A man accidentally bought things 800 times cheaper: the court upheld

The error in this case is interpreted in favor of the client.

Practically for nothing, a resident of Volgograd managed to buy on the website of one of the most expensive stores in the capital. The store refused to deliver the purchases, but thanks to the Supreme Court, it looks like they will have to.

The story begins in July last year. When visiting the store’s website, a Volgograd citizen encountered what is usually called an “attraction of unprecedented generosity”: many items of clothing cost much less than one might think. As a result, he bought 19 items at prices ranging from 19 to 129 rubles. The total amount is 2787 rubles. After the client transferred the money, he received notifications on his phone and email that the money had been debited, and he was looking forward to when the purchases would be delivered. But later he received a notification from the store about the impossibility of delivering the ordered goods. As the representatives of the trading organization later explained, the site failed on the day of purchase and the prices for the goods were indicated incorrectly. As a result, the cost of what was purchased turned out to be 846 times lower than the actual one. A letter was sent to a Volgograd citizen stating that he would be able to receive the goods only if he paid extra for what he had purchased. In such a situation, the man considered himself deceived: he paid the money, did not refuse purchases, but never received them. Therefore, the buyer decided to take his problem to court.

At first, he was disappointed. The shop filed a counterclaim to invalidate the sale and purchase agreement. The District Court concluded that the defendant entered into the contract under the influence of a misconception caused by a technical error, since the seller would not have entered into this contract on such unfavorable terms for himself. The agreement was declared invalid. The Court of Appeal and Cassation upheld this decision. This did not stop the buyer, and he reached the Supreme Court. Here justice prevailed. The court indicated that the contract was concluded in accordance with all regulatory requirements. “Price fixing occurs at the time of the conclusion of the contract between the buyer and the online store, which is determined by the moment the order is placed with the assignment of a number to it,” the ruling of the Supreme Court states. The decisions of all three instances were canceled, the case was transferred for a new trial to the district court.