Up-To-Date, Or Out Of Luck?

No business likes to be undercut by a competitor ' but the pain of lost profits, not to mention the sting of embarrassment, would be worse if the “competitor” were your own business.

Strange?

Yes, but the scenario can occur when a firm establishes a Web site, but doesn't maintain it.

If old prices, or contract forms, appear online, customers may legitimately try to rely on outdated information to place orders, and no one wants to tell a customer that the product he or she ordered online has been discontinued in the real world.

Similarly, a firm may never even speak with a customer who unsuccessfully tries to reach it with outdated contact information. Online, a customer can find another seller in seconds, much more easily than finding the correct address or phone number.

It's Not Just About Price

The risk of outdated information online isn't limited to pricing and products. Legally, the problem of outdated online information may be less obvious than forgetting to update a price, with much greater costs ' in cash and goodwill.

For example, those responsible for updating routine paper forms, such as warranties or shipping information, may not extend their project to the firm's Web site and, instead, old versions of these documents may be posted online for customers' supposed convenience.

Internet technology can make this problem even worse. Services such as www.google.com's cache or the “Wayback Machine” (www.archive.org) can show prior versions of Web pages, with the terms stated on them no longer available.

A customer may see an old version of a Web page cached on his computer because he or she hasn't visited that particular site recently. That can become a serious business problem, because unless the consumer revisits the site to get the current version, he may never know that the information found is out of date ' and the business with which he's dealing could be exposing itself to considerable trouble.

At best, the firm could be embarrassed into honoring a good customer's reliance on incorrect information obtained from the firm's own Web site; at worst, the firm could be forced into court over whether the incorrect information was legally binding on the seller.

Of course, this situation is not new, or unique, to the Internet. Any business that publishes a catalog or uses form agreements must plan for their expiration date. Typically, that planning is not complicated. Many catalogs have a clearly stated expiration date and most firms routinely reserve the right to make changes to printed materials ' ie, to update catalogs and the like.

e-Commerce Software, Mistakes and Making It Right

All of those low-tech solutions work, however, because humans must complete a sale. The operator who takes a telephone order, or the clerk who processes an order received by mail, can check the claimed price against the actual one. The company can then choose to honor the old terms, to preserve goodwill, or stick to the current price at the risk of losing a sale. But online, orders are processed instantly, without human intervention. While most e-commerce software should instantly update pricing changes, the customer may never be forced to learn about ' or agree to ' revisions to form agreements.

Legally, the only binding contract terms are those that form the “basis of the bargain” ' that both parties actually relied on. If there is a dispute over what the deal actually was, the “mistake” rule may allow either buyers or sellers to get out of a contract, if they truly never had the same deal in mind.

Consider this: Sellers, online or off, frequently use this to refuse to honor a mistakenly advertised price, regardless of the amount of dollars involved. The almost instantaneous reporting of pricing errors, through discussion groups and bargain-hunters' Web sites, makes this rule all the more important to prevent abuse of simple errors. (For some recent decisions on consumer gripe Web sites and Internet customer-experience postings, see “e-Commerce Docket Sheet.”)

However, a court will occasionally force one party to honor incorrect terms. That typically occurs when the seller knows that the buyer is relying on the mistaken information ' a rare occurrence, even in the offline world ' or a price was clearly too low.

In contrast, an incorrect warranty would not be obvious, even to a knowledgeable buyer, and a court would be more likely to force a seller to honor its own posting.

So it follows that well designed Web sites of all businesses, not just e-commerce sites, should be checked regularly to avoid any ambiguity. A dissatisfied customer could treat old or mistaken information as a warranty ' particularly if different terms are offered on sales through traditional, offline distributors.

Buyers doing business with firms online should be certain to keep records of all important deal terms, such as warranties and pricing. If a particular term is critical to a deal ' a delivery guarantee, for example ' a consumer must be sure that he or she can prove the term in the deal.

Sellers must take care that Web sites, or even e-mail announcements to customers, contain current information they are willing to stand behind. Even if the law allows them to refuse to honor a mistake, they may find themselves forced to obey the basic business rule: “The customer is always right.”  

Staying Up-To-Date

Be sure to keep important information on your e-commerce site, and in related printed matter, up-to-date. A little vigilance, and diligence, goes a long way to stave off problems, lawsuits and a load of other trouble that can kill your business.

Be sure to regularly update:

• Contract forms
• Warranty forms
• Shipping information
• Prices
• Contact data
• Catalog listings

No business likes to be undercut by a competitor ' but the pain of lost profits, not to mention the sting of embarrassment, would be worse if the “competitor” were your own business.

Strange?

Yes, but the scenario can occur when a firm establishes a Web site, but doesn't maintain it.

If old prices, or contract forms, appear online, customers may legitimately try to rely on outdated information to place orders, and no one wants to tell a customer that the product he or she ordered online has been discontinued in the real world.

Similarly, a firm may never even speak with a customer who unsuccessfully tries to reach it with outdated contact information. Online, a customer can find another seller in seconds, much more easily than finding the correct address or phone number.

It's Not Just About Price

The risk of outdated information online isn't limited to pricing and products. Legally, the problem of outdated online information may be less obvious than forgetting to update a price, with much greater costs ' in cash and goodwill.

For example, those responsible for updating routine paper forms, such as warranties or shipping information, may not extend their project to the firm's Web site and, instead, old versions of these documents may be posted online for customers' supposed convenience.

Internet technology can make this problem even worse. Services such as www.google.com's cache or the “Wayback Machine” (www.archive.org) can show prior versions of Web pages, with the terms stated on them no longer available.

A customer may see an old version of a Web page cached on his computer because he or she hasn't visited that particular site recently. That can become a serious business problem, because unless the consumer revisits the site to get the current version, he may never know that the information found is out of date ' and the business with which he's dealing could be exposing itself to considerable trouble.

At best, the firm could be embarrassed into honoring a good customer's reliance on incorrect information obtained from the firm's own Web site; at worst, the firm could be forced into court over whether the incorrect information was legally binding on the seller.

Of course, this situation is not new, or unique, to the Internet. Any business that publishes a catalog or uses form agreements must plan for their expiration date. Typically, that planning is not complicated. Many catalogs have a clearly stated expiration date and most firms routinely reserve the right to make changes to printed materials ' ie, to update catalogs and the like.

e-Commerce Software, Mistakes and Making It Right

All of those low-tech solutions work, however, because humans must complete a sale. The operator who takes a telephone order, or the clerk who processes an order received by mail, can check the claimed price against the actual one. The company can then choose to honor the old terms, to preserve goodwill, or stick to the current price at the risk of losing a sale. But online, orders are processed instantly, without human intervention. While most e-commerce software should instantly update pricing changes, the customer may never be forced to learn about ' or agree to ' revisions to form agreements.

Legally, the only binding contract terms are those that form the “basis of the bargain” ' that both parties actually relied on. If there is a dispute over what the deal actually was, the “mistake” rule may allow either buyers or sellers to get out of a contract, if they truly never had the same deal in mind.

Consider this: Sellers, online or off, frequently use this to refuse to honor a mistakenly advertised price, regardless of the amount of dollars involved. The almost instantaneous reporting of pricing errors, through discussion groups and bargain-hunters' Web sites, makes this rule all the more important to prevent abuse of simple errors. (For some recent decisions on consumer gripe Web sites and Internet customer-experience postings, see “e-Commerce Docket Sheet.”)

However, a court will occasionally force one party to honor incorrect terms. That typically occurs when the seller knows that the buyer is relying on the mistaken information ' a rare occurrence, even in the offline world ' or a price was clearly too low.

In contrast, an incorrect warranty would not be obvious, even to a knowledgeable buyer, and a court would be more likely to force a seller to honor its own posting.

So it follows that well designed Web sites of all businesses, not just e-commerce sites, should be checked regularly to avoid any ambiguity. A dissatisfied customer could treat old or mistaken information as a warranty ' particularly if different terms are offered on sales through traditional, offline distributors.

Buyers doing business with firms online should be certain to keep records of all important deal terms, such as warranties and pricing. If a particular term is critical to a deal ' a delivery guarantee, for example ' a consumer must be sure that he or she can prove the term in the deal.

Sellers must take care that Web sites, or even e-mail announcements to customers, contain current information they are willing to stand behind. Even if the law allows them to refuse to honor a mistake, they may find themselves forced to obey the basic business rule: “The customer is always right.”  

Staying Up-To-Date

Be sure to keep important information on your e-commerce site, and in related printed matter, up-to-date. A little vigilance, and diligence, goes a long way to stave off problems, lawsuits and a load of other trouble that can kill your business.

Be sure to regularly update:

• Contract forms
• Warranty forms
• Shipping information
• Prices
• Contact data
• Catalog listings