ITPEC IP October 2018 Question 76
In the case of placing an order for a product on an Internet shopping site, at which point is the sales contract concluded?
Explanation
When the shop's acceptance notice reaches the consumer — in an electronic contract, the acceptance takes effect on arrival.
A contract is concluded when an offer and its acceptance meet. On a shopping site, the product page is only an invitation; the consumer's order is the offer, and the shop's reply accepting the order is the acceptance. For contracts made through electronic communication, the acceptance becomes effective when it arrives at the offeror (the arrival rule), so the sales contract is concluded at the moment the shop's acceptance notice reaches the consumer, for example when it is recorded in the consumer's mail server.
Answer (c)
Why not others:
- •(a) — the order arriving at the shop only delivers the consumer's offer; the shop has not yet accepted it
- •(b) — the moment of sending is the dispatch rule, which does not apply to electronic acceptances, since electronic messages can fail to arrive
- •(d) — delivering the product is the shop performing a contract that was already concluded
Key rule: Offer + acceptance = contract; for online orders the customer's order is the offer, and the contract forms when the seller's acceptance arrives.
Legal Affairs · AI-written, may contain errors
This question comes from an official ITPEC past paper. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with ITPEC. See the official IP past-paper collection or Report an issue.