Walmart Got Tricked Into Selling PS4s for $90

Walmart

There are no limits to human ingenuity, and in case you needed more proof, then how about learning that Wal-Mart has tricked into selling PS4 for $90 when the video game console wasn’t even on sale.

And no, you’re not going to get it that cheap not even on Black Friday (which for some reason is tomorrow in Romania, instead of November 28). The whole mishap is the result of a terrible price-matching policy. Walmart went overboard and included e-tailers into its price-matching campaign, and when you’re measuring your strength against such companies as Amazon, there are one or two things that can go wrong. Really wrong!

Seeing how the Seattle-based e-tailer is also listed among the companies Walmart is willing to match their prices against, some Amazon members with a registered selling account proceeded to creating PS4 sale listings at an incredible price. The world’s largest retailer was thus determined to offer Sony’s video game console cheaper than that by a cent. The scammers ended up paying less than 25% of the console’s real price.

“This shows that consumers are clever enough to understand how they can take advantage of that,” explained Haydn Simpson, head of brand protection for consulting firm NetNames.

“This is one example of the many unethical and even illegal methods that some consumers use to game the system,” added Joe LaRocca, president and founder of RetaiLPartners.

This happens a week after Sears listed Wii U bundles at $60 due a glitch, which enabled some Walmart customers to price-match it and get it for that much.

To prevent further fraud, Walmart has locked down its price-matching policy. “We can’t tolerate fraud or attempts to trick our cashiers,” declared Wal-Mart, in a statement. “This kind of activity is unfair to the millions of customers who count on us every day for honest value.” In other words, clever buyers will no longer be able to take advantage of Walmart’s benevolence.

“It is generally a hassle because usually either the store clerk or the cashier is not authorized to approve the price match,” explained Edgar Dworsky, founder of advocacy site ConsumerWorld.org. “You have to call over the store manager or a supervisor.”

While such things won’t happen again in the near future in Wal-Mart’s backyard, there’s no guarantee that the retailer has steered clear from danger, as scammers can always find new ways of tricking companies.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the white Nyko Xbox One/PS4 charger, or Sony’s record PS4 sales.

Target agrees to price match Amazon ‘year round,’ hopes you’ll stop showrooming

Target agrees to price match Amazon 'year round,' hopes you'll stop showrooming

The CE pricing war just got really real. Gregg Steinhafel, Target's chairman, president and CEO, just announced a move that'll undoubtedly get the attention of Amazon. And while we're at it, the attention of Walmart, Sears, Best Buy, and practically every other major brick-and-mortar retailer that it competes with. Following Best Buy's move -- which saw the retailer price match Amazon during the holiday 2012 shopping season -- Target is taking it one step further by announcing that it'll match Amazon's prices year round. Naturally, the goal here is to put a stop to "showrooming," a term that describes the act of using B&M stores simply to ogle products before buying them for less online.

Details on how it'll all work out, including an official start date, remain under wraps, but we're told that if a customer "buys a qualifying item at Target and then finds an identical item for less in the following week's Target circular or within seven days on either Amazon.com, Walmart.com, BestBuy.com and Toysrus.com, Target will match the price." It's not at all unreasonable to assume that Wally World and the like will end up following suit, but a part of us worries that this may end up having the opposite effect -- if Amazon's pricing begin to float higher in order to meet somewhere in the middle with B&M retailers, consumers will end up with fewer options when it comes to saving.

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Source: Marketwatch, CNBC

Apple reportedly price matching iPhone discounts from carriers and other retailers

Apple reportedly price matching iPhone discounts from carriers and other retailers

According to a leaked screengrab hosted up at MacRumors, Apple retail shops now have the authority to price match carrier and rival retail discounts on iPhone. Specifically, the note informs employees that prices from Best Buy, "carriers," Radio Shack and Target can be matched, with $49.01 seeming to be the savings across the board. Curiously, places like Wirefly, Amazon, Negri Electronics and even Walmart aren't mentioned, so we wouldn't recommend trying to work the price down based on ads seen from any of those. The note also mentions the iPhone 4 and 4S exclusively, and we're fairly sure this sort of goodwill won't ever been applied to iPad, Mac hardware or pretty much any other Apple kit. Of course, crazier things have happened. We've reached out to Apple for comment, and will update this article should it choose to reply.

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Apple reportedly price matching iPhone discounts from carriers and other retailers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 15:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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