A Walmart pricing error left several computer monitors at a ridiculously low price on the company’s website on Wednesday morning.
This mistake saw the 24-inch Viewsonic and 20-inch Hewlett-Packard screens become available for just $8.95, despite the fact that they are supposed to be worth around $199.99 and $185 respectively.
By 8am, ET, most of the monitors had been sold out, however these prices continued to be available on Walmart.com despite the heinous error.
A Walmart spokesperson has since been questioned over the incident. However they refused to either confirm or deny whether a mistake had been made. They only noted that these products were “no longer available” online, and you now have to actually enter one of the shop’s stores to make the purchase.
However, if you do go into the shop to buy one of the screens, Walmart is still yet to confirm if the price will be as insanely low.
The upcoming holiday season is expected to be a difficult period for shops. Morgan Stanley’s analysts have predicted that it will actually be the worst selling season since 2008, which could lead to ridiculous discounts being created to try and entice shoppers.
Kimberly Greenberger, a shopping analyst, stated, “With six fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, retailers could push the promotional ‘panic button’ earlier than needed, putting margins at risk.”
Walmart isn’t alone with its technological glitches, and over the last few months several other companies have made mistakes that have ended up costing them thousands of dollars.
A United Airlines error in October made a number of airline tickets available for free, and also granted travellers unlimited air miles. However, despite their mistake, United Airlines later confirmed that they would not be honoring these reservations, because of users “knowing manipulation of United.com.”
Abercrombie and Fitch’s Hollister brand also made bras available for free back in September. The company’s website allowed customers to select the option to buy two of the same item at once, which then resulted in these products becoming available for $0.00 in their shopping cart. They would still have to spend $5 on a shipping fee though.
An Abercrombie & Fitch spokesperson remarked at the time, “Last night there was a technical issue with the Hollister website. Our fraud team caught the issue shorty afterwards and the matter was quickly resolved.”
Were you able to take advantage of any of these technical glitches? Do you think you should be allowed to profit from these mistakes?
[Image via Northfoto /Shutterstock]