A garden centre places an advertisement in a trade magazine: 'Commercial patio heaters, £180 each, while stocks last.' A restaurant owner sends an order for ten heaters, but the garden centre refuses to supply them because it has decided to keep its remaining stock for its own outdoor café. In law, what was the advertisement?

Correct answer: B) An invitation to treat, so the restaurant owner's order was an offer that the garden centre was free to reject

Explanation

Advertisements of goods for sale at a stated price are generally invitations to treat, not offers (Partridge v Crittenden). This avoids an advertiser being bound to supply more customers than it has stock for. The customer's order is the offer, which the seller may accept or reject. An advertisement is a unilateral offer only where it shows a clear intention to be bound to anyone who performs a stated act, as in Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co, which an ordinary price advertisement does not.