Question for an attorney familair with Texas contract law

I've entered into an agreement to purchase an M16 with half the money up front. The seller has received the down payment but now wants to raise the price?

Any suggestions?

As a Kentucky attorney, I'm not going to give you any legal advice. But I will give you some practical advice: if the money is enough to make it worth it, get a gun-friendly Texas attorney close to you involved.

Questions that are important are: is there a written contract? Has the tax stamp business already been done? Would you be just as happy to get your prepaid money back or do you really want this particular M16?

Good luck.

Aaron

Aaron
He sent an email with the terms agreed upon, not sure if that counts as a contract or not. The paperwork has not been started. This was a good price and but not a great price. However a deal is a deal in my book. Another M16 would be fine however I don't like people who renegade on a deal after. He was offered more money by someone who missed out.

I am not an attorney at all, and don't even play one on TV, but my first question would be what is in writing. Do you have a bill of sale stating the price, subtracting the down payment, and then a remaining amount? If you have no such thing, then congratulations, you have just been [beep]ed.

If the seller stands firm, you have the choice of forfeiting your down payment or yielding to extortion. In theory, you can take the seller to court, but it would be a darned expensive gun that would justify an attorney's fees and the court costs. And any court, even a small claims court, will ask for some proof of the agreement.

It never fails to amaze me that folks who wouldn't buy a dishwasher or a TV without a sales contract will buy or agree to buy a gun with no contract, no paper work, no proof that the seller even owns the item, nothing but someone's word. I appreciate that kind of thing as part of our Second Amendment freedom, but a gun is a valuable commodity and buyers and sellers should be bound by the normal aspects of doing business.

Jim

IANA lawyer, I don't play one on tv, and I've never lives in Texas.

I have been buying & selling NFA toys for several years, both as a dealer and before that as a private person (though those were all purchases :D).

Every time the sale involves deposits, payments on account, etc. I've used a sales contract to protect both myself and the other party from exactly the scenario the OP encountered. Heck, as a dealer I'm amazed at the number of customers who are willing to put down thousands in cash as a deposit on a custom gun and then walk away without any paperwork showing 1) that they paid us, and 2) what the payment was for.

In the NFA world reputation is everything. Personally I'd demand my money back and trash the seller's name on every gun forum so folks know what kind of person he is.

contact https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/

if he sent you terms and tried to extort more money,file complaints with postal service,http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams and all the agencies listed here.save all the emails and start making notes.best way to deal with these guys is tie them up in legalese

He sent an email with the terms agreed upon, not sure if that counts as a contract or not.

It would in Florida, hit reply, and state in no uncertain terms that you have a deal and have sent him the money and you expect him to go forward with his end of the bargain and that you are not paying the additional amount, and give him a firm deadline (like "please confirm you have sent the paperwork to the BATFE by Friday"). He knows he made a deal and wants to see if he can chisel you. IME this situation can be resolved without a lawyer if you are sufficiently firm.

Make sure you print out that email w/timestamp and safeguard it. It's your golden ticket.

I'm gonna chime in with some more practical, not legal, advice. I know that when you've been screwed by someone, it's not fun to just give in. You want to force them to see reason, even if that means a lawsuit.

But if you're motivated by the pure economics of the situation, then the best answer may be to get your deposit money back and find another seller.

We don't have any numbers here, but let me make some up to demonstrate what I'm really getting at.

Assume the M16 is $12,000. Assume you paid half up front ($6000) and that he is now saying that he has another buying lined up who is willing to pay $14,000, and that if you don't meet that price, he's gonna sell to the other guy.

Well, it ain't fair. We get that. But the guy is already demonstrating that he's not willing to be a fair individual and do what is right. How much time and effort and money is it going to take to force him step-by-step through the tax stamp/transfer process?

Assume that you're gonna have to get an attorney and file a lawsuit to get anywhere. The guy is then court-ordered to comply with the terms of the contract (assuming you win) and decides he's gonna drag his feet and do the bare minimum he's required to do. The process takes a long time, and you have to return to court with your attorney multiple times to file motions to compel the guy to comply with the court's order.

When you're talking about a price difference of $2000, you can easily eat that up in legal fees in that scenario, and you also have the headache of dealing with a jerk and being stressed out for the entire length of time that the lawsuit and its fallout takes.

Now don't get me wrong--I'm not suggesting that you pony up the extra $2000 to stay in this deal. I'm suggesting that you simply send the guy a polite e-mail (calling would be better) and tell him that if he is going to try to change the terms after you already negotiated the contract, then you're done with him and you want your money back.

You may find that once you do that, he's suddenly willing to go forward at the original price. Who knows if the other guy is really serious and has cash in hand? A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, as they say.

But personally, with all the transferrable M16s out there, I'd just get my money back and keep shopping.

There's what is legally right, and then there's enforcing it. Save yourself the headache of being involved in a lengthy, expensive lawsuit and get far away from this shady businessman as soon as possible.

Just my 2 cents, and again, not legal advice.

Aaron

Is this the guy? I figure there can't be too many folks in TX selling M16's and then trying to jack up the price after money has changed hands:
http://www.subguns.com/boards/mgmsg.cgi?read=768924

Wasn't "Western Firearms" was it? I had a, shall we say "less than fulfilling" run in with him over an MP5 once upon a time. Very similar thing. Just curious.

What area of Texas?