Target Yanks Too-Good-To-Be-True PS3 Offer After I Try To Buy

Julie’s eyes probably bugged when she spotted the way-too-cheap PS3 deal she captured in the accompanying screenshot. She placed an order and checked out with a $50.02 charge after tax and shipping were added, but received a cancellation email the next day.

She writes:

On January 16th, both Target.com and Amazon.com searches for PS3 60GB showed an advertised price of $39.99, down a whopping $360 from the original price of $399.99. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to buy one expecting the entire time to be unable to actually purchase the item at the price. However, the advertised price never changed and I was able to purchase a brand new machine for a grand total cost of $50.02 (with shipping).

The next day I was dismayed to find an email that Target had canceled my order without charging my card citing “mismatched price and product information.” How many other people were affected by this error on their site and should Target have offered some sort of monetary apology for people like me were expecting a ridiculously great deal (free shipping on my next order, $5 gift card, and additional discount of sorts, etc.)?

What, if anything, do you think is proper for Target to do for Julie to make up for the pricing error?

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