Hey guys, I spotted a price bug on nzshred.co.nz, ordered the items (one of them was listed as $0.00), but they are only shipping one item, and not the $0.00 one. What rights do we as consumers have when it comes to price bugs?
Thanks in advance
Price Bugs. What rights do we have?
Lunseasonedcreep on 11/07/2020 - 13:04
Comments
In general, you cannot hold someone to a price that they show, if it is clearly an error.
Also, from a legal perspective, I believe you make an offer to purchase, and the retailer chooses to accept or decline your offer. Hence, you can't hold them to any price, and anyone can choose to sell, or not sell, to whoever they like.
Having said that, their are fair trading laws etc, so if they are advertising a price that is not real to get people 'in the door' (bait and switch for example) then they could get in trouble for that, but it would not apply to a true, one-off, mistake.
Alan.
Exactly as Alan said. And fair enough too if you think about it. I once incorrectly loaded a price of $5 for a $500 item on TradeMe. Sticky "0" key and trying to type in the dark. The buyer tried to hold me to that price but I declined. As long as the seller can prove it was a genuine mistake the seller is covered. I think Contractual Mistakes Act? Or something similar.
I've never heard of a Contractual Mistakes Act (but maybe it has been codified?) - most of it comes from extensive English Common Law covering contracts I suspect.
Alan.
Contractual Mistakes Act 1977 but repealed and replaced in Sept 2017 by The Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 (the CCLA) (which replaced 12 acts in total)
No rights.