curtis: an oral contract is still a contract. That's always been part of common law, and it's a part of US law as well.
In the case that's been thrown about, the appeal decision was over whether there ever was an oral contract, or who was a party to it, not whether an oral contract is valid and enforceable, which it is.
Incidentally, your eBay and Amazon examples still aren't written contracts. They're policy statements, which support their position in the unwritten contracts. Receipts and invoices aren't contracts, they are evidence of performance on the contract. Some people print the 'agreement' on the back of receipts or invoices, but that's quite not the same as a 'written contract' either, though people pretend it is.
I started to go into the details, but then, I don't know how useful it is to debate what is or isn't a contract here. The real problem with the whole "you didn't have a contract specifying a delivery date, so you screwed up" line of thinking is that Kyle did represent that he would deliver the goods within a reasonable amount of time, and with some specificity.
On January 27:
"After deposit you are looking at roughly 30 days at this point before delivery... (Yeah I know , but its only me)"
I made the deposit on Feb 1, and he acknowledged getting it. I made the final payment on July 19, and then he disappeared. I suspect that it was similar with the others. I think it's silly to debate whether KVT is obligated to perform within a time frame. I doubt even Kyle would argue that he's not, so I don't see the point in arguing over it.
Really, I don't think any of this would be an issue if it weren't for Kyle going into hiding. If he would just keep in contact with his customers, especially the long-overdue ones, we wouldn't be forced to the conclusion that he's up to no good. In a certain way, it's even more frustrating for me, because he's almost done with me... he just owes me brackets, and I've even made some temporary brackets for myself, so he just has to talk to me and tell me (for instance) that he's going to get them to me just after the new year. It seems so easy for him to finish up with me that it's even more alarming in a way that he's not doing it.