District Court Oost-Brabant rules that Art. 2(b) CISG excludes sales by internet auction from CISG

In the transaction that lead to the Dutch Court of First Instance's decision of 31 August 2020, a Dutch seller had posted an offer for the sale of a stallion (11 years old) on an internet auction platform that specialized in horse auctions. The highest bid was made by a buyer from an (unnamed) CISG Non-Contracting State.

When the buyer subsequently sued the seller, claiming a non-conformity of the horse, the District Court held (in para. 21 of the decision) that the Sales Convention did not apply to the sales contract, because Art. 2(b) CISG – which states that the Convention does not apply to sales “by auction” – also excludes sales via internet auction from the Convention's scope. (The District Court accordingly applied domestic Dutch law to the transaction.)

While the District Court Oost-Brabant did not support its position with any references to case law (Dutch or foreign), at least two recent decision have similarly interpreted the term "auction" in Art. 2(b) CISG as also covering internet auctions: 

The opposing view that has occasionally been presented in writings on the Convention has not (yet) found any followers among international courts: