1 Corbin on Contracts Desk Edition § 2.01

Summary

• [1] “Preliminary Negotiations” Begin Bargaining Transactions

  For every contractual transaction, there are preliminary negotiations. A buyer may request information about a product or service as well as the seller’s price. A seller may make statements about the product that have no legal effect—traditionally called “puffing”—or it may make statements of fact about the product that become express warranties with legal effects. Brochures, advertisements, or other printed material, as well as electronic material, may be provided to induce agreements. The seller’s website may be a fruitful source of information concerning the product or service. There may be considerable haggling about price or other aspects of a possible deal. During this preliminary stage, offers may be rejected, and counteroffers may be made, and they, too, may be rejected.

  If the negotiations do not culminate in one party making an offer that the other party accepts, the preliminary negotiations have failed to produce a ...