Did you find any amazing bargains during this year’s Prime Day sale? Amazon’s annual online shopping frenzy ran for two days instead of the usual one this year, giving Prime members more time than usual to seek out some great offers.
Taking a closer look, it seems that a few lucky photography enthusiasts scored the best deals of the day(s) thanks to a pricing error that saw high-end camera gear reduced to a fraction of its usual price, PetaPixel reported.
The craziness kicked off on Monday, July 15, when an online shopper spotted a $548 Sony a6000 and 16-50mm lens bundle listed on Amazon for just $94.50 — with free shipping, too. The customer shared details of the bargain on Slickdeals, a site that highlights awesome offers, though this was clearly something else.
As news of the rock-bottom price tag spread, others started exploring Amazon’s site for similar bargains. To their surprise, more listings for sub-$100 camera gear showed up, apparently confirming this was a proper pricing glitch rather than a super-generous Prime Day deal.
One shopper posting on Slickdeals claimed to have bagged a $13,000 Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS lens for just $94, while another said they went on a spree and bought $10,000 worth of camera kit for a mere $900. To show they weren’t making it up, some customers posted shots of their checkout screens, among them Texas-based photographer Cody McGee, who said he scored a $1,299 Fujifilm X100F camera for the princely sum of $94.48.
Worth noting is that the high-end goods were being sold directly by Amazon rather than by third-party sellers, giving buyers extra confidence that the sale would go through and that the goods were genuine.
Other erroneously priced kit snapped up by shoppers included a $2,000 Sony a6500 and 10-18mm bundle for $94.48, and a $2,000 Sony a7 body, also for $94.48, while a $5,500 Sony a9 and 24-70mm f/2.8 GM bundle cost one lucky buyer — you guessed it — $94.48.
Many of the customers’ orders have reportedly already shipped, meaning Amazon is almost certain to honor the sales. Whether the company cancels orders that are yet to ship remains to be seen.
We’ve reached out to Amazon to find out exactly what happened with the apparent pricing errors and will update this piece if we hear back.
The mishap is reminiscent of another one a few years back when shoppers on Amazon’s U.K. site noticed hundreds of items — including video games, furniture, and clothes — listed for just a penny. Amazon said at the time that it managed to cancel most of the orders before they were sent out. The mistake turned out to be the result of a glitch with third-party software designed to help Amazon Marketplace sellers keep their prices competitive.
