Sale Prices

[DrNick]

I may be wrong but I was lead to believe that advertised prices are a guideline only.

 

[victor meldrew]

I may be wrong but I was lead to believe that advertised prices are a guideline only.

Alternatively an offer to bargain
Case point is . If an item is incorrectly labelled , then no customer has the right to demand that he/she be sold said item at labelled price ! I am lead to believe!
VM

 

[Nose Ma]

Alternatively an offer to bargain
Case point is . If an item is incorrectly labelled , then no customer has the right to demand that he/she be sold said item at labelled price ! I am lead to believe!
VM

Yes indeed - It's called an "invitation to treat". A contract has three things, offer, acceptance and consideration. Consideration is money, or money's worth (or marriage, but that's a special case).

I go into a shop, and I see the thing at £100. I then OFFER to buy it for consideration of £100. The shopkeeper can refuse the sale, saying "it's £150", or he can ACCEPT the sale at £100.

I think the case is Routledge v Grant, but it has been 20 years since I studied contract law.

Oddly enough with change, a shop does not have to give change. BUT if it does, it has to be correct. I would imagine not giving change would put the shop out of business quite quickly.

 

[itma]

...
I go into a shop, and I see the thing at £100. I then OFFER to buy it for consideration of £100. The shopkeeper can refuse the sale, saying "it's £150", or he can ACCEPT the sale at £100.
... it has been 20 years since I studied contract law.

That, indeed is broadly the contract position. (Actually, there the shopkeeper would be making an offer/counteroffer for the sale at £150, which the buyer accepts or declines.)
However, in consumer sales, lots of other consumer legislation also applies.

The price on display, such as the price on the actual goods, the shelf edge price, the price given in an advertisement or on a website, forms in most cases part of what the law terms 'an invitation to treat'. In these circumstances, this means that the price given by the trader forms part of an invitation for the prospective buyer to make an offer to buy, which the trader is entitled to either accept or reject. This means that the buyer cannot insist that a trader sells anything at the marked price, whether or not the trader has made a mistake. However, action may be taken against the trader for giving a misleading price indication. The law does not allow prices to be fixed and, contrary to common belief, goods are not subject to price controls.

If a consumer orders goods, the trader accepts the order and the contract is agreed, but later the trader says the price has gone up, the consumer should only have to pay the price given at the time the order was placed or, alternatively, the consumer could cancel the order. Some contracts where goods are supplied as part of a service, such as double-glazing, include clauses stating that the price may be subject to change after a 'survey' has been carried out. If a consumer is not happy with the revised price, the order can usually be cancelled.
...
For a long time the control of misleading price indications was covered by the Consumer Protection Act 1987, but this piece of legislation no longer exists. Instead, the same principles are now caught by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 that prohibit unfair commercial practices and ban certain practices outright.

Please see Trading Standards website http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/wirral/con1item.cgi?file=*ADV1011-1111.txt

 

[pbh4]

That, indeed is broadly the contract position. (Actually, the shopkeeper would be making an offer for the sale at £150, and the buyer accepts/declines.)
However, in consumer sales, lots of other consumer legislation also applies.

[/url]

Yes that's the point.

 

[justme]

didnt bother to read all the above, couldnt be a**ed but go into say Mole Valley Farmers, Cornwall Farmers or probably any farmers supply shop open to the public and prices are all excluding vat, vat is normally written on tiny numbers next to the quoted price. I guess not many non beekeepers buy from Th***nes but many are not business's and just have to get used to adding vat or not buying from these places.

 

[ROACHMAN]

I think the case is Routledge v Grant, but it has been 20 years since I studied contract law.


Wasnt it from my Law Sudies

Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots the Chemist ?

 

[alanf]

Mole Valley Farmers, Cornwall Farmers or probably any farmers supply shop open to the public and prices are all excluding vat, vat is normally written on tiny numbers next to the quoted price.

Appears to depend on the established practice of the business sector.

If a good proportion of the sales are to other businesses, VAT is added at the till. It can also depend on which end of the trade they operate. The large DIY sheds are all labelled including VAT but small traditional builders merchants always quoted without VAT in the past. Not that they had shelf tickets, a price list was more usual. Hire companies usually quote ex VAT as I recall.

The large office suppliers produce a 'business' catalogue (online these days) without VAT. If they have retail versions of the catalogue or physical shops, they include VAT. A common contract practice is to charge relatively high when the the VAT is added but rebate based on trade volume. All the VAT additions and reclaims and rebates are still going on at accounts level but the office user only sees the ex VAT total against the stationery 'budget'.

You could argue that since most bee keepers produce honey that is sold they are businesses, however small scale. What we are used to seeing in normal domestic life is including all taxes. Which is why it can throw many of us to shop in places here and, for instance, in the US where shop prices don't usually include local sales tax or VAT.