Imagine yourself finding the greatest deal in the world on Craigslist. Your excited, you’re ready with cash in hand after exchanging a few emails and show up to find the person has already sold the item to someone else for more money! You can now imagine yourself very very angry! Your first thoughts are, can I sue this person? Turns out, yes you can.
A legally binding contract is set in motion once both parties agree to a price for an item. A legal contract does not need to be written out on legal copy with a law firms stationary; this can be a simple text exchange or email chain. The agreement to the terms by both parties (item for price) is no different than any other contract used in business and can be enforced.
How can you protected yourself if you are selling and don’t want to be sued? Consider a construction bonding. Or try to watch what you say in your correspondence with a buyer and set clauses to the informal contract such as agreeing to meet at a specific time and place and buy the item for a set price. If the buyer doesn’t show, or haggle on the price, they have violated the contract and you are free to sell to anyone else.
Just something to keep in mind…
