Glitch At Amazon, Selling Chaos Ensues

When you shop online you can grab a real bargain sometimes. If you have  shopped at Amazon recently, then maybe you have grabbed, what some are calling, the deal to end all deals. On Saturday of last week, some UK-based retailers were appalled as their for sale items were all of a sudden being sold on Amazon for only one penny. Those affected by the alleged glitch were those on Amazon’s Marketplace who used the Repricer Express function.

Repricer Express say that they are  “trusted by more than 2,025 happy Amazon sellers across eight international markets.” The service works by automatically changing the price on items in order to make sure that retailers are competitive with similar goods online.

Sky News reported that some UK retailers began to see some items were for sale for only a single penny! This incident took place between the hours of 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Friday. At this time of year lots of people are buying gifts for the Christmas celebrations.

Even though the prices were ridiculously cheap, Amazon’s fees were reported to have not been altered at all. Amazon were quick to issue a statement, to Sky News, on the problem, which said; ”We are aware that a number of Marketplace sellers listed incorrect prices for a short period of time as a result of the third party software they use to price their items on Amazon.co.uk.”

Amazon assured people the majority of the orders had been cancelled, with no cost at all to retailers. There were a few retailers that were not happy, to say the least. A retailer called Belle, said that she feared losing 30,000 pounds (around $47,000) on her toys and games, “It’s disgusting really because this third-party software, that is their business, this should not have happened, this is 2014.”

Brendan Doherty, Repricer Express CEO said in response to one retailer  that was complaining on his company’s site: “We have received communication that Amazon will not penalize sellers for this error. We are continuing to work to identify how this problem occurred and to put measures in place to ensure that it does not happen again…We’ve been in business for over 10 years and we’ve always taken pride in the levels of service we provide — so everyone here is devastated and disappointed that you have experienced this problem.”

It looks as though some folks, at least, will be a tad better off than usual over this holiday period, anyway Despite the retailers being up in arms.

[Image via repricerexpress]

SOURCE: http://www.appy-geek.com/Web/ArticleWeb.aspx?regionid=4&articleid=33265697