WebSite posts

Psst. How'd you like to get a 52-inch Samsung flat-screen TV for $9.99? Hot off the back of a truck? No way. How about from BestBuy.com?

If you popped onto Best Buy's Web site overnight that's the price you would have found instead of the actual price of $1,699.99. Word got around fast and the item became a hot-seller -- showing up as "sold out" by morning. Some customers commented about ordering several at that new low, low price.

But, alas, Best Buy replaced the missing digits -- adding another $1,690 to this seemingly amazing offer. And shortly thereafter, the TV and the comments apparently were pulled from the site altogether.

So what about all those people who ordered at the special price?

No dice. You're not getting the TV, not for that price.

"It was an unfortunate human error," Best Buy spokeswoman Susan Busch told WalletPop. "As you probably noted, the erroneous info was quickly taken down. We are not processing orders for the TV at that price. We apologize to our customers for any confusion or inconvenience caused by this pricing error."

Busch said she didn't know how long the erroneous price was online or how many orders were placed at that price.

Talia Ran, 23, an executive assistant in Washington, D.C., got a call from her brother -- who notified everyone he knows -- at 5:32 a.m. alerting her to the price. She doesn't have much room for such a big TV in her apartment, but for 10 bucks she'd find a spot.

Even though she realized the price was a mistake, she said still hoped her order would slip through.

"I kind of hoped they would forget about me and send them anyway," Ran said.

Then she got an email canceling her order.

"I know there isn't any legal recourse but there has to be something that Best Buy can do to ease our loss," Ran said. "I would think they would want to do something to honor the commitment made between the consumer and Best Buy when we clicked 'continue with purchase.' At the very least shouldn't Best Buy feel compelled to offer the same TV for a discounted price to those who did order?"

It might seem unfair, but Best Buy and most online retailers have error policies buyers agree to (usually without reading the terms) before making a purchase.

Here's an excerpt of Best Buy's policy: "Errors will be corrected where discovered, and Best Buy reserves the right to revoke any stated offer and to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions including after an order has been submitted and whether or not the order has been confirmed and your credit card charged."

A few years ago, Amazon.com was sued after canceling 6,000 orders for a $1,000 TV mistakenly priced at $99. Amazon won because the error was considered unintentional and shoppers agreed to the terms of its error policy before making their purchase.

Consumer Reports WebWatch, a well-known watchdog site that detailed web-based scams and schemes and worked to educate consumers about online perils, is being shut down by its parent, Consumers Union, Walletpop,com has learned.

WebWatch started eight years ago, and in its early years it was a grant-fueled project backed by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Open Society Institute. But that grant ended a few years ago and the non-profit advocacy group Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, had been shouldering the costs since.

"We've decided we're not able to continue it," Consumers Union Vice President Ken Weine said. "It was a dollars and cents issue."

It's all we've been hearing about: February will go down as the worst month for layoffs in as far back as most of us can remember, especially in the private sector. With companies scrambling to cut costs in the face of an economic tidal wave, unemployment has catapulted to a staggering 8.1% (from January's 7.6%). Positions once deemed essential are suddenly written off as unhealthy excess. Businesses tighten their belts, axing everyone from executives to mail-room personnel in a frantic effort to stay afloat.

So what are millions of jobless Americans to do (aside from claiming their unemployment benefits)? Use their talents to make money on the side!

It works, too, says David Huebner, co-founder of myJambi.com, a social networking site that offers cash-strapped individuals the opportunity to turn their passions into money-making gigs. Speak another language? Try tutoring. Perfect at organizing your life? Get your hands dirty in someone else's!

MyJambi couldn't have launched at a better time. Despite minimal marketing efforts, the site grew to 17,000 users in just eight months, most of which came to myJambi organically. Although the site's average user demographic ranges from 22-24 year olds, Huebner says that as the economy falters, the user age group increases. Yes, college students aren't the only ones interested in making some extra cash on the side, unemployed (and still working) professionals are getting in line as well.