Albums Sold For Just 29p On Amazon In On-Line Pricing Blunder...

Consumers were delighted to discover that they were able to download albums by top music artists from Amazon for the bargain price of 29p after Amazon had made a pricing error on its web site. Prices for releases such as Kings of Leon's 'Because Of The Times' and Lily Allen's 'It's Not Me' were cut in error. The mistake was not rectified until about four hours after the cut was made by which time several consumer web sites had publicised the blunder allowing music fans to take advantage. Amazon later confirmed the pricing error on a small number of MP3 albums. It admitted that with the vast number of items available in its online store this type of error can occur despite its best efforts.

Paul Gershlick, editor of Upload-IT, comments: 'This case shows how important it is to get not only the terms and conditions right but also the pricing information. Amazon faced a similar situation in 2003, when it offered Hewlett Packard PCs for [pounds sterling]7 instead of [pounds sterling]275. Other high-profile e-tailers have also suffered for getting prices wrong, and then discovering it to their cost when, minutes later, they get inundated with bargain-hunters who have spread the word on the Internet quicker than the error can get corrected. Aside from the PR disaster, it can prove very costly if the contract terms and processes have not been dealt with correctly and the e-tailer is forced into lots of highly unprofitable contracts which it desperately wants to get out of.'

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