Sale cancelled for item on sale

phester28

I ordered an item from amazon.de at a discount, not enough that it was an obvious mistake. The seller took money . About 2 days later the order was cancelled and the money returned saying the item is no longer available. The item is still showing as in stock but now for the full price

I was under the impression that money taken and confirmation email / order acknowledgment constituted a contract of sale

CramCycle

If it's not there, it's not there. Not sure what more you can do except leave negative reviews to highlight their poor stock control system.

Sleeper12

Retailer is allowed to cancel the order if there was an error with the price. Obviously retailer is allowed to cancel the order if there is no item for sale. It's not unusual for the last item in stock to be damaged & not fit for sale. So long as you receive a full refund then you are made whole again.

Del2005

It could also be different vendors.

phester28

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119810108#Comment_119810108

So a business can promote itself by putting pricing errors to draw attention / advertising and then Cancel the order. The price of the item is not an obvious pricing error as ideado.de shows the item was at the sale price elsewhere several times over the last 6 months.

The items is and continues to be in stock and for sale at the new price

This has come up before, if memory serves me right the site t&cs states that sale contract isn’t formed until the item is dispatched.

walterking

money taken / order acknowledgement does not constitute a contract for sale online. Its in the terms and conditions you agreed to when signing up to amazon.

In a regular shop, the exchange of money does effect a sale as its an exchange, but at the same time, there is no legal obligation for a retail store to give you change - it comes under "invitation to treat". So nitty gritty "legal" arguments will never work unless you have an in-depth specialist knowledge.

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119811031#Comment_119811031

There must be hundreds of threads explaining this.

When you go into penny's and see an item for 1 cent that should be €20 they don't have to sell it to you. There are a few laws to protect the seller.

Online, your contact is only complete when you accept the item after its been delivered. You have 14 days to charge your mind. Obviously the contract cannot be complete at the time of the acceptance of the payment because you have to accept the goods.

What is offer and acceptance in contract law?

The meaning of offer and acceptance is the basis of a contract. To form a contract, there must be an offer made by one party which is, in turn, accepted by another party, and then, in most cases goods and/or services must be exchanged between the two.

horse7

As you probably know Amazon Germany is a totally different kettle of fish, you won't get anywhere with them, I've been there.

phester28

I am discussing it with amazon. But found one for and one against legal case in Germany that says a misprice, if money is taken should be honoured by contract unless it was a blatant pricing error and the seller can demonstrate this.

I know people say this had been done to death so I'll update if I hear anything concrete back

In the meantime I found the product for sale at another amazon shop. Again at a discount price.

Hopefully I did not find the same pricing error on two different shops.

walterking

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119814527#Comment_119814527

Amazon don't make eu law. They MIGHT do it as a goodwill gesture, but the law is very clear, a mis-price (or any price) does not need to be honoured unless you have the goods in your possession.

And its is in all standard terms and conditions.

Why some people will spend hours "researching" to try and find someone to take their side and wrangle a few quid when it is not legally due, it just beyond crazy.

phester28

I dont think even the second order I placed will be dispatched.

@walterking The goods do not have to be in your possession just dispatched.

For the benefit of others here is the T&C from amazon Europe. I have highlighted the relevant section

2 OUR CONTRACT

Your order is an offer to Amazon to buy the product(s) in your order. When you place an order to purchase a product from Amazon, we will send you a message confirming receipt of your order and containing the details of your order (the “Order Confirmation”). If you are using certain Amazon Services (e.g. Amazon mobile applications) the Order Confirmation may be posted on a Message Center on the website. The Order Confirmation is acknowledgement that we have received your order, and does not confirm acceptance of your offer to buy the product(s) or the services ordered. We only accept your offer, and conclude the contract of sale for a product ordered by you, when we dispatch the product to you and send e-mail or post a message on the Message Center of the website confirming to you that we've dispatched the product to you (the "Dispatch Confirmation"). If your order is dispatched in more than one package, you may receive a separate Dispatch Confirmation for each package, and each Dispatch Confirmation and corresponding dispatch will conclude a separate contract of sale between us for the product(s) specified in that Dispatch Confirmation. Your contract is with Amazon EU Sarl. Without affecting your right of cancellation set out in section 3 below, you can cancel your order for a product at no cost any time before we send the Dispatch Confirmation relating to that product.

walterking

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119823186#Comment_119823186

That's their contract and as it is more advantageous than the letter of the law, it is what you can rely on. But most retailers will say it is when the goods are delivered as it is the receipt of the goods that gives solidity to the contract.

Same with a refund policy. An online store can offer a greater time limit than the 14 days and therefore you can enforce that, but they cannot offer less than 14 days.

It pays to glance over terms and conditions and quickly you know what to look for