The Agreement: Offers and Acceptances Flashcards
What is NOT an offer?
- Invitations to bargain
- Price quotes
- Letters of intent
-A letter that summarizes the negotiating progress - Advertisements
5, Auction
-An auction is merely a request for an offer
Open Price
The Code establishes a reasonable price
Gap-Filler Provisions
These are the UCC rules for supplying missing terms
Important Gap-Filler Provisions
Open Price: if parties do not settle on a price, the Code establishes that the goods will be sold for a reasonable price; usually the market value or a price established by a neutral expert or agency
Output and Requirements Provisions
Output Contract
Obligates the seller to sell all of his output to the buyer, who agrees to accept it; both parties must act in good faith
Requirements Contract
Obligates a buyer to obtain all of the needed goods from a seller; the Code requires all parties act in good faith
Contracts Temporarily Irrevocable
This action gives the parties involved the chance to review and evaluate offers
Option Contract - The offeror may not revoke an offer during the option period
Firm Offers - this is for UCC contracts only; if a promise in writing signed by a. merchant promises to hold the offer open for a period, it may not be revoked during that period
How Long Does An Offer Remain Effective?
Until it is terminated or accepted
An offeree accepts by saying or doing something that a reasonable person would understand to mean that they want to accept an offer
The offeree must say something or do something to accept
-Example: Marge cannot leave a message making an offer, and saying, “I’ll assume you agree unless I hear from you”
Additional Terms
Those that bring up new issues; if the offeree states that the acceptance is conditional on the offeror’s assent to the new terms, there is no contract
Three Situations When New Terms Do Not Become a Contract
- If the offeror insisted on its own terms
- If the additional terms materially alter the original offer
- If the offeror receives the new terms and promptly objects
Different Terms
Those that contradict terms in the offer; the majority of states hold that different terms cancel each other out - instead, the neutral terms from the Code are “read into” the contract
Different Terms
Those that contradict terms in the offer; the majority of states hold that different terms cancel each other out - instead, the neutral terms from the Code are “read into” the contract
Clickwrap Agreements
Require users to accept proposed terms by clicking an “I agree” button; but everyone knows that no one reads them
Courts have concluded these agreements are binding
Browsewrap Agreements
Websites seek to bind users to their terms just by posting them somewhere on their sites or making them accessible through a hyperlink
Do not require users to do anything or click anything - websites often argue that just browsing through the site is enough to constitute acceptance, so long as the terms of use are elsewhere on the site
Courts have generally held browse wraps binding when websites give users reasonable notice and access to terms, but not when they are inconspicuous and buried
Method and Manner of Acceptance
If an offer demands acceptance in a particular method or manner, the offeree must follow those requirements
-If the offer does not specify a type of acceptance, the offeree may accept in any reasonable manner and method