Amazon wins small-claims fight over price mistakes
That's the question customer Barry Sweet posed to a District Court judge yesterday in small-claims court in the first case of its kind for the Seattle-based retailer.
At issue: Sweet purchased an RCA 36-inch television on Amazon last August. The TV, originally priced at $1,049, was marked down roughly 90 percent to $99.99.
After completing the order, Sweet said he received a confirmation e-mail and a shipping date. Two days later, Amazon notified Sweet that the price was a mistake and canceled the order.
Amazon later offered Sweet the item for the correct sale price: $849.99.
Amazon attorney David Zapolsky told the judge that the TV was part of a group of RCA products that customers could pre-order on the site. Roughly 6,000 customers ordered the TV at the incorrect price; all the orders were canceled.
Zapolsky said a unique aspect of conducting business on the Internet is that when the company makes a pricing error, that news passes quickly through cyberspace to buyers "trying to purchase it in hopes of a windfall," he said.
Zapolsky said if Amazon was forced to honor every incorrect price on its Web site, it could not stay in business.
Amazon's pricing policy holds that if an item's correct price is higher than its stated price, the company, at its discretion, will either contact the customer for instructions before shipping the item or cancel the order and notify the customer of the cancellation.
Zapolsky said a customer's credit card is not charged until the item enters the shipping process. Sweet's credit card was not charged in this instance, he said.
District Judge Eileen Kato said the case reminded her of one she studied many years ago in law school: whether a Chicago store had to honor an advertisement that incorrectly listed fur coats for sale at $1 apiece.
The lesson she gleaned from the former case: "If it's too good to be true, it's too good to be true."
Kato said the contract was not complete because Sweet's credit card had not been charged. She also said the terms of a contract are applicable, whether a customer reads it or not.
Sweet said he figured he might lose in court but wanted to bring up the point anyway. He said he bought his Christmas presents on Amazon and plans to continue shopping there.
His take: Beware a good sale. "I guess it means just because you're buying something on the Internet, it doesn't mean you're going to get it," he said.
Monica Soto: 206-515-5632 or msoto@seattletimes.com.