question Can you sue a buyer for backing out of a deal?

It has happens a lot, forget about it and move on. Make sure your landing page has the agreed price set as the BIN

Take action on what? They offered you a price and then changed their mind, if they have not signed a contract with you then you have little to no chance of getting a result.

Emails can be legally binding in the right circumstances but it can start to get very complicated very quickly.....

https://businessadvice.co.uk/business-development/business-planning/are-emails-legally-binding

As a side note Myself and many others have people press BIN on marketplaces which means they have entered a legally binding agreement to buy the name and still they have not paid......there are a lot of time wasters in the world

Legally speaking you can attempt to sue somebody for anything, the question is, will the judge even entertain it, if you attempt to sue someone for backing out of a deal, I can guarantee you it will not go anywhere especially if there is no legally binding contracts, and you said its over email, that holds no weight, and the lawyer fees would be expensive unless you are representing yourself, then you would have to take time off of work and lose money. Its best to just move on and find another buyer, and also who would want to buy from someone that just goes around suing everybody, definitely not me.

MrAcidic said:

It has happens a lot, forget about it and move on. Make sure your landing page has the agreed price set as the BIN

Take action on what? They offered you a price and then changed their mind, if they have not signed a contract with you then you have little to no chance of getting a result.

Emails can be legally binding in the right circumstances but it can start to get very complicated very quickly.....

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See but we are interested in suing them if it is binding. So, the question isn’t whether we should move on or not, but if they’re allowed to back out or not if we hold them to the deal.

This deal would be for $100k by the way, so we’re not interested in just moving on. If it was a small deal we would of course let it go.

NewR said:

See but we are interested in suing them if it is binding. So, the question isn’t whether we should move on or not, but if they’re allowed to back out or not if we hold them to the deal.

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That' the million dollar question....There is a legal discussion section post in there and see how you get on....

https://www.namepros.com/forums/legal-discussion.229

GL

I understand that is a lot of money, I would not be pleased if someone just backed out like that, but you cant force someone to pay money, but good luck, I hope you secure that sale.

@MrAcidic and @bursinventory already gave you the answer you’re going to get from 99% of the members here. You can drag this thread out until you get 100 responses or you can count my post as #3 through 99 and save everyone some time.

If you had incurred damages, you might have a case. What is your damage?

Offer received for a domain via email serve as a valid document / prof (without obligations). Once y receive offer, send a contract (acknowledgment, obligation, price etc contact your lawyer how-to) to the buyer where company or person (in charge) need to add signature (I'm using SignNow service). Once signed, the next step is to send the invoice. // without contract - 0 //

for them to agree to spend that kind of money they must seriously be in need of a premium domain name, probably an exact match for what they need. there may be very few other options. don't get on their bad side. they may be back.

NewR said:

Hi everyone,

The other day, after negotiating back and forth, we were offered a fair amount for one of our domains from the buyer and we accepted. This was over email.

Anyway, days later they say they are not doing it anymore because they think the domain is worth less and they’re willing to do half the price we agreed to. We have no interest in halving the price.

So, the question is does an accepted offer for a domain (over email) serve as a valid contract that we can take legal action over if they do not honor it?

Please let me know. Also, if anyone knows of any actual lawsuits where this happened please let me know of them. I imagine this is a common occurrence.

M

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This depends on:
a) your jurisdiction
b) buyers's jurisdiction
c) actual laws applicable on those jurisdictions

You need to ask your lawyer basically, but only in case he/she has good knowledge of b) and c)

People here on domaining forum can not give you good advise, particularly as they had not even asked questions about a) and b) so far...

In the U.S.: you may sue for specific performance but you may have to show that you somehow relied on the offer to your detriment. If both you and buyer are merchants other U.S. laws may apply and the detrimental reliance may not need to be demonstrated.

Realistically though unless you and buyer are local to each other and at a minimum in the same country such proceedings would be a waste of time. There’s also the issue of whether buyer has assets to perform.

The saying goes, the only advice worth listening to is that which you pay for; so maybe step up to the plate and consult with a lawyer.

NewR said:

See but we are interested in suing them if it is binding. So, the question isn’t whether we should move on or not, but if they’re allowed to back out or not if we hold them to the deal.

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xynames said:

In the U.S.: you may sue for specific performance but you may have to show that you somehow relied on the offer to your detriment. If both you and buyer are merchants other U.S. laws may apply and the detrimental reliance may not need to be demonstrated.

Realistically though unless you and buyer are local to each other and at a minimum in the same country such proceedings would be a waste of time. There’s also the issue of whether buyer has assets to perform.

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Excellent answer, and if the op is so determined they should not be asking anonymous avatars on a domain forum but rather contact a professional who actually does this for a living.

darb said:

The saying goes, the only advice worth listening to is that which you pay for; so maybe step up to the plate and consult with a lawyer.

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Exactly

This literally happened to me on Nov 15
Buyer and I agreed on sale amount on escrow then he backed out on the 18th.
Escrow says due to the buyer NOT choosing a payment method he is NOT liable.
What a effing joke!

SirDrago said:

This literally happened to me on Nov 15
Buyer and I agreed on sale amount on escrow then he backed out on the 18th.
Escrow says due to the buyer NOT choosing a payment method he is NOT liable.
What a effing joke!

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Had a binding contract been executed by both parties?

Bernard Wright said:

Had a binding contract been executed by both parties?

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I've never used the services of Escrow.com, so I don't know what sort of arbitration clauses you might have agreed to that would make them the arbiter when the buyer backs out. But it stands to reason that if you want to seek a legal remedy, that's ultimately your discretion.

Personally, I think lawsuits are a lot of hassle and costly, and not only monetarily-so. I wouldn't encourage them. Moreover, I think we should all recognize that our actions have consequences, and legal suits can become precedent for future disputes. Your situation, @SirDrago seems to be a bit less slippery than the one put forth by OP; I'm sure I'm in good company when I say that a world where all of our emails become legally binding contracts is one step closer to hell than I want to venture in this lifetime.

I'm no lawyer, to be clear. But at least with a two-party contract to reference you can point to an actual contract in your legal complaint for breach of contract. Keep in mind that legal judgments are not enforceable by the courts (at least not in California).

I don't think it's a "joke" at all. But I think you'd be wise to move on.

NewR said:

See but we are interested in suing them if it is binding. So, the question isn’t whether we should move on or not, but if they’re allowed to back out or not if we hold them to the deal.

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It's not binding so you will have to move on. Its unfortunate but it happens all the time, even of you filed a lawsuit, you wouldn't win based on an email.

NewR said:

See but we are interested in suing them if it is binding. So, the question isn’t whether we should move on or not, but if they’re allowed to back out or not if we hold them to the deal.

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You should be consulting a lawyer about this. Not asking in a domain forum.

Short answer is, no. It’s not worth your time and money.

I will happen many times some will just bid and see how cheap can try get things for with no actual intension of buying.

if its a good of domain to be $100k, then you don't need that buyer anyway, there will be another and they might pay $125k. Move on.