Summary
No. A price displayed on goods in a shop is not an offer capable of acceptance. It is an invitation to treat, that is, an invitation to customers to make offers. The customer makes the offer when presenting the goods for payment, and the shop may decline it. Once the shop accepts the offer and takes payment, however, a contract is concluded at the price accepted.
Last reviewed 22 September 2026
The legal position
Goods on display. The display of goods with a price attached does not constitute an offer to sell at that price to any person who selects them. The customer makes the offer at the point of sale. The shop accepts it when the sale is completed and payment is taken.
Advertisements. The same principle applies to most advertisements, catalogues, circulars and website listings, which are ordinarily invitations to treat. The exception is an advertisement that promises a reward or other benefit in exchange for the performance of an act. Such an advertisement may constitute a unilateral offer, which is accepted by performing the act.
Online sales. In online transactions, the listing is the invitation to treat. The customer's order, placed by clicking the relevant button, is the offer. The seller ordinarily accepts by sending a confirmation or dispatch notice. The confirmation stage gives the seller an opportunity to decline an order where the goods have been mispriced or are unavailable.
Obvious errors. A person who knows that the other party has made a mistake as to the price cannot hold that party to it. No contract is formed on a term that one party knows the other did not intend.
Practical implications
Where the price charged at the point of sale exceeds the displayed price, the shop is not obliged to sell at the lower price. Equally, the customer is not obliged to pay the higher price, and may decline to proceed with the purchase.
Where the shop has accepted payment at the displayed price, a contract has been concluded at that price, and the shop cannot subsequently demand the difference on the ground that its own label was incorrect. The exception is a manifest error of which the customer was aware, such as a price that plainly bears no relation to the value of the goods.
In online transactions, an automated acknowledgement that an order has been received is frequently not an acceptance. The seller's terms of business ordinarily specify the point at which the contract is formed, which is often the sending of a confirmation or dispatch notice.
Whether a misleading price display contravenes consumer protection legislation is a separate question from the contractual analysis set out above. It does not affect that analysis.
Recommended steps
A customer who is charged more than the displayed price may draw the discrepancy to the shop's attention. Many retailers honour the displayed price as a matter of policy, although the law does not require them to do so. The customer should check the receipt before leaving the point of sale and retain it.
Retailers should correct price labels promptly and ensure that prices are verified before payment is accepted, since a contract concluded at an incorrect price remains binding.
Online sellers should ensure that their terms of business state the point at which a contract is formed, whether on dispatch or on a separate confirmation. They should not issue automated confirmations of acceptance before price and availability have been verified.
Important notice. This commentary is a general statement of the law of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and is provided for information purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice, and it is not to be relied upon as legal advice or as a complete or current statement of the law. The law may have changed since the date of last review. Readers should verify all information for themselves, including the current text of any legislation referred to, and should obtain legal advice on their particular circumstances before acting, or refraining from acting, on anything in this commentary. Reading this commentary does not create an attorney-client relationship, and no responsibility is accepted for any loss arising from reliance on it. Any decision of a court referred to in this commentary is cited for the principle it states; similar results cannot be guaranteed, and a decision may be subject to appeal or change.
Commentary / Contract Law
Is a shop obliged to sell goods at an incorrectly displayed price?
By Suraj Sakal, Attorney-at-Law, called to the Bar of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago