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Amazon Accidentally Sold $13,000+ Camera Gear for $100 on Prime Day
Amazon discounted a wide range of camera gear for Prime Day this week, but some photographers scored what may be the best deals of their lives. Thanks to a pricing error, many people were able to purchase high-end camera gear bundles, some worth over $5,000, for just around $100.
It all started when someone noticed that the $550 Sony a6000 and 16-50mm lens bundle was being listed at just $94.50 on Amazon, and the person shared the “deal” on Slickdeals, where it hit the front page.
Many users were able to see the same price and place orders, while other users reported still seeing the normal price of $550. And it wasn’t 3rd-party sellers that the $94.50 price applied to — the gear was being sold and shipped by Amazon.
But then people noticed that other cameras and bundles were also being sold for $94.50, and that’s when the real frenzy started.
“Literally everything is $94.48,” one member writes. “I have bought like 10k worth of stuff that was like 900 dollars total.”
[...] Other members spoke to Amazon customer service about their order and were told that the order would indeed ship. Others also reported that they successfully price matched gear at retailers such as Best Buy and Walmart.
(Score: 1) by WeekendMonkey on Friday July 19 2019, @12:29PM (5 children)
This is not the first time items have been advertised at prices well below the intended sale price. Did the buyers get their goods? Often the retailer will cancel the orders once the error has been spotted, saying there was no contract at the displayed price until they accept the order.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday July 19 2019, @01:39PM (4 children)
Except in this case:
Amazon also send a confirmatory email stating that the order has been accepted so the contract is valid from your repeat of that email.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday July 19 2019, @01:40PM
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Friday July 19 2019, @02:15PM (2 children)
But contracts can be broken. A while back I attempted to buy an item from eBay that was clearly posted with an erroneously low price. eBeh seemed to have no problems canceling the transaction when the seller complained, even though I technically bought it and paid for it.
If whoever was selling this camera stuff on Amazon complained, I'm sure the transaction would be canceled. Although things are so automated these days, there very well might not be a human directly in the chain checking these things. Of course Amazon's support would tell people that they would being getting their order. An actual human would have to get involved first.
Awesome bug. What would happen if something fed in a negative amount?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 19 2019, @11:39PM
Amazon can't do that because they are held liable to consumer protection laws.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday July 20 2019, @08:20PM
> What would happen if something fed in a negative amount?
You would have to ship the stuff to Amazon and get paid for it.
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