## Facts

- A department store ran a newspaper advertisement for an “all electric sewing machine” as a “Thursday Only Special” priced at $26.
- On the specified Thursday, Craft went to the store and tendered $26 to buy the advertised machine.
- The store refused to sell the machine to Craft at the advertised price.
- Craft sued for breach of contract, alleging the advertisement was a binding offer that she accepted by tendering the price.
- Craft sought damages measured by the difference between the machine’s alleged value and the advertised price.

## Issues

1. Whether a newspaper advertisement stating a specific item and price constituted a binding offer capable of acceptance by a customer who tenders the advertised price.
2. Whether the store’s refusal to sell at the advertised price could constitute breach of contract if the advertisement created contractual obligations.

## Decision

- The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of Craft’s petition.
- The court held the advertisement was not an offer but an invitation to negotiate or to receive offers from customers.
- Because the ad did not create a power of acceptance in the public, Craft’s tender was treated as an offer to buy that the store was free to reject.
- No contract was formed; therefore, refusal to sell at the advertised price was not a breach.

## Legal Principles

- General retail advertisements addressed to the public are presumed to be invitations to negotiate (or solicitations of offers), not offers.
- A customer’s attempt to purchase at an advertised price is ordinarily the customer’s offer, which the merchant may accept or reject.
- An advertisement’s lack of limiting terms (such as specified quantity or clearly identified offerees) supports treating it as nonbinding to avoid unlimited contractual liability.

## Conclusion

The court rejected the claim that a “special” retail newspaper advertisement created an enforceable offer, holding instead that it invited customers to make offers; thus, the store’s refusal to sell at the advertised price did not create liability for breach of contract.


Craft v. Elder & Johnston Co., 38 N.E.2d 416 (Ohio Ct. App. 1941)