more the principle Dotty, I agree there are more cabinets out there, we are currently redoing the house in antique/antique style furniture and I have been screwed over a couple of times already. Twice now on ebay and once in a real auctionhouse who failed to enter my commision bid even though they acknowledged it; the item then sold for half my commsion bid. I believe ebay should do far more to protect both the seller and buyer. As far as they are concerned as long as nobdoy is out of pocket then it is all finished but that isn't really the point.

But do I have any options outside of ebay as I agree I will get nowhere with them. If I was refusing to buy the item the seller can go to court and force me to purchase it, surely it can work the other way around?

My understanding of any auction is that on the fall of the hammer a legally binding contract is formed but ebay seems to be completley un interested in helping me complete a transaction with a seller who refuses to now sell. My interactions with ebay and the seller are shown below. Do I have any options legally as I am getting fed up with people picking and choosing what they do with complete disregard to others and the law. Kyle Summers Welcome to eBay Live Help, I am Kyle. How may I assist you. matt_mattuk 270906002069 - hi The guy wants to cancel the auction and sell elsewhere when the auction has closed and I have won matt_mattuk I want the itema and as far as I am awre a legally binding contract has been formed is thsi correct Kyle Summers Oh Okay I will help you out Kyle Summers While I am looking into this, is there anything else you want me to look into? matt_mattuk no just thi sone Kyle Summers Thank you Kyle Summers To assist you with this issue, I will need to transfer this chat to one of my colleague working in specialised department who handle such issues. Can I transfer the chat? matt_mattuk sure no probs Kyle Summers Has transferred you to:Ivan Young Ivan Young Welcome to eBay Live Chat. My name is Ivan. Please give me a moment to review what you have discussed with our previous representative. matt_mattuk Ivan - whilst wat matt_mattuk sorry - whilst waiting I have typed out the following matt_mattuk Hi this is in reference to 270906002069. I won the auction and the seller is now trying to cancel the auction. As far as I am aware a legally binding contract has been formed as in any normal auction so he has to sell to me. The e-mail exchange is shown below These have already been sold. I did try and cancel them and I dont understand what has happened. I also cancelled your transaction. I will refund your payment when i recieve it. Apologies for any inconvininece No sorry that is not acceptable. You did not state they were on sale elsewhere and you failed to cancel the auction. The law surrounding auctions is very clear and at the end of an auction a legally binding contact is formed. You need to explain this to the other party and conclude this transation. I am fed up of people not fulfilling their lagal obligations and I will proceed along a legal route if necessary. If I do not have a positive response back by this evening I will be contacting ebay to have your account blocked and request your pe matt_mattuk personal detail so I can add them to the small claims application. I think your behaviour is very aggressive and if you wish to proceed with a claim that is a decision you need to make. You have been fully refunded but I find the threats of your attempts to access my personal information inappropriate and would not feel safe with you coming to collect the items from me with this kind of behaviour. I no longer will make communication with you and sdvise that you go through the appropriate channels rather than being aggressive. I have communicated with e-bay themselves who will not give out my information and will not block my account as I have good e-bay history and I have fully refunded you and communicated promptly. If you contine to be threatening then I will leave you negative feedback. My response back stated that I wasn't being aggressive only assertive and only stating the legal position he was in. My desire for his details was not a personal threat but a desire to add his details to any formal pape matt_mattuk paperwork I may wish to complete. As yet he has not replied back. I feel you should be actively pushing him to complete the transaction and understand his obligation. He has cancelled my paypal payment and as a result I will have to pay paypal to withdraw my money. I am without my goods which I am legally bound to buy and out of pocket. What are you going to do to assisit me? Ivan Young Thank you for waiting, Matthew. I have reviewed the information provided and I understand you're concerned as your seller has refused to sell the item you won. I'll be happy to look into this for you. Before we proceed, would there be any other concerns that I can help you with? matt_mattuk no just this one Ivan Young Okay. Please bear with me for a few moments while I review your account and let me see what I can do to resolve this for you. Ivan Young Thanks for your patience. I'll be with you shortly. Ivan Young Matthew, I've carefully checked your account and as your seller is refusing to sell the item, even though you won the auction, this is a breach of our Seller Non-Performance policy. Just as you are obliged to pay for an item you win, the seller is obliged to sell it to you. Ivan Young To read our policy, copy this link into a new browser window: matt_mattuk ok so what do I do to get the tables? matt_mattuk nothing on that link is designed to solve problems it only show what your expectations of a seller are. matt_mattuk are you still there? matt_mattuk hello?????? Ivan Young Hello. Ivan Young I apologise for the delay. Ivan Young Matthew, please understand that even though the seller has the obligation to sell the item we still can not force them to honour it. Ivan Young However, what I can do in my end is to take the necessary action against the seller for breaching the said policy. matt_mattuk SO what actions are you taking against him? Ivan Young Let me assure you that we've looked into your complaint and taken the action against them that was required. If you can’t see what action was taken this doesn’t mean that we haven’t taken any. Bear in mind that most of these actions can’t be seen by other members. Ivan Young While privacy is a priority at eBay at all times; however, please understand that we're not able to share the details of the actions we take. They can range from issuing the seller an informational alert, a temporary suspension, an indefinite suspension or terminating the member's account. matt_mattuk It appears that you are washing your hands of the whole thing. As the auction house are you not obliged to take legal action if I demand it to ensure the transaction is completed? This isn't a private transaction, you are the middleman he and therefore must have some responsibility matt_mattuk Ivan I have to go collect my child from school how can I continue this later without starting again?