A cautionary tale of auction honesty comes to us via Florida in the form of a gentleman who is being sued for $15k for leaving a comment over a $44 clock.

Steadman made the purchase in November 2008. But when he saw the shipped goods didn’t match the advertisement, he expressed an opinion about the South Florida lawyer who offered the item on the Internet: “Bad seller; he has the ethics of a used car salesman.”

That comment about the clock, which Steadman returned to Elliot Miller of Miami Beach, prompted a $15,000 defamation lawsuit. He said the lawsuit has cost him $7,000 in legal bills and his attorney quit because he could no longer afford to pay him.

“I made the mistake of leaving my honest opinion online,” said the 49-year-old owner of Triton Welding & Machine Shop. “The comments are there to let other buyers know who they’re dealing with.”

But, he said, “it’s not safe to say anything online. You don’t have a freedom of speech. The laws don’t work for us. Because I don’t have the money to fight them, I’m losing. It’s not right. I’m speechless.”

The comments sections on online shopping sites are one of their strongest features, IMO, but if this starts to take hold, say goodbye to that. What’s Latin for “commenters beware”?

Source: Florida Today