If a buyer makes an offer at a price below asking, the seller counters, the buyer rejects the counteroffer, and the seller later accepts the original offer, which statement is true?

• A. The buyer remains bound to the original offer.
• B. The original offer is revived.
• C. The counteroffer keeps the original offer alive.
• D. The buyer was released from the offer when the seller made a counter offer.

Answer: (D)

The key idea is that a counteroffer ends the original offer. When the seller makes a counteroffer, it rejects the buyer’s terms and creates a new offer with different terms. The buyer who received that original offer is released from it because the original terms are no longer on the table.

In this scenario, the buyer rejected the counteroffer, so there is no active agreement on the original terms. The seller’s later attempt to accept the original offer can’t bind the buyer, since that original offer no longer exists. For a contract to form, the parties would need to agree to the terms on the counteroffer (or the buyer would need to re-offer and the seller accept those terms).