Slashdot Mirror
Amazon Sells IPAQs for $10
TomHoward writes "In a pretty huge blunder, amazon.co.uk have put the HP IPAQ H1910 (RRP about £300) for sale for just over £7.32 (plus postage and packing). It's very hard to get through to their site right now, but if you're quick you can have a look at their blunder here." Don't bother clicking through, Amazon has taken the items down.
but the postage and packing from the UK would have put me back whatever I would have saved.....
I wonder how many Mr TomHoward ordered before he submitted the article. :)
In a pretty huge blunder, slashdot.org have put the "HP IPAQ H1910 (RRP about £300) for sale for just over £7.32 (plus postage and packing)." story up for its readers to digest. It's very easy to get through to amazon's site, and the item ain't even there anymore. Don't bother discussing, Slashdot shouldve have taken the story down.
S.t.e.v.e.
This is just another form of advertisement. See how many vistors amazon.com attracts... even a slashdot story pops up :)
This kind of thing happens all the time. Anyone who frequents the fatwallet or anandtech boards knows about it-- they will NEVER honor prices like this. That's why their disclaimer includes things like "not responsible for typographic errors." But it's still sometimes fun to order 1,000,000 when the prices are accidently posted as 0.00.
-- Is "Sig" copyrighted by www.sig.com?
Here is a link to that story about that 36-inch TV for $99 on Amazon. People sued to get the TV for the advertised price, and lost.
Sometimes I worry that I'll develop Alzheimer's disease, but no one will notice.
1. Put up a product at a ridiculous price on Amazon, say about 10% normal price.
2. Get noticed.
3. (optional) Process about 10 orders at absurd price, to gain goodwill from market.
4. After a threshold number of 'absurd' orders, take down product.
5. Send link to Slashdot.
6. Enjoy.
Wonder what Amazon's charging HPaq for all the 'free' attention.
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
Bill
bamph
Lev13than writes "In a pretty routine blunder, slashdot.org has inexplicably posted an article about Amazon making a typo. The article is for sale for just over $0 (plus postage and packing). It's not very hard to get through to their site right now, but if you're bored you can have a look at their blunder here." Don't bother clicking through, Slashdot will post a dupe in 20 minutes.
When you have nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire
The BBC have quickly picked up on this, you can find their story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2864461.stm It claims that "some workers were rumoured to be placing orders for 50 or 60 of the computers at a time"
I don't expect to get one, but I (and one of my workmates) put in an order nonetheless.
:-)
Not mentioned anywhere else I've found was that the HP iPAQ H5450 was priced at about GB£23 also!
Needless to say that I ordered me one of those, too.
Remains to be seen whether Amazon will honour the price, but I doubt it.
There was also a £560 wifi model going for about £27. The £7 one was #1 on the sales list, while the £27 one got to about #20 before they shut the site down.
If you read the small print it says they won't charge your credit card until the order is ready for shipping (i.e not right away, so they haven't actually taken your money & hence accepted the contract to supply the goods).
They also reserve the right to refuse your order in the event of mispricing.
We ordered a couple & got the acceptance, but we're not expecting to actually get them. Still, you've got to be in to win...
Amazons terms and conditions state that until they ship the goods to you NO contract exists. Therefore they do not have to do anything. Plus they won a case about this in the states plus they say clearly on the site that the won't honor this kind of mistake.
SO - why should they honor any mistake like this again?
No contract until they bill you. Amazon don't bill you until it ships. Price cannot reasonably be thought to be correct. Under UK law they have zero requirements to give this to you. Quit whining: Governing Law and Contract Formation No contract will subsist between you and Amazon.co.uk* for the sale by it to you of any product unless and until Amazon.co.uk accepts your order by e-mail confirming that it has dispatched your product. That acceptance will be deemed complete and will be deemed for all purposes to have been effectively communicated to you at the time Amazon.co.uk sends the e-mail to you (whether or not you receive that e-mail). For the avoidance of doubt, any such contract will be deemed to have been concluded in the United States of America. Further, any such contract will be interpreted, construed and enforced in all respects in accordance with the laws of England, and you and Amazon.co.uk irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts. "
The Register.
ZdNet.
People who I know must have orders 250+ between them. There is no way they would honour this - and every person who ordered realised it was a mistake, so they have nothing to whine about.
Vacancy for signature. Apply within.
Look at the Amazon URL. It includes the text "ref=sr_aps_electronics_1_1". That means that everyone following the link will get a cookie setting up a certain Amazon Associate to get a kickback of some percentage of everything you *do* happen to buy in the next couple of weeks.
In the UK, under the Sale Of Goods Act and other legislation covering purchases (either in the high street, by mail order or online), Amazon has one of two options: either honour the advertised price or not sell the goods at all.
The legislation is designed to protect both the purchaser and the vendor. If you went into a store and saw a widescreen 32in. TV priced at £900 instead of £1,000, then the store would be bound into selling it to you at that price or not at all. They couldn't turn around and say, "sorry, the price is £100 more, pay the full £1,000 if you wan't it", but they could refuse to sell it to you.
In most cases, where the difference is still within their profit margin and practical, stores tend to honour the lower price. However, where there's been an honest mistake, such as that £1,000 TV being mispriced at £100, they almost invariably take the option of refusing to sell the item.
The courts (where civil action has been taken) have taken a "common sense" approach. Getting a £1,000 TV for only £900 is a reasonable expectation (in a sale, promotion, etc) but getting it for £100 is highly unreasonable. Basically, where the pricing might be deceiving they tend to favour the purchaser and where the pricing is obviously a genuine mistake they tend to favour the vendor.
Generally, it's a very good system. However, I do remember reading about an old lady somewhere in the US (Texas perhaps?) who went into her local car dealership with a bunch of oversized bananas and bought a brand new car with them. The dealership had advertised their new models on radio as being available for "only xx big bananas", ("big bananas" being local slang for $1,000), and having to honour the sale after a court decision found in favour of the old woman.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
What if you were going to sell your $12000 car and the ad in the newspaper printed $1200 by mistake?
Would you sell it for $1200? Doubtful. I love hypocrites who say a business should do what they wouldn't do themselves.
What if it were a company you owned stock in and you were going to lose part of your dividend? Bet you'd change your mind then too.
A company has no reason to "honor" mistakes, that's why they print those little disclaimers about erronious listings.
Surely this isn't quite right - it's the same in the UK - but the shopkeeper is not obliged to sell you anything at all.
I.E. Can't they just refuse to sell the item at *ANY* price...
Going by a mailing list I'm on it seems that some of the early buyers actually had their credit cards charged for this. Now under UK law these make a legally binding contract as payment has been made. Its going to be interesting to see how Amazon reacts to this one.
There was a similar case a few years back with Kodak where the mispriced a camera and finally ended up honouring the deal. Details on the inquirer.
Cheap UK and US VPS
Come on, if it's an honest mistake and you are an honest person, why would you insist on robbing them?
This has to be the stupidest and most misleading Slashdot story I have seen in ages. Amazon is not selling IPAQs for $10 as the headline read. You wrote the headline, so if they are selling them at that price, then let's see a shipping receipt, michael. The headline should have been Amazon Typo Discovered.
This is just journalistic sensationalism and Amazon should sue Slashdot for publishing something that misleading and damaging. Now Amazon customer service will have to deal with every bottom-feeder that read the story on Slashdot and then demanded an IPAQ for $10. The end result: No one gets an IPAQ for $10 and Amazon just raises prices to cover the expense of handling the mess that Slashdot's inaccurate headline generated.
I had an intelligent reply but I spent too long looking for the £ key so I forgot what it was. Then I realized I could just copy and paste it.
*sigh*
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