Sometimes an advertisement appears with a price that is a great bargain. A consumer sees the ad, and then attempts to buy the product at this price. The merchant may attempt to refuse the sale, or cancel the transaction while it is in progress, to avoid losing money. State laws regulate whether the merchant has to honor the price he quotes in his advertisement.
Corrections
The merchant may find out about the mistake and change the price in the ad. If the old ad still circulates, a consumer may still find this older copy of the ad, and believe that this is a valid, current advertisement. State law may require a merchant who misprints a price in a flier to issue another flier that corrects the price, instead of using another medium, such as a newspaper ad, to provide the correction.
Blatant Errors
State law may protect the merchant when the misprint is clearly an error. For example, a motorcycle dealer may offer to sell a new motorcycle for $5. A motorcycle shopper knows that new motorcycles normally cost thousands of dollars, so it is unlikely that the motorcycle dealer really meant to sell a new bike for $5. According to the state of Washington, this concept is legally known as a unilateral error by the merchant.
Product Description
State law may also protect the merchant when the misprint does not specifically describe the product. If the motorcycle dealer offers to sell a new motorcycle for $10,000, he may claim that the motorcycle the shopper sees on the lot is a different motorcycle, and it costs $15,000. According to the New Hampshire Department of Justice, the merchant may be unable to use this claim if the ad describes features and characteristics that are unique to one motorcycle.
Bait and Switch
Misprints can get a merchant into trouble. Montgomery County, Maryland, regulations state that a single misprint can be considered to be simply a notice that the merchant stocks a product and an invitation to begin price negotiations, which does not force the merchant to honor the quote in the ad. If the merchant establishes a pattern of misprints, regulators may consider this to be the illegal practice of bait and switch. The New Hampshire Department of Justice states that regulators may force the merchant to sell the product at his advertised price if bait and switch occurs.
Tags: motorcycle dealer, Department Justice, force merchant, Hampshire Department, Hampshire Department Justice