Another price change after adding to cart thread

[gamachanri]

If you (customer) went to the market (ebay) to buy food and you notice Captain Crunch cereal is priced ridiculously low, you might toss a box or 2 into your shopping cart. Thats the whole deal.... The agreement between merchant, customer and store selling it on behalf of the Cap'n. The product is displayed with price and any additional terms of the sale. The merchant agrees to the terms of the sale when they put it in their cart. At any time they can take the box out of the cart or leave it and walk out, or tell the cashier they dont want it. "Changed my mind. Sorry." But if after you filled up your cart with Captain Crunch, as you bent over to grab a case of pickles (because you cant eat Cap'n Crunch without pickles duh) the guys from Camp Cap'n snuck up and changed the prices on all the boxes without saying anything, would that be ok? Or when you get to the register they scan the box and it now has an increased price different from what was displayed or advertised? Thats not ok. Neither one. Where Im from thats against the law. Not to mention a **bleep** move to try and pull. The store is held responsible though. Not the seller.  When you click on that 'Buy It Now' button and the item goes into your cart thats 2 parties agreeing to a deal. All that remains is for you to finalize the purchase by paying the advertised and agreed upon price. That new price was not advertised to you nor did you agree to pay it. 

What happens if just as you click on the Pay Now (or whatever it is) they raise the price and because of network lag or distance or everyone watching porn on your hub at the same time their greedy price raising packets arrive at ebay's servers a second before yours? Youre getting charged the price you never agreed to pay. There should be a built in function to serve as an agreement protection mechanism so that once an item is added to a cart the original price is locked in. There can be a time limit of course for how long an item may remain in a user's cart but the merchant should never have the ability to change the price once its added to a cart. You can **bleep** and moan all you want but if you think of this in terms of a physical store like I just did instead of the make believe store it is then youll realize it makes much more sense not allowing the price changes. And as I said, where Im from its a law. Maybe its the same in every state but as it stands ebay is actually responsible. So ebay, fix it and stop letting greedy **bleep**s rip off your customers. You know how eager some of these AG's can be when they hear ebay or amazon or google right? 

[eburtonlab]

Putting an item in your cart on eBay is not the same as in a supermarket. Putting an item in your cart on eBay does not in any way reserve the item or stop others from purchasing it. No one else knows what you have put in your cart. No one else can see your cart.

An item in your eBay cart is not reserved for you -- the seller has no idea that the item is in your cart unless you request an invoice (which commits you to making a purchase); until you commit to the purchase or check out and pay, the seller can change the price or change the listing description or even end the listing entirely. Someone else can put the same item in their cart; if they check out and pay before you do, the item becomes theirs.

[terrycece62]

Unless you won an auction  or seller has accepted an 'best offer' you have placed for an item and therefor committed to buy the item it is not yours until you go through ;checkout and pay for it as @eburtonlab  has explained 

[gamachanri]

Its wrong both morally and as Ive already stated, illegal in my state and Im sure there are other states as well. 

Its exactly the same as putting an item in a grocery cart. Youre agreeing to the terms of a sale for a specific item at a soecific price. These are the terms set by the seller. When you click a 'buy it now' button you are agreeing to a contract. You dont need to finalize the contract to commit to an agreement. When you post or advertise a price for an item you cant change the price arbitrarily when someone wants to purchase it unless youve stated dates and or times this price is in effect. Thats called false advertising. 

Youve memorized ebays rules and terms of service. Thats great. Just because a website posts terms and conditions and rules does not make it right. Ebay cant supersede our legal system already in place. If it violates a state law it wont be allowed to do business in that state among other things such as fines, etc. 

Unless you are legal counsel speaking on behalf of ebay you probably shouldnt be giving advice thats breaks the law. Just a thought. Thank you for taking the time to reply. 

[downunder-61]

When you click a 'buy it now' button you are agreeing to a contract. You dont need to finalize the contract to commit to an agreement

On eBay, you do - nothing to do with laws of the land, it is called eBay ToS that you agreed to when you signed up.

If you want the item - BIN - Pay for it - simples

[terrycece62]

@gamachanri 

Okay lets use your grocery cart analogy.

If you put items in your cart but you do not go through check out and pay for the items  and you leave the store without paying for the items in your cart those items legally do not belong to you 

Once paid ,  the price is locked in and the seller can not change the price once you pay the seller.

the cart is convenient tool to use when shopping  but on eBay item is still available to other buyers until you pay for it

Also some buyer's choose to use cart as a watch list and buyer's are allowed to remove items  prior to payment. and as  @eburtonlab  explained sellers are free to change the price of the item until the check out is complete.  

In my personal view as a buyer ,  i am always adding and removing items in my cart. I would of course shop differently if putting items in my cart  and committing  to buy  just by clicking adding to cart.

As in 'grocery store' cart I am free to remove items from my cart prior to going through check out and paying

You are correct of course i am not a lawyer 

Since you believe this practice is not acceptable  I urge you to contact a qualified lawyer for  consultation  regarding the law

[eburtonlab]

Its wrong both morally and as Ive already stated, illegal in my state and Im sure there are other states as well. Its exactly the same as putting an item in a grocery cart.

So when you purchase an item on eBay, if, unknown to you, that item has been placed in another user's cart prior to your purchase, you think the law has been broken?

Which law, specifically, do you think has been broken?

Unlike a supermarket, multiple users can put the same item in their carts at the same time. Until one of those users completes checkout and commits or pays, anyone else can still purchase the item.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@gamachanri wrote:

Its wrong both morally and as Ive already stated, illegal in my state and Im sure there are other states as well. 

Its exactly the same as putting an item in a grocery cart. Youre agreeing to the terms of a sale for a specific item at a soecific price. These are the terms set by the seller. When you click a 'buy it now' button you are agreeing to a contract. .... 

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 A single item can be in the carts of several embers at the same time. The item is "Sold" and the price is determined when you hit the "Buy it now" button, NOT when you put it in your cart. When you click on "Buy it now," the price cannot be changed. Putting an item is your cart is not the same. 

My local market is open 24 hours and its weekly specials run from Thursday through Wednesday. If I go shopping late on Wednesday night and put an item in my cart, then get to the checkout after midnight and it's Thursday, I'm going to pay the Thursday price, whether that's higher or lower than the price that was at the moment on Wednesday when I put it in my cart.

I often let items sit in my cart on Amazon while I gather several items together. Often, there's a notice at the top about price changes; sometimes up, sometimes down.  Like this:

[woodland_gnome]

Actually the grocery store can legally change the price after you put the item in your cart.  There is a classic case where an employee actually stopped a shopper and put a new price tag on an item, and the court held that placing an item on the shelf with a price was not an offer to sell at that price, but rather the offer was made when the shopper presented the item at the checkout stand and acceptance was when the cashier rang it up, so no contract until then.

[derbyjake27]

Today i went to pay and the sale price was different by $50 or so.  it wasnt a shipping charge either.  I was lucky and able to cancel the order.  How was this able to happen?

[kh_nipun]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread  if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.