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Amazon Accidentally Sold $13k Camera Gear for $100 on Prime Day

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Re: Amazon Accidentally Sold $13k Camera Gear for $100 on Prime Day

#221

Post by mikorym »

want2know wrote: post #205
acid__ wrote: post #123

I got in on this! I got a Sony A7R II and a 24-70 2.8 II I'd always wanted but could never justify the purchase of. ($~3k value for $200) A few observations: - Despite the extraordinary deal we got, my friends (who also made a purchase) and I all have our joy offset by a feeling of regret that we didn't order more. Greed! - Despite the fact that I couldn't justify the purchase before I owned them, I now definitely do…

In the Netherlands this also happened some times on webshops. And everytime a judge ruled people had to bring the goods back or should pay the full amount. The reason is that it is very clear for the buyer it is a mistake. And almost all webshops have a legal notice about wrong or false prices.

I think that if Amazon does ship these (and it seems some already did) it's actually pretty neat advertisement for them. Any publicity is good publicity, right?

I wonder how much an advertisement campaign with this amount of buzz usually costs.

Re: Amazon Accidentally Sold $13k Camera Gear for $100 on Prime Day

#222

Post by mikorym »

kls wrote: post #108

Sounds to me like someone at Amazon is good at marketing. Let a few things go for an insane deal, knowing it will hit the front page of every blog. Then reap the rush of next years prime day with people scouring the site for pricing "errors". Pretty cheap and effective marketing. Kind of like a raffle but without having to get all the lawyers involved to make sure you comply with raffle laws.

I was thinking this exactly. How much would that kind of advertising cost?

And the money essentially goes to their customers rather than an advertising agency.

Re: Amazon Accidentally Sold $13k Camera Gear for $100 on Prime Day

#223

Post by mkagenius »

h6d-100c wrote: post #213
teej wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were stories of other mispriced deals that folks got where the order was cancelled. So I imagine it’s simply a matter of what Amazon caught in time vs not.

A camera I ordered just shipped, so I think they are just eating the cost.

Only if its in your hand. They have ways.

Re: Amazon Accidentally Sold $13k Camera Gear for $100 on Prime Day

#224

Post by anbop »

WalterBright wrote: post #9

Amazon would be within their rights to refuse to honor such purchases. I also don't think it's ethical to take advantage of such mistakes. What if it was you who accidentally listed your house for $60,000 rather than $600,000? What if you accidentally included an extra 0 on the check you wrote?

Well if I listed a house for $60,000 instead of $600,000, but I owned $1 trillion of houses and was selling several hundred of them every single second of the day, then sure there isn't anything wrong with buying one for $60K.

Re: Amazon Accidentally Sold $13k Camera Gear for $100 on Prime Day

#225

Post by AnssiH »

fma wrote: post #112
kls wrote: post #108

Sounds to me like someone at Amazon is good at marketing. Let a few things go for an insane deal, knowing it will hit the front page of every blog. Then reap the rush of next years prime day with people scouring the site for pricing "errors". Pretty cheap and effective marketing. Kind of like a raffle but without having to get all the lawyers involved to make sure you comply with raffle laws.

Or someone on slickdeals is good at marketing because that's what half the article talks about. I'm surprised Amazon honored such a big price mistake. A few weeks ago, some Western Digital drives were priced incorrectly. About half off. Everyone got cancelations. And yes, I heard about it on front page of slickdeals...

IIRC in the WD drive case the drives were on backorder so Amazon had a longer time window for cancellations.

Similar things have happened on past Prime Days / Black Fridays, I remember some smartphones (Moto?) being sold for under $3 - some were canceled, but some shipped before Amazon managed to cancel them.

Re: Amazon Accidentally Sold $13k Camera Gear for $100 on Prime Day

#227

Post by mattashii »

want2know wrote: post #220
mattashii wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And everytime a judge ruled people had to bring the goods back or should pay the full amount. This is slightly different from what I remember, so can you link me an example? Last time I checked, the webshop must fulfill the order, unless the price is obviously wrong, and the webshop cannot force a return for something the customer has already recieved and paid for.

Here an example (in Dutch): http://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/inziendocument?id=ECLI:NL:G...

Ah, I see. So, in short, you can be forced to return an order, but that is only because the order was not made with a "legal" price [0], so no legal transaction has taken place, and all that happened was you sending the webshop money without cause, and they mistakenly sending you a product, which both must be returned upon request by the other party.

[0] a "legal" price is a price which the customer would expect for such a product. But in a shop advertising "up to 60% off", a 50% off TV would still be legal price, even if it is a price error.

Re: Amazon Accidentally Sold $13k Camera Gear for $100 on Prime Day

#228

Post by Freak_NL »

want2know wrote: post #205
acid__ wrote: post #123

I got in on this! I got a Sony A7R II and a 24-70 2.8 II I'd always wanted but could never justify the purchase of. ($~3k value for $200) A few observations: - Despite the extraordinary deal we got, my friends (who also made a purchase) and I all have our joy offset by a feeling of regret that we didn't order more. Greed! - Despite the fact that I couldn't justify the purchase before I owned them, I now definitely do…

In the Netherlands this also happened some times on webshops. And everytime a judge ruled people had to bring the goods back or should pay the full amount. The reason is that it is very clear for the buyer it is a mistake. And almost all webshops have a legal notice about wrong or false prices.

If I remember correctly, in these cases (bunk beds and televisions) the orders were never fulfilled. The court ruled that a sales contract is not binding if the buyer can reasonably suspect that the price shown is so absurdly low that an error on the side of the seller is apparent.

That is, you can try to order the item, but the seller has no legal obligation of fulfilling it if they can proof beyond reasonable doubt that a mistake was made, and can return the money instead.

Re: Amazon Accidentally Sold $13k Camera Gear for $100 on Prime Day

#229

Post by firethief »

DonHopkins wrote: post #80
blakesterz wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I remember that one! I was just thinking recently it's hard to believe Mefi turned 20 years old this summer, and then I realized MY site turns 20 years old this fall... I know people feel old when their kids get old, but damn, having a website turn twenty just makes me feel old.

Ten more years and you won't be able to trust it any more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Weinberg#%22Don't_trust_a...

See also: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/1/eaau4586.full

Re: Amazon Accidentally Sold $13k Camera Gear for $100 on Prime Day

#230

Post by iamnotacrook »

zaarn wrote: post #190
acid__ wrote: post #123

I got in on this! I got a Sony A7R II and a 24-70 2.8 II I'd always wanted but could never justify the purchase of. ($~3k value for $200) A few observations: - Despite the extraordinary deal we got, my friends (who also made a purchase) and I all have our joy offset by a feeling of regret that we didn't order more. Greed! - Despite the fact that I couldn't justify the purchase before I owned them, I now definitely do…

>- A lot of people saying the orders are going to be cancelled -- seeing as I currently have both body and lens in possession, I find that unlikely. Just as a counterview; I've ordered other types of equipment on prime day that had pricing errors and I was later informed Amazon would not fullfill the order and got a 20$ gift code.

I've had mispriced orders cancelled with no gift voucher in return. Just a "mistakes happen" email.
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