Know your rights (or wrongs) when you shop by Ryan Clement, barrister

TRANSCRIPT

What happens when we purchase Goods or pay for services?

Let's break that down.

0:14

A close friend of mine went shopping and he saw something that he thought his wife would like, so he rang her up and told her. He said to her I think this is cheaper than we normally see this thing for. She agreed and told him to buy it.

He went to the shop, picked up the product and attempted to buy it for the price that was on the label.

0:37

The shop refused to sell him the product at that price. They said it was wrongly priced.

0:44

He kicked up a fuss and said I know my rights. This is the price on the label and this is the price you've got to sell it to me for. The shop was adamant and didn't sell him the product.

0:56

He came out the shop and he rang me immediately and told me the story.

1:01

Unfortunately, he was wrong. I had to explain it to him that when it comes to buying a product from a shop, the price tag is what we call an invitation to treat.

1:13

It is not an offer that a consumer then accepts.

1:18

So let me break this down.

1:21

The price tag is an invitation to treat and all the owner is doing is saying that, "If you make me an offer for that price, I am more likely than not to accept it," and then the product is yours, providing you give me something of value.

1:39

So, what we have in a contract in this situation is an invitation to treat (the price tag), an offer that you make, which is around the same price as the price tag. The shop then accepts your offer and then you give something of value. And what we are talking about here is money. It could be something else than money, but it's very rare that someone is going to go and buy a Mars Bar or a KitKat and say, "I won't give you money, I'll clean the floors for you instead."

2:08

So that's what we have. An invitation to treat, offer, acceptance, consideration.

2:12

Think about it. There are times when we have been in a shop, we have seen the products we want (or one of them), we go to buy it and the owner of the goods says, "That one is not for sale," even though it has a price tag on it.

2:29

So it must mean that the shop owner is not making an offer that you have accepted.

2:34

All the shop owner is doing, is saying, "I own this product, and if I want to sell it and you make me an offer that is acceptable to me, and what is likely to be acceptable to me is the price on the tag (the amount on the price tag) [invitation to treat], we will have a deal."

2:53

We also have a situation where we go to a shop, we see the price of the goods and we offer a different price, normally lower. It would be unusual to offer more, but it can happen we have seen Hollywood movies where someone sees the last of a product in the shop that the owner says is not for sale and they say, "Well, if I offer you twice as much, will you sell it to me?"

3:19

We have seen that and it probably happens in real life too.

3:21

But, you can offer less for a product. The word being, "offer," less than what is on the price tag (the invitation to treat) and the shop owner can say, "Yes, I will sell it to you at that price," or, "No!"

3:37

So, let us break it down one more time.

3:40

Invitation to treat is simply the price tag. The offer is what you make to the owner of the goods. The acceptance is the owner accepting the offer that you make for those goods, and then you provide some of value [consideration], which we normally say is money but there's nothing wrong with you offering value by way of services to clean the store or wash the dishes or what whatever one wants to do

4:05

[END]

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