A SELLER IS BOUND BY HIS OWN MISTAKE UNLESS IT IS OBVIOUS.
Question.—We sent an inquiry for certain sizes of lumber to a mill asking for quotations. Our inquiry was delayed in the mails, and, as it did not reach the mill in time enough to quote we placed the order with the mill, but did not specify prices. The mill acknowledged our order, saying, “We have entered your order as per enclosed carbon,” and after each item they named a price. The lumber was shipped and an invoice sent us, but on two of the items a larger amount is charged than specified in the communication from the mill, saying our order had been entered. In remitting we deducted the difference between the prices mentioned in reply from the mill and the invoice, but the mill claims they made a clerical error and that we are bound to pay the invoice price. What is our position in the matter?
Reply: When a seller puts a price on his goods and the buyer accepts them at that price it is then too late for the seller to demand more except in the following case: If the buyer knew that a mistake had been made, or if the mistake was so gross and palpable that he ought to have known it to be a mistake, then it may be corrected. If a seller were to quote $1.25 when all buyers knew that $12.50 was about the market price, the buyer would not be allowed to claim the goods at the quotation without making special inquiry as to its accuracy; if the quotation was only slightly under the market, so that no suspicion attached to it, and if there was nothing else to show that a mistake had been made, and if the buyer had no actual knowledge of the fact, the seller is bound. Taking the whole class of sellers together, it would not be a safe rule to allow them to come around and collect more after a sale had been made and concluded upon the plea that they had not asked as much as they intended to ask.
Opinion No. 72.