Offer and contract: what is the difference

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When a business moves online, many new issues arise. One of the main difficulties is concluding contracts. If a company ignores this point, it risks facing claims from clients or even fines.

In this article we explain what an offer is and why it is needed. We explain how to draw up, change, revoke an offer, and also where it is best to place it.

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What is an offer?
In short and simple terms, an offer is a formal proposal to proceed to the slovenia phone number list conclusion of a contract. It can be drawn up in different ways. Let's look at some examples:

The text on the page states: "A license to use the program costs 10,000 rubles. To purchase, transfer money to the specified account." This is an offer.
You go to the website of an online store and see an ad there: “The book “War and Peace” for 500 rubles, you can pay via bank transfer.” This is also an offer.
The bank offers a corporate loan over the phone. The manager says: "We can offer your company a loan of up to 50 million rubles at 8% per annum." This proposal is also considered an offer.
The word "offer" comes from the Latin "offero," which means "I propose." This is exactly what happens: one party makes an offer, and the other party can accept that offer, and then a contract is formed between them.

Let's look at six examples of what an offer might look like:

On the furniture store website, in the “Delivery Terms” section, you can find a file that describes how the delivery, payment and return of the goods will be carried out.
The coffee shop has a board with prices for coffee and desserts.
The software sales website has a section with instructions on how to activate the purchased program.
The online clothing store's Instagram profile features photos of products with prices listed under each image.
At the entrance to the fitness club there is a stand with the rules that visitors must follow and the prices for memberships.
Online store customers are sent emails with promotions and special offers.
For an offer to become a legally significant document, it must include all the necessary details for concluding a contract. These details are called the essential terms of the contract. We will discuss them in more detail below in the article.

The basic rule is this: if the offer clearly states the terms of the work or service, the cost and the method of payment, then such a document can be used for legal purposes.
It is a mistake to think that an offer and a contract are the same thing. An offer is a proposal to enter into a contract. As a rule, this is an initiative of one party, which does not yet oblige to perform. After receiving consent from the other party, the offer becomes a contract. In this case, we are already talking about an agreement where two or more parties participate, and each of them undertakes to do or provide something.

An offer is often called an "offer agreement." But this is incorrect, since an offer is not a contract. It would be more accurate to call it a proposal that can be either accepted or rejected.