I don't know how common this is. I see that "Upstate Coins" has a lot of prices posted on their site that they will not honor. Try placing an order through their website. Order apparently goes through, but then they will not honor the order. Either take the site down, update prices and then put it back up, or they are asking for trouble IMO. I don't know what the law is, but I thought orders once placed are binding. The current issue of Scientific American has an ad for 1/10 oz. gold eagles at under $160 each, with a maximum of 10. I called to place an order based on the prices in their ad. They honored the prices even though that is below wholesale. I wonder how many other sites need to update their prices?
Magazine ads have a three to four month lead time. Most have small print about fluctuations in metals prices. The website probably has similar. Some companies farm out their website maintenance and only update once a month or whatever, that's where the small print comes in. At shows, dealers do the same. If they have old binders with prices, they will tell you that they will not honor the old prices because of melt values.
what about sites that have silver eagles listed at $15 for a 1996 ASE? silver hasnt been that low since Feb 2010 They shouldnt leave stuff that outdated up then not honor the price when you order. I can understand the monthly maint. thing, but prices outdated more then a year? (BTW I was just looking at a site that really listed ASE's for $15 a pop just yesterday)
http://www.upstatecoins.com/American-Proof-Silver-Eagles-s/84.htm Either do not post prices, take the site down, or update them. How difficult would that be?
Proof silver eagles. They are listed at $62.99. Order was placed. I tried calling, they were not returning calls. Finally I got through, and they said they were cancelling all orders on listed prices where the price had gone up substantially. It isn't about money so much as about playing by the rules. People make financial decisions based upon other people honoring their word. When they don't honor their word, they don't last very long in this industry.
I agree that websites need to be updated or the prices honored. However, most have the disclaimer that prices are subject to change without notice or prices are subject to change due to fluctuations in precious metal spot prices or orders are processed subject to availability, so they do at times cover themselves legally and/or ethically. TC
This would be a good topic for an article by the lawyer Armen Vartian. I try to follow this principle: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it . When businesses do not admit to error and do not update their prices and inventory lists, they do neither themselves nor their customers any favors.
Back about thirty something years ago when I took Business Law, they indicated advertisements were NOT considered offers, but invitations to offer. Therefore, your order is the offer and the dealer may choose to accept or reject the offer. If this is actually a business model, then it's a poor business practice.
