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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

#361

Post by JustFinishedBSG »

nickjj wrote: post #348
Freak_NL wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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. How can you prove something like that in court in this camera case? For example, let's say you were just getting into photography and were window shopping by browsing around Amazon's site. You run into a camera that has a 4.7 average ra…

Because you can infer that the "-99%" near the price is weird.

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

#362

Post by cthalupa »

rwc wrote: post #60
ericmuyser wrote: post #45

I doubt they will cancel the orders. Amazon lives by customer service. They seem to just write off their mistakes directly from revenue. I learned this when I was scammed for a $5000 and Amazon let the scammer keep, refunded me and closed the issue in one fell swoop.

Amazon is less customer-friendly than ever before. They refused to adjust a TV I purchased 7 days ago to the Prime Day pricing which was $400 off. The only solution according to them was to purchase another TV at the Prime pricing and return the original. That's unfriendly to the customer, it's unfriendly to the planet, and it's unfriendly to Amazon's bottom line. An all-around disaster.

Were they both sold by the same vendor?

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

#363

Post by tripzilch »

gingabriska wrote: post #357
kartan wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s kind of interesting- the asymmetry of moral expectations and entitlement. First, there is an asymmetry in power too. Amazon can afford to double check or triple check everything if it makes economic sense. Secondly, companies does not have morals. If you allow big corporations to change prices as they see fit because there is a "mistake". Companies will exploit that to their advantage with psychopathic precisi…

"Companies are not human beings, as other comments already have said, to involve morality in this issue makes no sense whatsoever." Is society human being? Is nation a human being? If not then is it moral to deceive and cheat them too?

It means just that it makes no sense to answer that question based on human morals ... doesn't mean the answer is set in stone.

It specifically doesn't mean that one non-human entity should be treated the same as all other non-human entities.

For instance an argument could be made that it can be moral to cheat the State, but not Society. It's not an argument I want to discuss now, but the point is, you can use ethics and come to different conclusions about entities that are not human beings ...

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

#364

Post by thatcat »

sagebird wrote: post #239

It’s kind of interesting- the asymmetry of moral expectations and entitlement. If you accidentally purchased a bag of M&Ms from Amazon for 500 dollars instead of 5, they will let you undo it. On the other hand, if the matter is reversed, Amazon is expected to be a good sport and take the loss — even if the purchase was made in bad faith (ie- knowing Amazon mis-priced it but purchasing it anyways.) I’m not going to en…

I think its probably hard to feel bad gouging amazon on the price of camera equiptment when they do the same on a daily basis as a policy. By the time you consider their complex tax evasion schemes, you'll have already clicked buy. Treat people how you expect to be treated and all that...

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

#365

Post by tripzilch »

bko wrote: post #338
throwawaylolx wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This would be wealth destruction no different from simultaneously reaching into every person's wallet and removing some amount of cash and burning it. Unrealised profits are very much different than physical cash.

I own the stock and can sell it for $2000. If the value of the stock drops to $0 and I can no longer get $2000 for the stock, it would be no different than me losing $2000 cash

Except you did't have $2000 cash because you invested it in Amazon, whose value dropped to $0.

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

#366

Post by lloydatkinson »

sagebird wrote: post #239

It’s kind of interesting- the asymmetry of moral expectations and entitlement. If you accidentally purchased a bag of M&Ms from Amazon for 500 dollars instead of 5, they will let you undo it. On the other hand, if the matter is reversed, Amazon is expected to be a good sport and take the loss — even if the purchase was made in bad faith (ie- knowing Amazon mis-priced it but purchasing it anyways.) I’m not going to en…

how it goes out the window when certain conditions are met.

Almost as if one is an organisation worth literally billions and the other is an individual who has to worry about money every month.

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

#367

Post by almog »

sagebird wrote: post #239

It’s kind of interesting- the asymmetry of moral expectations and entitlement. If you accidentally purchased a bag of M&Ms from Amazon for 500 dollars instead of 5, they will let you undo it. On the other hand, if the matter is reversed, Amazon is expected to be a good sport and take the loss — even if the purchase was made in bad faith (ie- knowing Amazon mis-priced it but purchasing it anyways.) I’m not going to en…

Being able to cancel is formalized in Amazon's terms and condition, not a courtesy.

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

#368

Post by stef25 »

kartan wrote: post #288
sagebird wrote: post #239

It’s kind of interesting- the asymmetry of moral expectations and entitlement. If you accidentally purchased a bag of M&Ms from Amazon for 500 dollars instead of 5, they will let you undo it. On the other hand, if the matter is reversed, Amazon is expected to be a good sport and take the loss — even if the purchase was made in bad faith (ie- knowing Amazon mis-priced it but purchasing it anyways.) I’m not going to en…

> It’s kind of interesting- the asymmetry of moral expectations and entitlement. First, there is an asymmetry in power too. Amazon can afford to double check or triple check everything if it makes economic sense. Secondly, companies does not have morals. If you allow big corporations to change prices as they see fit because there is a "mistake". Companies will exploit that to their advantage with psychopathic precisi…

> You will get your package at home and then you will be informed that the price "was a mistake" and was 10% more expensive

Don't seem very likely. When word gets out (and it will) they'll lose customers that are much more valuable than that extra 10% they just got from you.

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

#370

Post by henvic »

I'd make an order and immediately ask Amazon if I can keep it or if it was an error.

Why? How come can I know for sure this is an error and not, say, a marketing strategy to show up for free on big news outlets?

Free publicity for the company and a free expensive product for me. They would be just using me to earn some publicity space, and I would be compensated a lot by it. Being a libertarian, I don't see any problem with this free trade.

Except, it was probably a huge mess on their pricing system. As this might be the case, if they wanted to cancel my order, I wouldn't complain at all.

What about if it was an error that turned out to be great for them because it drove more access to the camera area and they sold twice what they expected, and they admit it? I'd still be interested in returning the camera because I don't want to take advantage of an error, but I'd ask nicely if I can keep it and make it clear I have no intention to fight or complain if they said 'no'.

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