Legal Question in Consumer Law in Michigan
Hi, I have been losing a lot of sleep! I had a listing on Ebay for a comic collection, I stated in the auction that I was not an expert, looked as no restoration was done to the books, my est value looking on web-sites and books was $50K+. All my books were purchased over the past 30 years at Garage sales, comic shops, comic stores. I also listed my opinion on conditions. Stated again that I was not an expert. Did however have my local shop look at them and he said he could get about $25K for the collection and offered $12,500 for everything. Thought I could do better then that.
I Posted over 60 pictures from Auctiva (an online picture site for Ebay). There were 1600+ books, statues, signed books, etc. These sat in my closet for years and boxes and thought my children do not care about them, lets sell them, take a trip, get somethings done around the house, etc.
I started the listing at $35,000. Had a lot of interested buyers. A lot of phone calls, locals that came and looked, emails. Nobody was buying. Had them listed for about 2 weeks. One of the locals stated to take the statues out and autographs except for a few of the high value autos. I did that, took some books out and re-listed at $15,000. Calls, emails, etc started all over again. Had a gentlemen in WA interested. Said he just wanted my older books. No statues, nothing, just the older ones. Sent him pictures, spoke to him on the phone a number of times. Told him on phone, email that he better make sure this is what he wants as I will not except any returns of refunds. These were going to travel from MI - WA and the more handling involved, the conditions could change. He agreed. Stated in one email taht his wife was not happy about this purchase.
I had them professionally packaged at my local UPS. Insured all of them. It cost me $250 to do this. Told him the cost and he should receive by Friday. It was Mon. He wanted me to over night or 2 days them so he had the whole weekend and guaranteed them to be there before Friday so he can go through them. It was an additional $500 to do. I told him no. I would gladly do this if he were to pay. He declined. I shipped them out.
Boxes arrive on Friday evening. He calls me. He said they were not what he expected. He said the conditions were not as good as the pictures were. I told him to give me a couple hours as I was out of my house and would be back then.
I emailed him. Stated what he thought was problems. Out of the 600+ books he received he was not happy with some of the conditions. He said some of them look restored to him.
He gave terms:
1. he mailed this back next week sometime and wanted a full refund
2. I send him the modern books and refund him $5000
3. I send him the modern books, autographs, and statues and refund him $2500
I declined. I did agree to send him all my modern books and autographs (2K-$4K value) to "go away".
He declined
I told him that he received my most valued books and he agreed to them. I asked if he was shorted anything or if the box looked tampered with. I also told him that this is what we agreed with. You saw my pictures and we spoke on the phone. I even offered him and referred him to local vendors to do any assessments he may want.
He paid via Paypal.
He contacted me last night almost 3 weeks of the last talks (thought it went away). Said he was giving me one more shot. He couldn't find the address I gave him originally and wanted to send them back. I again told him there were not any refunds. He said he is filing a claim with his credit card company and they said to send these back to me immediately.
I canceled my Paypal account this morning. I hear horrible things with them with disputes. My questions are:
I am not a store or merchant. This was a collector to collector transaction, does he have any rights?
Canceling my Paypal account and if the credit card company goes after Paypal, can they legally pull funds from my bank account?
Lastly, does he have any rights if he decides to sue?
I have kept every receipt transaction, every email, and the Ebay listing. He is claiming fraud to the Credit Card company and I am afraid he is doing this to me? Did his wife chew his butt off for spending that much money? I do not know what to do.
1 Answer from Attorneys
You present a very interesting matter which is too complex for Internet advice. I would be happy to discuss with you over the phone for free. Call me at (313)402-0853 to discuss. Tim Klisz
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