ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the postal rule applies generally to e-commerce communications. The general law of contract operates in the same way on the Internet as elsewhere, but in its application there are issues that are peculiar to e-commerce. Some of these issues relate to conflict of laws, some to payment, and some to consumer protection, but it is also necessary to examine contract formation. The Internet shares with snailmail the fact that it is not 100" reliable. Communications to a web server, or by e-mail, can get lost, delayed, or fail to reach their destination. Internet communications are generally unlike those in Entores and Brinkibon, however, and the postal rule ought therefore to apply to them. Internet communications, especially over the WWW, are simply not like communications between two clerks, both present at their teleprinters and on the end of the telephone, the situation considered in Entores.
