The Difference Between An Offer And An Invitation To Offer Of An E-contract

With the development of Internet , the network is gradually impacting on every corner of people's economic life. Internet has also brought some new challenges to Contract Law. How to distinguish an offer and an invitation to offer of an e-contract is one of the challenges. Proper distinguishing an offer and an invitation to offer can determine whether an e-contract is established. Moreover, it can also reduce the risks of e-business transactions, promote the growth of e-commerce transactions and make electronic commerce more conveniently. How to distinguish an offer and an invitation to offer of an e-contract has not been stipulated in China's law. Therefore, the thesis tries to make some suggestions to this question by referring to "The United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts " and some cases of America and Germany.The thesis includes five parts: introduction, three chapters and conclusion. In the introduction, the thesis presents the importance of distinguishing an offer and an invitation to offer in an e-contract.Chapter one introduces the rules of distinguishing an offer and an invitation to offer in a contract of China's current law. For an e-contract, it is essentially a contract, however, the means of making a contract is different. The rules for an e-contract should not be different form a common contract. Therefore, distinguishing an offer and an invitation to offer of an e-contract should follow the rules of common contracts.Chapter two introduces the challenges to the difference of an offer and an invitation to offer in an e-contract, which are brought by the specificity of an e-contract. The chapter mainly clarifies that online advertisement, click-wrap contract and online auction bring some challenges to difference of an offer and an invitation to offer.Chapter three introduces the rules of some specific issues on how to distinguish an offer and an invitation to offer in an e-contract. An online advertisement should be regarded as an invitation to offer in common conditions. However, if the advertisement's content satisfies the terms of an offer or the party of sending the advertisement suggests that he wants to be bound for a contract, the advertisement should be regarded as an offer. In e-commerce, it is generally believed that a click-wrap contract will be considered as an offer. Within the auction of common web pages and BBS, the seller's information is regarded as an invitation to offer and the buy's bid is regarded as an offer. In the auction of a special auction web page, the auction is managed by an electronic agent and the seller publishes many details of his product. In this condition, the seller's information is regarded as an offer.In the conclusion, this thesis provides general resolutions on the inprovement of the legislation of the e-contract.