Beating the system

[Tom Tone]

Seems like one student got around the scalping laws...


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7217031659&category=2911


And all I got were these lousy hockey tickets.

[Will]

This has been done before with several hundred dollar envelopes.  The student got shafted because he/she had to buy/give up a t-shirt. :-D

[Beeeej]

[quote Tom Tone]Seems like one student got around the scalping laws...[/quote]

In the sense that eBay's policies are poorly enforced, and most people can find a way to break the law without eBay caring, yes, he "got around the scalping laws."  What he did was still illegal.

Beeeej

[jy3]

yeah and actually I think that a couple hundred dollar envelope is against listing policy as well.

[Jordan 04]

For a while now, eBay has treated the "free ticket included" auctions the same as they do regular ticket auctions.

Obviously, in most cases that means looking the other way and letting the auctions continue, but it is not as if anybody is "beating the system" by structuring their auction like this.

[Trotsky]

If you shipped the envelope and said, sorry, but the free ticket is no longer available, could the buyer claim breach?  Does the "freeness" of the ticket negate a claim of it as avalue received?  Attention Contracts person.

[David Harding]

When I click on that link I get[q]This Listing Is Unavailable [ ]
This listing (#7217031659) has been removed or is no longer available. Please make sure you entered the right item number.

If the listing was removed by eBay, consider it canceled. Note: Listings that have ended more than 90 days ago will no longer appear on eBay.

Try searching for another item now.
[/q]

[French Rage]

[quote Trotsky]If you shipped the envelope and said, sorry, but the free ticket is no longer available, could the buyer claim breach?  Does the "freeness" of the ticket negate a claim of it as avalue received?  Attention Contracts person.[/quote]

The answer has something to do with "consideration".  Thank you, GOVT 313.

[Beeeej]

Well, good - that means they actually did something right for a change.

Not that it'll necessarily stop the seller from executing the sale, but at the very least it'll count as a mark against him.

Beeeej, T-2:36

[Ken\'70]

Collectivist busy-bodies 1  -  Individual Liberties 0 ::help::

[nyc94]

[quote Ken'70]Collectivist busy-bodies 1  -  Individual Liberties 0 ::help::[/quote]

Under what circumstances do you believe the government has any right to intervene in anything?

[Beeeej]

I guess I must have missed that day in Con Law class where the prof covered the individual liberty to break a state law.

Beeeej, T-1:05

[KeithK]

Well, he didn't exactly say that the state gov't didn't have the right under the US Constitution to pass and enforce such a law.  Just because they can doesn't mean they should.

[schoaff]

[quote nyc94][quote Ken'70]Collectivist busy-bodies 1  -  Individual Liberties 0 ::help::[/quote]

Under what circumstances do you believe the government has any right to intervene in anything?[/quote]

I use the grandma rule. Any law should be important enough to our society and our future as a people that you'd be willing to execute your grandmother to enforce it.*

National Defense, Homicide, Robbery? Yes.
Stopping someone from selling a ticket on EBay? No.


* Obviously this presupposes that you are fond of your grandmother ;-)

[PinkyGen]

I don't know if consideration matters. If the ticket is included in the offer, and the buyer "accepts" the offer, once the offer is "accepted," the terms cannot be changed without mutual assent.

The only tricky point is what constitutes acceptance? Is "bidding" acceptance. WHen the buyer wins the auction, is that "acceptance?" Or is it acceptance only when the check is mailed?
- Typically, acceptance is some sort of affirmative signal from the buyer that they accept the terms of the deal as is.

(I'm a law student, but would rather not run to find my Contracts supplement with the Second Restatement).