Incorrect prices in online stores

Recently, the webshop Dustin.dk was in trouble when, in connection with a special offer on the internet, they reduced prices significantly further than planned. Thus, some consumers were able to buy electronics for only 10% of the usual selling price, but Dustin.dk refused to fulfill the orders.

The big question here is: Who is right? Is the customer entitled to receive the item at the price they actually purchased it for, or does the store have the right to cancel the order?

The starting point in Danish contract law and buyer's law is that the store is bound by the price at which it has offered the item. If the store has written an incorrect price on the price tag, the customer can claim the incorrect price.

But no rule without an exception. Because the customer can only rely on the transaction if the customer was in good faith that it was a real offer price, and not a human error. If it is obvious that there is an error, the store has the right to cancel the order.

Practice from the Consumer Complaints Board shows which factors are important when assessing whether the consumer has acted in good faith or not:

• What kind of product is it, including whether it is a product for which the price is usually known
• What knowledge can an ordinary consumer be expected to have about the price level of the product in question?
• How big the difference is between the erroneous price and the price that the store has stated is the correct price (the bigger the difference, the greater the likelihood that the consumer has acted in bad faith).
• How many copies of the product the consumer has purchased.
• Whether discounts, special offers, campaigns or the like have been advertised on the website or in any other way.

Source: Consumer Complaints Board

When Dustin.dk discovered the error, they cancelled all orders, but this is not the correct procedure. It is necessary for the store to assess each individual purchase separately. In cases where the consumer has received a 90% discount on an item, it is obvious that the customer has probably been in bad faith, but in cases where the customer has received, for example, a 30% discount, the situation is not quite so certain. Here it will be necessary to make a closer assessment, where the other elements described above will also have to be taken into account.

If you have purchased an item in a case where the store has rejected the purchase on the grounds that the price was incorrect, you should first complain to the store and maintain the purchase. If the store continues to reject you, in most cases you can have the case tried in the Consumer Complaints Board, as long as the price of the item is over DKK 1,000 (for clothes and shoes DKK 650).