A professor offers to sell a book for $1,000, open for one week. The colleague learns the book has already been sold before acceptance. Will the colleague likely succeed in a breach action?

• A. Yes, because the offer was open for a week regardless of knowledge.
• B. Yes, because the offer remained open for one week after learning of the sale.
• C. No, because the colleague learned the book had been sold before accepting.
• D. No, because the offer was irrevocable for the week.

Answer: (C)

The key idea is that a contract for the sale of goods forms only if there is an offer and a corresponding acceptance while the offer is still alive. If the item is sold to someone else before the offeree accepts, the offer ends and there is no contract. Here, the professor offered the book for a week, but the book had already been sold before the colleague could accept. Without a valid acceptance of an existing offer, no contract exists, so there can be no breach. The fact that the offer was stated to be open for a week does not by itself make it irrevocable — that would require an option contract or, under the UCC, a firm-offer provision, which isn’t indicated in the problem.