Man wins new Challenger on eBay, but the dealer backs out

[Reaper]

Man wins new Challenger on eBay, but the dealer backs out


A gentleman who goes by the screen name "Hitman" placed the winning bid on a 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8. Hitman won the eBay auction fair and square with a bid of $29,100 on a vehicle that is sticker priced at around $46,000.
The dealership, Glenn E Thomas Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Signal Hill, California claims that their employee made a mistake when listing the vehicle and forgot to set a reserve price.
As we all know, eBay claims that a winning bid is a legal and binding contract. Yes, it is very obvious that this is an absurd price, but the buyer is not at fault. Hitman claims that he actually sent the $500 deposit for the vehicle per eBay rules.
Multiple attempts to contact the dealership have just provided Hitman with the run around, as employees try to brush him off and say they will give him a great deal on the slick Dodge, but will not honor his winning eBay bid.
This story has spread like wildfire across many auto enthusiast message forums such as ChallengerTalk,com, LS1GTO.com, ClubGP.com, SilveradoSS.com, ChicagolandSportBikes.com and many many more. New members have joined ChallengerTalk to cheer on Hitman and provide him with advice, tips and even legal counsel.
If something like this happened at a live auction, such as Barret-Jackson the upset seller wouldn't be able to just say, "sorry price isn't high enough, I changed my mind" and take his car home. EBay provides the opportunity to set a reserve price for this reason exactly, so the vehicle can not sell at a price that is too low. The dealership failed to take that precaution, and now in my opinion they need to own up to their mistake.
It is said, that since Hitman lives locally to this dealership he is going to attempt to provide the full payment within 5 days as to stay within the guidelines of eBay. I will bring more information as it plays out.

You can follow the events as they unfold, here at the original source.
NEW 2009 SRT8 Challenger sells for $29.1K - Dodge Challenger Forum: Challenger & SRT8 Forums
The original eBay auction page.
Dodge : Challenger : eBay Motors (item 390166094286 end time Mar-12-10 14:07:25 PST)


Man wins new Challenger on eBay, but the dealer backs out

[ClairBear]

I guess with all the negative press the dealership should do the right thing and honour the purchase.

[acarmody]

You know what I'm going to do my part and protest, I swear I won't buy from that dealer, LOL.

Nice looking car though.

[gopher]

lucky they had more bids than the $10000 starting bid

but really

who gives a ****?

[DannyboyDS]

people get screwed over every day. I hope he wins though, it's nice to see the little guy win.

[50LTRv8]

It is America, he will sue, the dealer should cough up the car

[1vngal]

It's their balls-up so they should suck it up and do the right thing. But that would be in a perfect world. *sigh*

It'll be interesting to see the outcome of the story, and I hope the guy gets the car for the end price of the Ebay auction.

[STEALTHY™]

Subscribing to find out if he ends up getting the car. ****in hate dodgy ebays who dont get the price they are after and then back out.