When is an order a contract

So....a friend of mine placed an order for a cycling item from an online supplier. The item was showing in stock on the supplier's website and an order number was received after online order placement.
Shortly afterwards the supplier confirmed that the item wasn't yet in stock and would be 3 weeks away. The buyer agreed to wait for the item. No payment has been taken.
Subsequently the supplier has contacted the buyer to say that their supplier has let them down and they are unable to supply the item at the original price. They can supply exactly the same item at a 50% higher price.....
So...when does an order become a binding contract? I would have thought that it is when an order number is provided - thereby notifying acceptance of the buyer's offer to buy at the price advertised.
Note that the supplier is not saying they cannot supply the item. They are simply offering exactly the same item at a higher price. I can't see how they can claim it was a pricing error as this is a month later than order placement after initial contact being about stock deficiencies rather than mispricing.
Shortly afterwards the supplier confirmed that the item wasn't yet in stock and would be 3 weeks away. The buyer agreed to wait for the item. No payment has been taken.
Subsequently the supplier has contacted the buyer to say that their supplier has let them down and they are unable to supply the item at the original price. They can supply exactly the same item at a 50% higher price.....
So...when does an order become a binding contract? I would have thought that it is when an order number is provided - thereby notifying acceptance of the buyer's offer to buy at the price advertised.
Note that the supplier is not saying they cannot supply the item. They are simply offering exactly the same item at a higher price. I can't see how they can claim it was a pricing error as this is a month later than order placement after initial contact being about stock deficiencies rather than mispricing.
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There is one bike shop I know of locally who pull their stock numbers fro their suppliers. This is massively frustrating as what appears to be in stock is actually at someone else's warehouse and I was caught out once trying to get hold of something I needed. I still shop there, but it's not my first port of call.
Amazon say this on their orders
this email is only an acnowlegment of receipt of your order. Your contract to purchase these items is not complete until we send you an email notifying you of dispatch of these items ...... whish is also when they take the money
https://twitter.com/roubaixcc
Facebook? No. Just say no.
Some part suppliers that I order from send an invoice or add it to your account and they say:
"The goods belong to us until payment is received in full" (or similar).
That's to do with retention of title in case they don't get paid or the company they've supplied goes bust.
The order acknowledgement in this case contains no small print about the order not being an order until the goods are despatched. Indeed, it starts off by saying my...er I mean my friend's....order has been successful.
However, even if there isn't some small print somewhere, I guess short of taking them to the small claims court there is no legal way of forcing them to honour their order. I just don't get how a supplier can be so blatant and brazen about just increasing the price of something by 50%.
If they are they are secretly fuming
Was the original item on sale ? So they were clearing old stock maybe ? Thats the usual reason stuff is cheap. It could well be that the new price is just the 'normal' price ?
Except a web shop isn't the same as a quote and a PO. If your mate had phoned the shop, they'd gone out to the back of the store and checked they had everything available, then came back and emailed him the details personally, then sold the item to someone else and bumped the quote by 50% to cover a quick replacement item then I could see your mate might be annoyed. But if you substitutes righteous indignation for common sense then you can probably conceive of how the stock count might be wrong occasionally and that it's not really a big deal.
CAAD12 Disc
Condor Tempo
retired 9.6kg Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail combined thread - come on all you Carrera's!
The Sons Scott Genius RC20 build
Then you have a contract, but if you have agreed to the supplier's terms and conditions they may have a get out enabling them to cancel the contract - subject to consumer protection rules
That's known as sod's law.
But if you know the answers why did you ask the question?
retired 9.6kg Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail combined thread - come on all you Carrera's!
The Sons Scott Genius RC20 build