Legal Question in Business Law in Illinois

Required to Sell?

I run a small business and recently collected preorders on an item to be released 4 months from the announced date. The manufacturer severely limited the amount of quantity of the item, short shipping my order by more than half of my original committed order quantity.

Do I have an obligation to uphold my preorder pricing to all of my customers, and do I have to fill all orders? The product now sells for 3 times the amount on the open market and I did not collect any funds in advance of release. I collected all orders via emails stating the order quantity and pricing. I have a customer who has been extremely rude via email, and I would prefer not to send this person anything, considering the availability on this item. Do I still have an obligation to sell to them?

I also question during the following situations if the answer is the same:

1) I do not have enough stock to fill all of my preorders

2) I do have enough stock to fill all of my preorders

Thanks for your advice!


Asked on 10/01/07, 9:35 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Lawrence A. Stein Aronberg Goldgehn Davis & Garmisa, LLC

Re: Required to Sell?

You are obligated to sell the items you promised at the price agreed. If you fail to do so, your customers can sue you for the difference between the current market price and the prince they agreed to pay you. It does not matter whether you have enough stock. That is your problem. You can either wait to see if you get sued, or you can obtain additional stock at the current market price to fill your orders. Of course, all of this depends on the actual words used when you took the pre-orders. Call me if you want me to review that.

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Answered on 10/01/07, 10:04 pm


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