help guy backs out of a sale after m.o. is iss

Lets not send the lynch mob out yet. The A'gon community is very tight knit indeed, and he's quite likely to send the check back as promised. Djjd did a nice job on the legal end of it, but I don't suspect you want to fight this one... unless it is one special amp at one special price then just put you money back in your pocket and look for another one!

I'm a lawyer but will refrain from giving a detailed legal opinion at this time. Should the need arise, I'd be happy to help out Alexone in private emails without charging any fee. Believe it or not, we're not all crooks!

Suffice it to say that most courts would treat email correspondence for online transactions as meeting the writing requirement under the Statute of Frauds (in this case if it's a sale of goods for $500 or more, there must be a writing signed by the party to be held). Obviously, a "signature" is impossible to "prove" in standard email communication, but based on facts and circumstances, it wouldn't be difficult to establish that the emails were the product of your seller's mind and imagination and were not written by his cat, for instance!

Normally, the buyer's payment would be effective as an acceptance of the offer upon dispatching the letter under the "mail box" rule - unless, of course, a specific method of dispatch was agreed upon between the parties but then not followed by the buyer. Say, for instance, you agreed to send the money order by FedEx overnight (which I always do as a buyer) but then sent it by regular (snail) mail. In such a case, your acceptance would not be effective until receipt by the seller and he would have the right to revoke his offer in the meantime. This is one good reason to use overnight services unless it's a small transaction for less than $100 or so. Another good reason is to give proper respect to the nature of the transaction such that the seller will never be left waiting in suspense.

Negative feedback is a must in this instance. If he then retaliates with negative feedback for you, send a note to Cornfedboy asking him to look into the matter. I'm sure there is a way for A'gon to remove negative feedback if it's clearly unjustified. If worse comes to worse, then start another thread about it!

Not to quibble with any of the above posts, but from my experience with several diff. banks, a Money Order CAN be stopped, while a Cashier's Check CANNOT be stopped unless it is stolen. (This is why, when buying a house, sellers & or escrow firms require a Cashier's Check ; also a lot of auto dealers).

So, Alexone, just pay the $7 or whatever to stop payment on the M.O! There's no downside to that.
Good luck!

thanks everyone, it does feel nice to hear from so many honorable people.
i stopped the m.o. it can be done after signing and notarizing an affidavit , just had to claim it was lost , since i hope it was still in transit. fyi, there is a 12 dollar fee. so ,i think all of us should be concerned that a m.o. is not cash and that in can work for or against us.
i will leave negative feedback and hope to still get the m.o.
back.
thanks again.
alex

thanks everyone, it does feel nice to hear from so many honorable people.
i stopped the m.o. it can be done after signing and notarizing an affidavit , just had to claim it was lost , since i hope it was still in transit. fyi, there is a 12 dollar fee. so ,i think all of us should be concerned that a m.o. is not cash and that it can work for or against us.
i will leave negative feedback and hope to still get the m.o.
back.
thanks again.
alex

Wait until you get the check back, and then leave your negative feedback when all of the facts are assembled in front of you. If you get the check back, then it's just a matter of communicating in 80 charactes or less that he backed out of the deal at a point too late in the process and by doing so made you awfully nervous.

At a minimum, you should ask for a refund of your $12. Certainly, he owes you that much, and his reaction to this request should be considered in your feedback. To my way of thinking, it remains appropriate to insist he returns the money order. Although you are now protected by the stop order, remember that stop orders are not always followed by banks to which a stopped check is initially presented - and even a bank that issues a stop order (your bank) may honor the check by mistake. Do you want to go through a hassle with your bank if they were to make such a mistake?

Finally, if you don't get your check back, feel free to let loose with some choice explitives in your feeback!