Aukcja on-line
The on-line auction

Summary/Abstract: The Internet makes it not only possible to purchase goods through websites (online shops) by submitting a tender and accepting it, but to do so by means of online auctions. The latter way of concluding a contract came into prominence both in the United States of America and all around the world. Items purchased on auctions have come to be not only consumer goods, but also articles of great value, including works of art such as Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn’s The Circumcision, which, so far, have solely been seen at auctions organised by, for instance, Sotheby’s or Christie’s auction houses. The Internet-based auctions have also been popular in Poland. As for on-line auction sales, Allegro.pl website is of great importance in the country. The regulations of the Polish Civil Code define three ways of concluding a contract, including an auction and a tender, as defined by the provisions of Articles 70¹–705 of the Polish Civil Code. However, the analysis of the Internet auction procedure shows a number of discrepancies between it and the auction-referred regulations contained in the Civil Code. The differences pose a question whether they are significant enough to conclude that the on-line auction, despite some apparent similarities, should be regarded as a form of concluding a contract that is entirely different from the auction regulated by the provisions of the Civil Code. The positive decision on this issue would determine the question of the purposefulness of introducing provisions on the online auctions as a separate form of concluding a contract into the Civil Code. The conducted analysis leads to the conclusion that the on-line auction does not differ essentially from that regulated by the provisions of the Civil Code. Therefore, there is no necessity of introducing any separate regulations concerning it into the Civil Code, but only taking into consideration the specific character of the on-line auction and adjusting the existing provisions of the Civil Code to them.

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