online shop selling – no need to hold stock ?

• By Cali Shaye
• Online Head Shops
• 14 years ago
• 1

I was wondering if online shops are obliged or not, by law, to hold a physical stock of the items they are selling.

Example: I bought a snow shovel on the 27th Nov. the 3rd Dec the online shop writes to me saying those items were out of stock (shovel head + handle) and would be back (estimated) the week starting 13th Dec.
Now they wrote saying their sub-supplier told them they will only get some more mid-January.

Is this legal ? shouldn’t they not be taking peoples money without holding a physical stock ?
What compensations can I have on this situation where these shops lie and take advantage of customer’s needs ?

Thank you for your help.
Best regards