"The public offer is not" - what does the expression mean?

"Information is not a public offer!" - often we hear this phrase in advertisements on the radio and see it on TV. The first thing that comes to mind is that "the pitfalls" are hidden somewhere, or they deceive us and do not finish something. In fact, such thoughts are not far from the truth. In the article we will answer the question about what it means "not a public offer". And also tell you about what purposes this phrase is needed in advertising messages and what will happen if it is not used.

The concept of

So, we saw or heard the phrase "is not a public offer". What does it mean? First, you need to disassemble the very concept.

Offer - the offer of one of the parties to make a purchase to the other party. So this concept is interpreted by Russian legislation. In other words, the offer is the offer of the seller (the offerer) to the buyer (the acceptor).

An acceptant is not necessarily one person. Under this concept, the Civil Code implies an unlimited circle of persons. It is the latter circumstance that gives such a notion as a public offer. Let us analyze it in more detail.

What is a public offer?

The offer under what conditions is not a public offer? You can answer this question from the definition.

A public offer is the offer of a product in its advertising, catalogs and descriptions addressed to an undefined circle of persons, if it contains all the terms of the retail purchase agreement.

For example, you saw a catalog with cosmetics. It contains all information about the product: price, characteristics, composition. You responded to the proposal, but you received a response from the manufacturer: "We apologize, but this proposal is not a public offer." Next, you will find out that the manufacturer is testing the price of new products on the market, and he realized that the originally declared price is lower than the price at which he could sell it.

In this example, the sentence "offers are not a public offer" does not help him. Art. 494 of the Civil Code obliges the seller to make a deal with anyone who wishes. In this case, you can safely apply to Rospotrebnadzor and the court for compensation for moral harm.

However, it should be noted that if the seller refers to the limited nature of the goods, then in this case it is useless to apply to the controlling bodies and the court. The seller will not incur any liability in the event that the goods have simply ended in warehouses. Therefore, you may receive a response with apologies that there is no such product from the catalog, even though no one has sold it to you and was not going to. Prove the opposite will be extremely difficult.

Signs of a public offer

Sometimes the explanation "is not a public offer" is illegal. Article 437, Part 1 of the Civil Code gives us clear parameters of the offer:

• Presence in the information of all material terms of the agreement;
• The apparent desire of the advertiser to sign a contract with all on the indicated terms;
• Unlimited number of persons.

For example, if there is an advertisement in an advertisement: "We give the second such refrigerator to anyone who buys the first one," then in this case the information can be classified as a public offer, and not as an informational announcement, even though somewhere and There will be a warning sign to the contrary.

Public offer in retail stores

Almost all people go to the usual shops for shopping. The goods on the shelves of the store are a vivid example of a public offer, despite the fact that there are no price tags on them. However, this rule has one very significant exception: if the seller has independently determined that the goods are not for sale, then it will not be possible to buy it.

Is the price a public offer?

There is one sick topic in many shopping centers - the discrepancy between the real price and the declared price. In other words, you take the goods for 50 rubles, and on the register you are told that the revaluation took place in the morning, and the employees did not have time to change the price tags. Now this product costs 60 rubles. This situation often happens at every step. Sometimes such disagreements between the seller and the buyer are decided by the world, but there are also conflicts on this ground. Often the situation is aggravated by the cashiers themselves, stating that prices are not a public offer. In fact, this is not so: prices, according to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, are a documented proposal. If the seller has set a condition for the sale of goods - a price, then he simply has to sell it on this condition (price).

Advertising and public offer: what is the difference?

Many citizens can not distinguish between conventional advertising and a public offer. These are different things. And not always the phrase "public offer is not a proposal" is legal and reasonable. Also the absence of such a phrase does not mean the opposite. Let us analyze this in more detail.

Advertising - an information offer is information of an introductory nature in order to convey to the mass user the preferential characteristics. They may lack the inscription "is not a public offer". However, this does not mean that the seller is obliged to fulfill all that he promised. Typically, advertisers are often reinsured, since judicial practice shows that courts often punish dishonest people.

Let us give an example. In advertising, you can see information about discounts on products up to 90%. Such a marketing move is no longer a novelty. Many have already learned how to block such information on a subconscious level. Here the key word is "Before". It means that up to 90% is 1% and 89%. Even if the store will have one chewing gum with a discount of 90% - this is basically what marketers do, the seller already has the right to write such an announcement in all the storefronts.

Let us analyze another example related to the price. Outlets can write about the following announcement on street posters: "Only three days! Cabbage for 6 rubles per kilogram. " This price serves as an invitation to visit the store and try to buy a vegetable at a declared price. However, in practice, the store brings only a few kilograms of goods of a certain grade, and it is usually disassembled within one hour. The rest of the cabbage of another variety is at quite market prices. And the arriving buyer has nothing left to do, as soon as to buy the goods at the existing price, at the same time buying something else and simultaneously scolding the store with bad words for false promises.

Online Stores

Information, including prices in the online store, is not a public offer. This is due to the fact that the sites do not specify specific conditions, such as the time of transfer of goods, delivery conditions, etc.

Online store - this is not an ordinary store, in which the buyer can go, take the goods, pay for it and leave. Sale in it involves a number of actions: order acceptance, preparation, payment, sending, receiving. Therefore, the price in online stores, like any other information on it, is not a public offer. It can depend on the conditions of the transport company, on the individual discount, on the method of payment, etc.

What action in the online store will be considered an offer?

Despite the fact that the price on the storefront is not a public offer, this does not mean that buyers do not have any rights. After visitors to the site select a product in the basket, a link to the order appears. It is here, as a rule, that the entire final purchase price is indicated, as well as additional conditions: calculation, delivery time, guarantees, ways of return, etc. By clicking on the "place an order" button in the online store, both parties sign the agreement, Which will be treated as an offer. Then one side should pay for the order, and the second - to fulfill the conditions for its transportation.

What can the indication "is not a public offer" mean?

So, we have highlighted the concept of a public offer. Cited examples with explanations. Now we will analyze in practice. Suppose we saw the inscription "is not a public offer". What does this mean for consumers? In practice this could mean the following:

1. There is a probability that the consumer will not be able to make a purchase on the terms that were stated. We need to understand that advertising is just information that only encourages people to visit the advertiser's point of sale. No obligation to conclude a contract for the latter, it does not carry.
2. Conditions, as a rule, are designed for a limited number of persons. Usually it is written in small print, which no one reads. For example, if the advertisement says about the following information: "We will approve a loan at 13.9% per annum", then necessarily the bottom you can read the whole list of conditions. This is the initial contribution, the maximum loan period, and the minimum income of the borrower, etc.

Violation of the offer

An offer is a contract. By agreeing to it, each of the parties becomes a party to the transaction. If it is not observed, the law on the public offer is violated. The defendant can be held liable under the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. For buyers, this violation usually leads to a break in the transaction, and this all ends. But for a seller, a breach of a public offer may result in significant fines on the part of the supervisory authorities, as well as compensation for moral harm and other negative harm that is possible if it is not observed. Therefore, we advise the beginning owners of online stores to be very attentive to their responsibilities and to comply with all the terms of the public offer.