Invitation to treat

The solicitation of an offer ( Latin: invitatio ad referendum ) is a term of German civil law and refers to a non- legal commercial transaction for contract negotiations. She is from a request for signing a contract ( the offer, § 145 BGB in Germany ) to distinguish. Requests are also an invitation to tender.

Definition

In contrast to the normal purchase contract in which one party initiative an offer emits, which is binding on it and needs only to be accepted by the other, invites here the Requesting Party only to make an offer on ( invitation to submit an offer = invitatio ad offerendum ). Due to the invitation then the prospective buyer is in turn from a (for him -binding ) offer, the ( then the contract is concluded ) adopted by the Requesting Party may be or rejected.

A mere request and no request is present if the Requesting Party at the time of the call can not make legally binding statements about conditions or wants, in particular the Parties or the available stock of goods. The provider is missing for this reason, the legal binding will. This applies, for example on costs in stores. In addition, the price can not be determined precisely. This can be the case with advertising for securities whose price is determined only by daily courses. For the issuance of securities of the capital market ( effects ) to the issuer, it also lacks therefore the intention to be bound to in the event of over-subscription of its securities, not being forced to issue more than the planned maximum issue size. It thus is open to him to make less or repartierte allocations.

Individual cases

• Promotions can be found for example in catalogs and advertising brochures, on posters, etc. Also putting up goods in the self-service supermarket is not an offer in the legal sense. Here are only the prospective buyer by the introduction of the goods to the cashier a declaration of intention, which is accepted or rejected by the cashier.

• Goods offered on web pages are usually the solicitation of an offer and not an offer.

• For the cases in which the pricing and the value stored in the cash price of an item do not match, is debatable, what is true: whether the pricing of a product, for example, on the supermarket shelf is a binding offer, is affirmed predominantly in the literature of many dishes However, in the negative. This on the grounds that the laying out of the product all explanation constituent elements of a declaration of intent are given, since the so-called legal binding will, so the will, already in advance binding engage in a business that is missing, otherwise could, for example an insolvent customer close an effective purchase contract for the whole of the department store.

Accordingly, it is when presenting the goods at the box office ( in a few exceptional cases, to accepting an offer ) usually to the submission of an offer. According to § 150 paragraph 2 BGB is also considered an " acceptance of the offer " by a second declaration of intent that the same as a new offer, which may accept or reject in this case from the first declaration of intent is different (eg different price ), as a rejection as well as the customer.

• For the same reasons, the customer will not be entitled to delivery of a specific exhibition piece ( about from the window of a business ). He just does not constitute an offer to conclude a purchase contract on ( which the contract would be closed and the claim would be ), but gives only itself from the offer that the laudatory may also refuse.