Friday, April 30, 2004

What to Do, What to Do

Aaron Haspell, who blogs God of the Machine, has a post up titled “Business Ethics" where he presents a dilemma, so to say, on a couple of items sold at auction (lamps), where, after the bids are finalized, price tags are discovered, showing the lamps are quite a bit less expensive than the winning bid, and, could possibly be purchased at another retailer’s shop at a lower price.  What do you do?

I think caveat emptor applies, as there was no misrepresentation made as to the value of the lamps.  Bids were made, and a winning bid was accepted.

Now, what about the seller’s business goodwill?  Does the seller, who auctioned the items, owe it to the winning bidder to drop the price, or rescind the sale, to maintain goodwill?  Once again I say no.  The sale took place at auction, rather than a buy off the shelf retail shop, where other considerations would apply, and a price agreement would, in all likelihood, be agreed upon.

With that said, I will add that the seller’s, the auctioneer, mistake, was lack of attention to detail.  He was not familiar with the piece being sold, but he does not owe the winning bidder any concessions.  Purchasing at auction is different than purchasing at a retail shop.

Posted by John Venlet on 04/30 at 06:16 AM
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