnik they LOVE running stories like this

This is good advice maybe the left hand isn't talking to the right in such instances. If I am not mistaken they are under the same umbrella though.

I've had instances like this (not to that monetary level) and basically nothing occurred of it. With e-mails, images, and so forth to show as evidence.

Customers are neglected to say the least.

 

[optomistic]

legally, they cant enforce it. The $100k price is very unreasonable and a lowball offer. You really expect the dealer to take a $39k loss because of a mistake? It didn't cost you anything to place the bid and you really aren't losing anything except for dreams of getting the car at a lowball price.. Let it go, not worth it

But it is worth it! They F4cked up not lalasd. He took the time to find such a deal! They should be accountable for their actions, due to negligence on their part. Although, I am sure due to such instances there are policies in place to protect the seller. The seller shouldn't be so careless when it comes to the listing, especially when you are talking about six figures!

 

[maverick1st]

They been posting sales recently on here but not as a sponsor.

Ban?

 

[SenorCeeb]

Move aside people, Senorceeb checking in.

@bknblk Send me a private message with your email I may be able to direct your efforts in getting a favourable result

legally, they cant enforce it. The $100k price is very unreasonable and a lowball offer. You really expect the dealer to take a $39k loss because of a mistake? It didn't cost you anything to place the bid and you really aren't losing anything except for dreams of getting the car at a lowball price.. Let it go, not worth it

That is how the world works. The very lining of accountability is being absolutely dismissed. If you were driving a car and you accidentally injured someone due to your mistake, you are fully accountable. By allowing this to slide is in essence accepting this as a standard practice of trust and integrity when doing any transaction for that matter. Yes, it did not cost blknblk 39k to make a bid, but that's absolutely irrelevant.

If you walked to your supermarket, and bought bananas for 5 cents per bundle instead of 3 dollars, and the supermarket demanded that you pay the difference, I would make a grand assumption that you would feel misled. But come on, those are bananas.

This is a Porsche.