eBay to pay damages to Austrian buyer

VIENNA (AP) – An Austrian court has ordered online auctioneer eBay Europe to pay more than euro16,000 ($21,400) in damages to an Austrian who never received gold bars he bought on the site.

The Austria Press Agency reports that the man in question bought 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) worth of gold bars in September 2007 from ML Agentur, a vendor portrayed as trustworthy, although there had been complaints about delivery delays.

It quotes a representative of a law firm handling the case as saying Wednesday that ML Agentur went bankrupt in November 2007 and that the court in the eastern city of St. Poelten determined that eBay took too long to react to the pending insolvency.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.