A seller sends an email to a buyer offering to sell 500 widgets for $10,000. The email states, 'This offer will remain open until the end of the week on Friday afternoon.' On Wednesday, the buyer emails the seller saying, 'I’m still deciding, but I’m leaning toward accepting.' On Thursday, the seller emails the buyer stating, 'I’ve decided to sell the widgets to someone else. The offer is revoked.' On Friday afternoon, the buyer emails the seller, 'I accept your offer.' Does the communication between the parties result in an enforceable agreement?
Yes, there is an enforceable agreement because the buyer accepted within the seller's specified timeframe.
No, there is no enforceable agreement because the seller validly withdrew the offer before the buyer communicated acceptance.
Yes, there is an enforceable agreement because the initial email exchange created a binding arrangement.
No, there is no enforceable agreement because the acceptance was not communicated through proper channels.
The correct answer is determined by whether the seller's revocation was effective before the buyer expressed acceptance. In general, an offer can be withdrawn at any time prior to acceptance unless it is irrevocable due to the creation of an option contract, which requires consideration to keep the offer open. Here, although the seller stated that the offer would remain open until Friday, that language alone did not create a binding obligation to hold the offer open. Because the seller effectively withdrew the offer on Thursday, there was no valid offer remaining for the buyer to accept on Friday. Other answers fail because acceptance must follow an unrevoked offer to result in an enforceable contract.
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