Price error: Buyer gets cheap cell phones because a free gift was sent
A retailer accidentally sold expensive cell phones for 92 euros. A court ruled that a buyer is still entitled to them – because of free gifts that were sent out.
An online retailer has to deliver smartphones despite a price error because it had already sent out the free gifts.
(Image: Dmitrii Pridannikov/ Shutterstock.com)
An online retailer must sell smartphones to a buyer at an inadvertently reduced price despite a pricing error because he had already sent him the headphones offered as a free gift. This was decided by the Frankfurt am Main Higher Regional Court in the second instance. The buyer had filed a lawsuit after the online retailer had canceled the orders.
The online retailer had inadvertently offered the smartphone with a recommended retail price of 1100 euros for just 92 euros. In addition, buyers were supposed to receive free headphones with their order. It was precisely this that proved to be the retailer's undoing: the court deemed the shipment of these free headphones to be the conclusion of the purchase contract.
"There was an inseparable connection between the purchase of the smartphone and the sending of the headphones in such a way that the free sending of the headphones presupposes the effective conclusion of a purchase contract for the main product – the smartphone," the Hessian judiciary quoted in a statement from the court ruling. The ruling dates back to April, but has only now been made public.
Nine smartphones at 92 euros each
The buyer purchased a total of nine smartphones and four headphones in three orders at the incorrect price of 92 euros per phone, which he paid directly. The retailer noticed the error on the same day the order was placed and raised the price to 928 euros. The retailer then started shipping the headphones two days after the order anyway, before canceling the cell phone order two weeks after purchase, citing a pricing error. The buyer took legal action against this and demanded delivery of the nine cell phones ordered.
In principle, online retailers have the option of canceling orders in the event of price errors as long as the purchase contracts have not yet been confirmed. However, the OLG Frankfurt am Main argued that the sending of the free gifts could be understood as confirmation of the purchase contract, thus confirming a decision by the Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main. The ruling was also supported by the fact that the online retailer was already aware of the pricing error at the time the headphones were sent. In addition, the cancellation was received too late.
(dahe)