10 Biggest Pricing Errors in the History

Everyone wants to save a surmountable amount of money in all their purchases whether it’s part of the basic needs or a reward of luxury. This is the reason why people would really grab their bag, credit cards, and someone to accompany them whenever there is a clearance sale in malls and other department stores. Everyone wants to save and who would not want to buy an item in a much cheaper price compared to its regular rate. However, based on history, there were funny incidents that led to the loss of profits, trust and customers because of unintentional pricing errors.

10. Palm V Organizers for $79

ShopNow.com had a loss of about $50,000 because they sell Palm V Organizers for $79 each wherein its actual cost is $379. According to Hannah Coan, a spokeswoman of ShopNow.com, she explained that it was a typo error and they were able to change the price back to $379. In fact, they received 250 orders for the error price of $79. However, to correct the issue and to avoid further complaints, they gave discounts to those people who made orders for the $79 price.

9. Discontinued Laser Discs for $1.11 each

The same quarter and month of April 2009, Buy.com also experienced the same pricing error with their discontinued laser discs wherein it was priced for $1.11 per piece after they redesigned the website. It could be remembered that it was the same month when ShopNow.com experienced the same error with their Palm V Organizer. In fact, it has stayed on the website for 10 days.

8. Best Buy 52-inch TV at $9.99

On August 12, 2009, Best Buy experienced the greatest mistake when they posted on their website, the price of their 52-inch TV for just $9.99 against its actual price of $1,699.99. They issued a statement via Twitter that they will not be placing any more orders for that same unit.

7. iPad 2 for $69 at Sears

Last year of July 2011, Sears made their biggest mistake for posting online, that the price for Apple’s iPad 2 of 16 GB was $69, which was way too low for its regular price of $744.99. It became viral online, especially in most of the social networking sites. Hence, Sears issued a statement explaining that it was a mistake by a third-party vendor. It resulted to huge consumer backslash on Sears’ end where they have decided to end their contract for that vendor.

6. Dell Laptop at $25

It was on Christmas season that a huge discount for Dell Laptops was issued, selling their gadget for $25. Its price was linked at the Army and Air Force Exchange Service website that has caught interest among the military shoppers. Hence, its real price was actually $1,000. The representatives said that it was a typo error because it supposed to be 25% but the percent was replaced by a dollar sign instead.

5. Hand-held Computer at £7

Amazon UK had to shut down their website due to price mistakes on majority of the hand-held computer items. They have received 50 to 60 units of orders, one at a time. A sample of which was the Hewlett Packard H1910, which is being sold at £200, but it was advertised for £7.

4. Printing Error for Zhu Zhu Master

CVS Pharmacy encountered an error with their Zhu Zhu Master Price, which are being sold at its actual cost of $20-$30 but was priced for $2 each. There was an error on the final printing instead of putting 20% discount but has printed 5 toys for $10. Because of this, they had a total loss of $10,000.

3. 75% Discount for E4300

Another Dell’s pricing mistake was included on this list when they priced a Latitude E4300 for $563.40 that appears to have 75% discount from its original price of $2,102.30. This happened in Taiwan where a legal action of $45,000 per day was fined with the party responsible.

2. Zappos 6-Hour Price Code Glitch

In July of 2010, the Zappos site made a huge error wherein all items that they were selling in their store were tagged or capped at $49.95 each, including luxury items. Because of this slip-up, they incurred total loss of $1.6 million.

1. Mac Mini 66% Discount

Apple has incurred their biggest loss of at least $200,000,000 because they have priced a Mac Mini for $603 instead of $1700, wherein 200,000 units were sold after a student has posted the price at social networking sites.