When is an offer considered tentative?

An offer is considered tentative when it has not yet been accepted. In contract law, an offer is a proposal made by one party to another intending to create a legally binding agreement, but it is still subject to acceptance by the other party. Until acceptance occurs, the offer remains open and can be retracted or altered by the offeror. This characteristic of being subject to acceptance defines the tentative nature of the offer, as it has not yet led to a binding commitment between the parties involved.

Other factors that may characterize an offer as tentative, such as requiring additional terms or being a casual mention, do often result in an unclear or insufficient basis for a contract, but they don't specifically define the state of being "tentative" in the same way. An offer is fundamentally a state of invitation to negotiate and establish agreement, which remains in that tentative state until the other party actively accepts it.