"Invitation to treat" & online purchasing

My query relates to an company which has online sales and is based in Ireland.

I bought an item today online but I've bought from them before. To complete the purchase I had to agree to the "terms & conditions". I decided to have a thorough read of the T&C and one of these is that if the company sells you an item which has been mispriced online they will contact you before completing the sale and offer you the product at the correct price. If they cannot contact you the sale isn't processed.

My issue is that when you purchase an item online you give them your credit card details and they are processed immediately. I can see this on my online banking from tomorrow morning.

So by my reckoning you've completed the contract is that right? Does that mean they have to sell the item to you at the price you purchased or are they within their rights to refund your credit card at a later date if they spot a pricing error?

Yes, possibly you are correct, possibly not...

If it happened in a shop then yes, you have purchased the item and it's yours.

If online they may claim they only pre-authorised your credit card.. this is unlikely to be honest as your credit card company will say it's a sale.

So it probably comes down to this.. the clause in the terms and conditions is illegal.. the same as if a shop put up a poster saying that if they spot pricing errors after you have purchased items they will demand that the items be returned, etc.

You would likely have to check the legislation itself to see if it mentions anything about distance selling.

Have you seen an incorrectly priced item?

Cheers so, Joe

Thanks Joe,

I can't find anything about distance selling at the moment. I'll post back if I can.

GreenQueen said:

... I decided to have a thorough read of the T&C and one of these is that if the company sells you an item which has been mispriced online they will contact you before completing the sale and offer you the product at the correct price. If they cannot contact you the sale isn't processed...

Click to expand...

That seems fair enough. If the price is too high they won't take your money.

GreenQueen said:

... My issue is that when you purchase an item online you give them your credit card details and they are processed immediately. I can see this on my online banking from tomorrow morning ...

Click to expand...

GreenQueen said:

... So by my reckoning you've completed the contract is that right? Does that mean they have to sell the item to you at the price you purchased or are they within their rights to refund your credit card at a later date if they spot a pricing error?

Click to expand...

The supplier is not committed to the contract before they ship the goods so at any stage prior to that that they are probably within their rights to opt out and cancel the credit-card transaction.

wow a man utd footy table for €19!!!! I'd say heads will be rolling when they figure out the error online!!!!