WTF is the point of a deposit if it's refundable? It's no better than waving a wad of cash.

As a seller, if someone gives me a $100 deposit on a $1k machine, I'll turn down other buyers because I will expect the first guy won't want to lose his first $100.

It's no different than deposits you make when renting something. You pay the deposit just in case you break what you rent, and therefore costs the owner. If you break your word and don't by the pin you put the deposit down for, you pay for the inconvenience and missed opportunity of the buyer.

Don't pay a deposit if:
1) You don't trust the pin seller
2) You're not sure if you will go through with the agreed transaction

In both cases, you may lose your deposit.

a deposit acts as a show of willingness to proceed - not a time waster with no cash - serious.

if it was obvious that a deposit is never refundable there would be no thread asking for info  

Also, it's this part that I mis-stated:

"Let's say you make a deposit, but inspect the goods and they are inadequate or not the value you expected, you can cancel the deal and expect your deposit back."  

If you don't have a written agreement stating otherwise, you'd have to get an arbitrator or judge to agere with you that what you received (or refused to accept) wasn't worth what was agreed in contract.  That happens all the time in Small Claims court.

@wbradley: With regard to a buyer backing out of a service or sales contract, I too own my corporation.  Would you ever take on a contract or start any work without having a written agreement that there was a penalty for early cancellation??  I never have, my contracts satate a penalty of 20% of the entire contract on top of any expenses incurred (and usually the deposit is 20% of the contract or more).  In fact I sometimes charge up front for consultations and often for proposal preparation (nature of my business).  About the only time I've lost money is either working too hard for my clients, under quoting, or having well established clients on credit go bankrupt (which has happened to me twice with largish sums outstanding).  

Now,  one time I came up against the tough nut.  I had a contract with the Criminal Lawyers Association doing $50k+ Conference seminars.  My direct contact had us running each way producing videos and upping and upping the bill beyond the original quotation, and purchasing extra third party services.  We believed the association intended to pay for the overages, so I wasn't keeping up with my sign-backs of additions to the contract (big mistake) - but I trusted them having worked for years with them.  But then the recession hit (not this one, the big one before) and when it came time for them to pay the bill I got this big song and dance about how their lawyer members weren't paying their bills, they were hurting, blah, blah, blah... they didn't formally sign for the overages..blah, blah, blah... so they burned a bridge and I was out almost $20k.  

But what was I going to do, sue Eddie Greenspan?  

Quoted from dos.reboot

Do buyers usually make them refundable if a game purchase doesn't work out for whatever reason?

Going back to the original question....

...in practice, around here anyways... usually we are dealing with known entities when taking deposits or making deals.  Sometimes one deal hinges on another or a series of deals. You already know and trust (or distrust) the person, so I would imagine you'd get a "pass" the first time around if you made a mistake.  I've asked for a "pass" and given a "pass" in pinball deals.  It stings a little, but it's how we all normally get along.

However, do expect to be "black balled" if you make a habit of it or back-out of a "done deal", regardless of whether you get a deposit back or not.  Even if you don't hear it, it's being said in the background. I've backed out and forfeited my deposit before, even when the seller was nice enough to offer me the deposit back - it just seems like the right thing to do to compensate the seller for trusting you.

There are a minority of people who have "agreed" to a deal in principal, or agreed to take/give a deposit, and then backed out when a sweeter deal has come up, or they have played one member against the other, or tried to hedge their bets by playing the pea under shell game to get a better deal (what we'll call sneaky "auctioning").  There are those that over-represent what they are selling. All those people get a reputation pretty fast.  You can still do deals with them, you just have to know how to hold 'em, and know when to fold.

Now, among friends, we sometimes make pledges but reneg on them.  Sometimes we compensate one way or another, often the people you are dealing with here are just too nice for words.  

But strictly speaking, once you say or write "it's a done deal" - and then you go back on your word, or try to change the terms of the deal, or make it conditional....  Then look out, you could be liable (morally, if not monetarily) for breaking a contract unless you both agree to back down.

If your ears are burning....  

This is one discussion I will not elaborate on because it will get ugly. I am still hurting financially, and I even don't want to go back to Toronto anymore .

Quoted from donnie

... he felt he SHOULD repay a deposit to a buyer who was pulling out of a build/sale because it was never mentioned that  it was non refundable...

Wrong. It was specified.

sorry sparky I got it mixed up -  but the point is you felt you should/did mention to the buyer that it was non refundable.  

the point is unless a deposit is stated as non refundable then it is refundable.

Perhaps some sellers fear scaring off buyers by using the words NON REFUNDABLE?  It wont - but it will set the deal out clearly.

Quoted from donnie

the point is unless a deposit is stated as non refundable then it is refundable.

After doing some common law googling, I'm not so sure that is true.  By default I think a deposit constitutes agreement to purchase (and receipt thereof is an agreement by the seller to sell), so in theory you are obligated to complete the purchase (so refund doesn't enter into it) unless there's other mutally agreed terms.  

I'm no lawyer (and didn't seek counsel on this) but here's a case example (applicable to house purchases) :

"A deposit is generally only released in very limited circumstances: (1) a mutual release by the parties, (2) performance and completion of the agreement of purchase and sale, (3) a term or condition concerning the deposit in the actual agreement of purchase and sale or (4) court action leading to a judgment." "The common law position is that if the agreement is silent and the purchaser defaults, the deposit, by it very nature is forfeited to the vendor. See Salavatore et al, Agreement of Purchase and Sale (Toronto: Butterworths, 1996) at p. 61."  http://dynamiclawyers.com/lega.....ale/deposit-default/

In a real estate deal, if you back out of a purchase after a deposit, except where conditions (like a succesful house inspection) are required to close, you forfeit the deposit to compensate the seller for the potential losses incurred by having the house off the market.  You are paying for the priviledge to not have the house sold from underneath you to a higher bidder. The seller could attempt to change the terms by compensating you to cancel the sale and return your deposit plus compensation, but you have the right to press that the sale go through under the original conditions. Just as they have the right to press you to complete the purchase (in fact, if they choose, they could take you to court to try to force the sale to completion rather than take your deposit if there are no terms to the contrary).

Even if the seller tries to give you back your deposit, and the buyer wants the deal to go through, the buyer could take the seller to court to recover the goods and finish payment (if that's still possible), or sue for damages incurred by early termination of the contract (say you intended to sell the item for a profit and the seller subsequently found out they could make a larger profit elsewhere).

In Sparky's case, I don't blame him for being bitter.  "Anally intruded" seems to be the "catch phrase of the week."  

I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the internet.

To answer the original question, I would say 50%, depends on who you deal with and the nature of the cancellation.

The real value to this thread is to understand that for the money that you are dealing with ($100), once you give it to a person FOR WHATEVER REASON, you cannot expect it to be given back.  Sure, you may be legally entitled to it, but can you really get it back and 'break even'?  No.

Common sense prevails, can't afford to lose a $100?  Don't give it to anyone.

Sometimes you can just get outguned.

The moral of the story, verbal written or otherwise mAke sure you discuss contingencies when leaving a deposit. And try to deal with reputable people!

For me its simple, a deposite is not refundable if its the buyer who break the contract.

Quoted from bilbaomtl

For me its simple, a deposite is not refundable if its the buyer who break the contract.

It works both ways, if the seller breaks the contract, I believe that the return of the deposit (or an attmept to) does not prevent the buyer from taking you to court to complete the sale, or to receive damages due to termination of the contract.  So either way, seller or buyer, be sure to state up front and acknowledge what the terms of the deposit are.  Otherwise assume that you both need to go through with the contract regardless.

Of course people are free to mutually agree to renegotiate contracts.  So if you want to return the deposit and the buyer accepts it back instead of going ahead with the purchase, or the buyer wants their deposit back and you decide to give it to them, then so be it.