Legal advice on pricing error

[Bytor]

Let's say for example that I have seen something advertised on a reputable website with a buy now price of $11.00 that should really be $11,000.00, would I be legally entitled to purchase at $11.00? Someone has put the decimal point in wrong somewhere and I smell myself a steal!

[Swoop]

What else does the auction say? Does it mention anywhere else that the price is 11k?

[Morcs]

Itll be on a classified, and on trademe. happens all the time.

As its a classified, there is no obligation for the seller to sell at the advertised price, as you are buying at their discression. He has to agree to your offer regardless of the advertised price.

if its an auction however, its very different and legally you could get it for $11, but trademe has precautions for this - it will warn you of a potential typo when creating the listing.

[Jizah]

I think there is legal room for error. So no, you won't get it at that price.

[ManDownUnder]

Try it but don't get your hopes up. There's always the ocassional situation where a vindictive spouse is "getting what she can" as agreed with the ex who just ran off with the secretary.

If $11 is all she can get then you're both happy. Quite legal too I think.

[Big Dave]

Where I'm from an advertised price is considered an offer to sell. The vendor is not however obliged to accept offers to buy at that price - apart from the laws of decency and the court of public opinion.

E & OE.

[wickle]

Looked at something on trademe similar once, before I could bid TRADEME pulled it!

[mashman]

Itll be on a classified, and on trademe. happens all the time.

As its a classified, there is no obligation for the seller to sell at the advertised price, as you are buying at their discression. He has to agree to your offer regardless of the advertised price.

if its an auction however, its very different and legally you could get it for $11, but trademe has precautions for this - it will warn you of a potential typo when creating the listing.

Morcs beat me to it... I would imagine, as this is not an inconsiderable amount of cash, that the seller wouldn't honour their listed pricing... pricing changes... But if it's an auction, rock on and good luck...

[klingon]

Where I'm from an advertised price is considered an offer to sell. The vendor is not however obliged to accept offers to buy at that price - apart from the laws of decency and the court of public opinion.

E & OE.

Apparently an advertised price isn't a formal offer (in the contract sense) it's an invitation to offer (invitation to treat). The BUYER then makes the offer and the SELLER accepts the offer - only then you have an enforceable contract.

If it's a genuine mistake then there is no obligation to carry through with the deal on the seller's part. If, however, it was a deliberate effort to deceive someone, there can be other remedies/penalties.

Yay for studying Commercial Law all those years ago! (I hope it'sall still true... but being KB I'm sure someone will correct me if I got it wrong. In fact they will probably correct me if I got it right... )

[ynot slow]

I won a radar detector a few years ago,was advertised at $1.00 reserve,auction finished about midnight on a Friday night,won it for $70.00,next minute another auction was started automatically by seller,but instead of $1.00 reserve had $1.00 buy now.I clicked buy now for $1.00 and won it.Got 2 emails saying congrats etc,please contact seller re delivery etc.Come next day and all good,then Monday get email saying sorry the auto loading stuffed up(he did have buy nows for $85.00)and they weren't going to complete sale for $1.00,emailed trade me they said he had to honour but was at sellers descretion blah,blah.In the end I grabbedthe $1.00 sale for $60.00 for friend.Spent a week with seller trying to get it for $1.00 but let it go,as seemed an honest mistake.

[Bytor]

Ok, it's NOT a Trademe auction!

Infact it's not an auction at all, but a online dealer with a buy now facility for goods.

[p.dath]

The legal perspective presented by klingon is good.

However you should also consider the moral aspects. It you realise that there is an obvious gross error - do you really want to try and make that person incurr a loss of that magnitude. Imagine you were in their shoes.

[Ixion]

What Ms Klingon said. Palpable error, even if it were deemed more than an invitation to treat, since there was no meeting of minds (you admit you realised it was an error), there is no contract.

[The Stranger:Me]

Let's say for example that I have seen something advertised on a reputable website with a buy now price of $11.00 that should really be $11,000.00, would I be legally entitled to purchase at $11.00? Someone has put the decimal point in wrong somewhere and I smell myself a steal!

Nice try, but I sincerely doubt you will have a leg to stand on.
I suspect it is an invitation to treat and not actually an offer, so your "acceptance" then becomes the offer, which they may decline.
If for some reason that test failed (but I doubt it) it may very well fall under the contractural mistakes act (yes this is a real act) - basically if you know there is an error or you should have known there was an error a court can cancel or otherwise modify modify the terms of the contract, and would likely take a dim view of you persuing it.
If that fails, good luck getting it from the seller.

[ynot slow]

Ok, it's NOT a Trademe auction!

Infact it's not an auction at all, but a online dealer with a buy now facility for goods.

Was using my experience as example of online auctions/sales as buy now are.
Any online shops are similar to normal outlets in they don't have to sell to anyone if they don't want to,usually if an add is incorrect in newspaper the company will add a comment next day saying the mistake had been made.

Having said that give it a try,see if you can buy for price advertised.Nothing to lose.