Price labels

**Lucy** · 13-Oct-13, 06:00

Yesterday I bought an item from Tesco for £3.25. As this was part of a gift, when I got home I removed the price label to discover another one underneath for £2.75. Is this legal? Just getting my facts straight before I go back to tesco to complain. I photographed the item with the labels & kept my receipt.

**mi16** · 13-Oct-13, 08:43

Originally Posted by Lucy

Yesterday I bought an item from Tesco for £3.25. As this was part of a gift, when I got home I removed the price label to discover another one underneath for £2.75. Is this legal? Just getting my facts straight before I go back to tesco to complain. I photographed the item with the labels & kept my receipt.

Why would it not be legal?

**Big Gaz** · 13-Oct-13, 09:02

Welcome to the real world Lucy. Prices do go up and therefore new lables are applied but thats just Tesco being lazy. A few years ago i bought a "best selling" item that had four price labels on it and the bottom one was showing the price the item was 3 years earlier....so much for being a "best seller".

**scorpion** · 13-Oct-13, 09:04

Hi Lucy , as long as the new price label covers the old label so you cant see it then yes this is legal , so sorry but they are within thier rights

**Birons** · 13-Oct-13, 09:23

We have from time to time a reason to change the price of a product, sometimes it's just been priced incorrectly in the first place. If the old label will peal off easy, that's what we will do to replace it with a new one, however, if it looks like it may damage the package or it's too laborious we will place the new one over the top. www.birons.co.uk

**Lucy** · 13-Oct-13, 09:56

Thank you all for your replies. Yes big Gaz I do realise prices do go up, but I think I was just a bit miffed. I thought that if they had been too lazy to take the lower priced label off they had to 'honour' to lower price. I know that many years ago I worked in a supermarket and we got in serious trouble if we did not remove the old label (days b4 bar codes). Oh well I will live and learn

**radiohead** · 13-Oct-13, 11:07

To be perfectly honest if you don't have to travel far I would take it back and complain, and I am sure the "double the difference" they have on pricing errors should apply. Just my opinion on how we should treat that companies bad ethics.

**ducati** · 13-Oct-13, 12:01

I'd be more concerned about the sell by date.

**cazmanian_minx** · 13-Oct-13, 16:45

Originally Posted by Lucy

I thought that if they had been too lazy to take the lower priced label off they had to 'honour' to lower price.

That's actually never been the case. This is one of the few bits of contract law I remember from when I had to study it as part of my accountancy training - the price displayed on a product (or supermarket shelf, or whatever) is an 'invitation to treat', not a binding offer. Technically when you take the item to the counter, you are offering to buy the item for the price on it, but the person at the counter is not obliged to accept that offer if the price is wrong.

Where it gets really complicated is when prices are wrong online, as the point at which the offer is accepted is a bit of a grey area. The legal system is still catching up with this one, but seems to have established that the goods being dispatched is the point of acceptance and retailers can still withdraw from the sale up to that point.

**Birons** · 13-Oct-13, 18:03

Originally Posted by cazmanian_minx

That's actually never been the case. This is one of the few bits of contract law I remember from when I had to study it as part of my accountancy training - the price displayed on a product (or supermarket shelf, or whatever) is an 'invitation to treat', not a binding offer. Technically when you take the item to the counter, you are offering to buy the item for the price on it, but the person at the counter is not obliged to accept that offer if the price is wrong.

Where it gets really complicated is when prices are wrong online, as the point at which the offer is accepted is a bit of a grey area. The legal system is still catching up with this one, but seems to have established that the goods being dispatched is the point of acceptance and retailers can still withdraw from the sale up to that point.

That's interesting CM, I didn't know that. If someone brings a product to the counter and the till displays a higher price after scanning I usually let the item go at the marked price as a gesture of good will. It's nice to know that I'm not obliged to do so though. www.birons.co.uk

**Big Gaz** · 13-Oct-13, 19:18

Thats leaving yourself open to label switchers Kevin! It's easier to just explain that the price on the till is the required price and that the label has eaither been mistakenly applied or the replacement has fallen off or been removed. How would you feel if you gave out a £100 drill for £60 as a goodwill gesture? no profit and a loss into the bargain. I had this problem a number of years ago in the model shop i ran and more so with the Tamiya kits which were pretty expensive, so i ended up putting box codes together with the prices on labels, thus if a label was switched, i knew right away as it would tell you on the till what item the label was for so you compared that to the actual item the customer gave you.

**Birons** · 13-Oct-13, 20:11

Originally Posted by Big Gaz

Thats leaving yourself open to label switchers Kevin! It's easier to just explain that the price on the till is the required price and that the label has eaither been mistakenly applied or the replacement has fallen off or been removed. How would you feel if you gave out a £100 drill for £60 as a goodwill gesture? no profit and a loss into the bargain. I had this problem a number of years ago in the model shop i ran and more so with the Tamiya kits which were pretty expensive, so i ended up putting box codes together with the prices on labels, thus if a label was switched, i knew right away as it would tell you on the till what item the label was for so you compared that to the actual item the customer gave you.

I was talking more in terms of a 17P pack of screws with a 15P label on them, there's good will and goodness gracious me.lol www.birons.co.uk

**Big Gaz** · 13-Oct-13, 22:35

aye but all those tuppences soon add up

**theone** · 13-Oct-13, 23:20

Originally Posted by cazmanian_minx

That's actually never been the case. This is one of the few bits of contract law I remember from when I had to study it as part of my accountancy training - the price displayed on a product (or supermarket shelf, or whatever) is an 'invitation to treat', not a binding offer. Technically when you take the item to the counter, you are offering to buy the item for the price on it, but the person at the counter is not obliged to accept that offer if the price is wrong.

That is true, but only under contract law.

But if two prices are visible on an item, refusal to sell for the lowest price can fall foul of false advertising legislation.

HOWEVER................... if the original pricetag is completely covered by the new one - no problem legally.

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