Li took advantage of the annual shopping festival discount promotion to plan to purchase a high-end vacuum cleaner of a certain brand. That night, Li luckily snapped up a vacuum cleaner worth 1999 yuan at a price of 169.9 yuan. After placing the order, the merchant delayed in shipping. At first, Li thought that the order quantity was too large and there were insufficient personnel. After being urged, the merchant replied that the temporary workers recruited near the promotion were unfamiliar with the platform's product link settings, This led to an error in the pricing of the vacuum cleaner on the night of the promotion, requesting Li to actively cancel the order and provide Li with a 100 yuan threshold free coupon as compensation. However, Li refused the merchant's request and insisted on normal shipment according to the order.

Lawyer Analysis

"The order is legal and valid, and the merchant should promptly ship the goods based on the order information."

According to Article 49 of the Electronic Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China, if the information on the goods or services released by an e-commerce operator meets the requirements of the offer, the user selects the goods or services and submits the order successfully, and the contract is established. According to the page display of the vacuum cleaner product purchased by Li, the merchant has made a detailed mark on the price, quantity, product specification, function, and appearance of the vacuum cleaner, constituting an offer. However, Li's clicking to place an order and selecting the payment method and delivery address is deemed to be an acceptance of the offer. The vacuum cleaner sales contract has been established, and the merchant should be bound by the order and deliver the vacuum cleaner in a timely manner.

2. Merchants cannot cancel orders and refuse to deliver goods on the grounds of unreal prices

Article 577 of the Civil Code stipulates that if a party fails to perform its contractual obligations or fails to fulfill its contractual obligations in accordance with the agreement, it shall be liable for breach of contract such as continuing to perform, taking remedial measures, or compensating for losses. A contract for the purchase and sale of vacuum cleaners was established between Li and the seller. As the seller, the seller should bear the obligation to deliver the vacuum cleaners, and should not require Li to cancel the order solely on the grounds that the incorrect price was not a genuine indication of intent.

3. Retailers who withdraw orders on the grounds of significant misunderstanding may not necessarily receive court support

In the case of Wang Mou suing Wang Mou over an online shopping dispute, the buyer Wang Mou purchased a book worth over 700 yuan on an e-commerce platform for 49.9 yuan. After discovering that the seller forcibly recalled the goods in transit without Wang Mou's consent, Wang Mou sued the court and demanded liability for breach of contract. The seller claimed that the price that Wang Mou had captured was the price marked incorrectly by the staff's operation error, "And presented the cost statement for the purchased goods, while the merchant filed a counterclaim to cancel the order. However, the court held that a significant misunderstanding was caused by the perpetrator's erroneous understanding of the nature of the act, the other party, the variety, quality, specifications, and quantity of the subject matter, which led to the consequences of the act being inconsistent with his own intentions, and caused significant losses.", The misoperation advocated by bookstore merchants that leads to incorrect pricing does not meet significant misunderstandings and is not considered a revocable contract.

Although vacuum cleaner manufacturers can submit a request for cancellation of an order to a court or arbitration in a timely manner on the grounds of material misunderstanding in the event of mislabeling the price, the law imposes strict restrictions on material misunderstandings. If an order can be arbitrarily cancelled after its establishment, it increases the uncertainty of the transaction. Therefore, in order to reduce unnecessary disputes, businesses should strictly set the specifications, quality, and price of their products when they are placed on the shelves.