On November 5, an electronics store owner realized that his stock of 15 copies of the most popular video game of the holiday shopping season would not last until the first of the next month. Seeing an advertisement from the manufacturer of the game in a trade journal listing its price at $3,000 per hundred, with delivery one week from order, the store owner e-mailed to the manufacturer an order for 100 copies of the game at $3,000 per hundred. There were no further communications between the store owner and the manufacturer. By November 25, the store owner realized that the manufacturer was not going to deliver any of the video games. He thus was forced to obtain additional stock by purchasing from a middleman at a cost of $4,000 per hundred. The store owner brings an action for breach of contract against the manufacturer.
Who will prevail?
i. The store owner, because his e-mail was an acceptance of the manufacturer’s offer.
ii. The store owner, because he changed his position in reliance on the manufacturer’s promise to deliver the video games within one week.
iii. The manufacturer, because it never accepted the offer contained in the store owner’s e-mail.
iv. The manufacturer, because the communications between the parties were not definite or certain enough to form a contract.