Sales price error

Sales price error

"I recently found an item on the internet that I'd been looking for for a long time, at a very attractive price. When I received my order at home, it was accompanied by an invoice for almost double the advertised price, with an accompanying note saying that the price on the website I'd visited was wrong, so I was invited to either pay twice the price or return the item using a large pre-stamped reply envelope in the parcel! I'd be really surprised if that sort of thing was legal. What do you think?"

Under article 184 of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO), a sale is a contract in which the seller undertakes to deliver the thing sold to the buyer and to transfer ownership of it to the buyer in return for a price that the buyer undertakes to pay. In this type of contract, the price is an essential element. A contract of sale must therefore be concluded for consideration, otherwise it constitutes a gift within the meaning of articles 239 et seq. of the Swiss Code of Obligations on the part of the party transferring ownership of the object of the contract.

Under Articles 23 et seq. of the Swiss Code of Obligations, a contract is not binding on a party who, at the time of entering into it, was under the influence of a fundamental error. This is particularly the case when the performance promised by the party complaining is significantly more extensive, or when the consideration is significantly less than what he actually intended.

On this issue, the case law of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court has held that even if the buyer of an object had in good faith considered the indication of a price to be a valid offer by the seller, the latter could be released from his contractual obligations by invoking his error if it was significant, unless it was obvious that he was relying on it in a manner contrary to the rules of good faith. In this case, our Supreme Court had to deal with a dispute over the sale of a piece of jewellery for which the advertised price was ten times lower than the actual price, because the seller had forgotten the final zero on the label! The logical conclusion was that this was a fundamental error.

In your case, however, the price difference is smaller and, depending on the type of goods in question, particularly if they are quickly out of fashion or even perishable, you may have believed in good faith that the price was a promotional one, even though you seemed to know that the price was particularly attractive in relation to the market. You can therefore try to insist on keeping your item at the price displayed on the website you consulted, in the hope that you have saved a copy in case of a dispute.

Finally, it should be noted that, under article 26 paragraph 1 of the Swiss Code of Obligations, if you decide to return the goods, you can ask the seller to compensate you for the damage resulting from the invalidity of the agreement, which the seller has partly anticipated by waiving the carriage costs, even if this seems the least he could do.