Seasonic x-400fl - order cancelled by Amazon

[Top_gun]

I've ordered the Seasonic X-400fl PSU for £75 from Amazon and thought that was a great deal. Next day, Amazon cancelled the order by claiming there was a pricing error. Does anyone know where I stand legally as I thought the order was binding?

[GoNz0]

tough. they don't have to sell it if they don't want to.

[kwai]

most of the time, if the online retailers have not taken payment, then they can cancel your order when ever they want,
I had this before with pricelover.com, play.com (several times).
i placed an order for product, next few days they cancel it, and theres nothing you can do, because they havent taken payment

[dave87]

Depends, did they take the money? If they didn't it will be rather hard to prove that there was a valid contract (offer and acceptance with consideration - i.e payment)

[Top_gun]

Apparently no money was taken by Amazon. I'm unsure about the contract thing as with Ebuyer they wouldn't allow you to cancel an order once submitted. Now I'm wondering if these contracts are unfairly weighted against the consumer.

[dave87]

If no money was taken then the contract fails to come into existance because the lack of consideration (i.e. money changing hands).

The contract is unfair to the consumer? How so - there isn't a contract to be unfair in....?

[Top_gun]

If no money was taken then the contract fails to come into existance because the lack of consideration (i.e. money changing hands).

The contract is unfair to the consumer? How so - there isn't a contract to be unfair in....?

I don't disagree with what you're saying. My issue is that Ebuyer doesn't allow you to cancel an order before dispatch.

[Saracen]

I've ordered the Seasonic X-400fl PSU for £75 from Amazon and thought that was a great deal. Next day, Amazon cancelled the order by claiming there was a pricing error. Does anyone know where I stand legally as I thought the order was binding?

The legal side of that will be exactly what determines when the contract is binding.

There have been so many cases of mistakes in pricing, and not a few legal battles over it, that I'd say you'd need to read Amazon's (or anyone else's) terms and conditions to see exactly what point they consider the contract binding.

Here's the relevant bit from Amazon ....

When you place an order to purchase a product from Amazon.co.uk, we will send you an e-mail confirming receipt of your order and containing the details of your order. Your order represents an offer to us to purchase a product which is accepted by us when we send e-mail confirmation to you that we've dispatched that product to you (the "Dispatch Confirmation E-mail"). That acceptance will be complete at the time we send the Dispatch Confirmation E-mail to you.

So ....

Stage 1) You place an order, which is an offer from you to buy.
Stage 2) They acknowledge receipt of the order. This is not acceptance and contract is not formed.
Stage x) They send despatch email. At that point, contract is "accepted" and binding.

I would suggest that until stage x (getting the "Dispatch Confirmation E-mail") you have no binding contract.

[Saracen]

Apparently no money was taken by Amazon. I'm unsure about the contract thing as with Ebuyer they wouldn't allow you to cancel an order once submitted. Now I'm wondering if these contracts are unfairly weighted against the consumer.

Ebuyer are a retailer and as long as you are a consumer (i.e, not a company, or an individual buying for business purposes, etc) then they don't have much choice. The Distance Sellings Regs give you an unconditional right to cancel, with very limited exceptions, such as for customised goods.

They might not be able to stop despatch, but if you give them a valid DSR cancellation, then you have cancelled the order, period. So I wouldn't accept delivery.


To be clear though, I Am Not A Lawyer, and these are opinions, not advice.

[Top_gun]

I knew about the DSR but I always thought the contract was agreed when you paid by credit card. Seems that the retailers have allowed themselves extra breathing space to correct any mistakes.

I think I'll have another read of the European Directive on Distant Selling and concentrate more on the contracts side of things.

[Saracen]

I knew about the DSR but I always thought the contract was agreed when you paid by credit card. Seems that the retailers have allowed themselves extra breathing space to correct any mistakes.

In general, contracts require :-

- an intent by both parties to be contracted
- offer
- acceptance
- exchange of value.

It's that last bit that often leads people to think that the contract is formed when you pay, and it's fair to say it's often the case .... but not always. It can be that you pay earlier, or later.

For instance, suppose a mistake has been made on pricing, perhaps by computer error. Suppose something is priced at a level that it was self-evident it is a mistake. An example would be when (IIRC) Argos made a mistake and price a £300 TV at £3.00. That decimal point made a lot of difference, but it's pretty obvious it's a mistake. On discovering the mistake, Argos apologised and immediately credited back the credit card charges for the large numbers that had grabbed a "bargain".

So .... was there an intent to be bound to that deal by Argos? Obviously not.

At the other end of the spectrum, when you take you car in to be serviced, you (or at least I) don't pay until we go to collect. So .... if the contract was formed when the credit card was charged, I could just conveniently change my mind, cancel the contract and depart with an already serviced car. I recommend people don't try that, by the way, because a promise to pay counts as a exchange of value for the purpose of forming a contract. The same applies if a gardener works on your garden, or a hairdresser cuts your hair, and you pay for the service after receiving it.

For that matter, the same applies when you eat in a restaurant. You pay the bill after you've had the product, and the service, but you are bound by a contract.

It's not as simple, I'm afraid, as the contract being formed when the credit card is charged.

As for the DSRs, assuming you're in the UK, I'd suggest you read the UK legislation rather than the EU directive, since it's the UK law that's actually law here. There is also a fairly lengthy document explaining to retailers what their DSR obligations are, and aren't, with loads of examples. It's written inn English, not legalese, and it's pretty easy to absorb. It used to be available from the DTI (or BERR, or whatever it's called this week), but I'm sure I can find it if you can't track it down. As it's aimed at explaining what retailers must do, it's good reading for consumers too.

[TheGecko]

Interesting post, as I suspect the cancelled order is a consequence of my order

I saw the same order on Amazon, and placed it. As usual on Amazon these days, the actual supplier wasn't Amazon themselves, but a german retailer selling off the item. However, my order was accepted, and the item delivered on time.

However, what was delivered was not the described fanless, moduler psu but a generic Seasonic SFX psu, not modular and definetly not fanless! The module code was similiar to the X-400FL though, and I suspect the retailer had mixed them up.

I've sent the item back through the usual Amazon mis-sold item process, but it's not clear to me if I can expect a refund, or the correct item. Either way, I suspect that the retailer got Amazon to pull the offer, oncde they'd realized their mistake.