Sorry, You Can't Actually Buy An iPad From Sears For $69

If you were in the market for a new iPad 2 this past Friday, Sears had the best deal in town, $69 for a 16GB Wi-Fi version and $179 for a 32GB version.

The word spread quickly via Facebook and Twitter and an undisclosed number of people jumped online to purchase the deal. Shortly after Sears discovered the mistake, customers were notified their order would not be processed and their payment would be refunded. Sears claimed a third party seller, GSM On Sale, is the one who made the typo on the website. Sears put the following statement on their Facebook page:

Unfortunately, today one of the Marketplace third party sellers told us that they mistakenly posted incorrect pricing on two Apple iPad models on the Marketplace portion of the website. If you purchased either of these products recently, your order has been cancelled and your account will be credited. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Customers left several comments, many of them saying Sears needs to honor their mistake and sell the iPad for the advertised price. Other unhappy customers took to Twitter and the Sears website. One customer on the Sears website even said that Best Buy honored the price. Why people are so bent out of shape about this transaction is unclear. The first clue should have been the part of the ad that stated the regular price was $99 and this was a savings of $30. Anyone who has been shopping around (and has a brain) knows this is more than a $30 savings. It's also unlikely Best Buy honored this price, since their price match guarantee policy states it does not apply to pricing errors. Sometimes the entitlement in our world is baffling. Sears admitted they made a mistake and followed the right process to reverse the transaction. It is hard to believe that anyone who purchased that iPad 2 on Friday did not have a hunch this would happen. As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Many individuals probably decided to follow through with the purchase because they knew they could put up a fuss citing the old "customer is always right" axiom. The worst part is, they probably thought they would get away with it. In the Terms Of Use on the Sears website, it says in their disclaimer:

In the event of a pricing error on the Sears Site, Sears reserves the right to cancel any orders resulting from such pricing errors.

There is no doubt it was a bad mistake on behalf of Sears and it would be nice if they would offer a small token such as a 20 percent off coupon to those it affected. However, Sears should not be held accountable for selling all those iPads at such a substantial discount. As of this writing, the GSM On Sale website states they are closed for maintenance.