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 £7

instead of £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...