Sears has iPads mistakenly listed for $69

Sears.com accidentally prices iPad at $69 - CNN.com

I find it incredibly amusing that people are upset they're not getting iPads for $69. If you see a price so far below MSRP for a product like an iPad, you are smoking crack if you think it's NOT a error on the site.

Actually, there was a consumer law that stated companies can be fined for these kind of errors, because they can blatantly say it was in error just to get people in. Unfortunately, that changes when you buy things online.

First of all, despite any laws, I think Sears in good faith should honor the sales that were made. It is their mistake regardless of some third party company they contracted with. It's their site, so they should take responsibility. However many iPad purchases went through before they caught it I doubt it would break them to honor the sales. They may save money in not going through with it, but they'll definitely lose money from the bad press, and they probably could have spun the story to make sales had they honored the purchase price.

But I believe that this is covered by consumer laws. A purchase/sale is a fully executed contract between the buyer and seller. The laws are pretty strict on this, and even more strict when it comes to merchants.If Sears doesn't honor the contract, they could be liable for damages and more. I wish I had my old law textbook to look up the details.

The way Sears should have dealt with this to boost their public appearance is to fix the error but any orders made before that change should've been honored. Does that mean Sears loses some money? sure...but think of the positive spin they'll get in public instead of the backlash, deserving or not, they are facing right now..

From the Sears websites TOS:

In the event of a pricing error on the Sears Site, Sears reserves the right to cancel any orders resulting from such pricing errors.

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Sears: Online department store featuring appliances, tools, fitness equipment and more

Companies aren't stupid, they cover their butts to make sure they're protected against such occurrences.

News of this price went viral, it was all over Twitter, FB and every other chat board and internet social media site out there. It would have cost Sears a LOT of money to honor that price, not to mention the item wasn't even sold by Sears itself, but via a 3rd party vendor in its Sears Marketplace. I think having 3rd party vendors selling on a company's website is a bad, dumb idea (and this debacle is a perfect example of WHY it's a bad idea).

There's an old saying that goes, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is". Yes, $69 for an iPad is an amazing price! It sounds too good to be true! Yeah, it is too good to be true...

+1 for MQAAord.

I've seen a number of people online saying something to the effect of "If Sears won't honor my order, I'm never going to buy from them again." So in other words, because Sears won't allow you to rip them off for 10¢ on the dollar, you aren't going to shop there anymore? If I were Sears, I'd be thinking "Good."

Do you think this would work with stores that price match?

D1swoop said:

Do you think this would work with stores that price match?

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That's funny!

Legally the advertisement is only an invitation 'to come in and buy' and not an enforceable contract to get things at that price. Retailers do make genuine mistakes in their advertising, and indeed media also makes mistakes so give them the benefit of the doubt.