flat panel 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.

Just before Christmas I wrote about how I was using super-human will power to wait till after the holiday to get a new flat screen TV. And I'm still waiting--thanks mainly to a suggestion from a reader named Dan. Prices are likely to fall further still after the Super Bowl. (Which is February first this year for those of you who care about football as much as I do.)

For years stores have targeted people who want a new TV for a Super Bowl party. According to USAToday, in 2007 stores sold 61% more TVs in the week before the Super Bowl than in the week before that. USAToday quoted NPD Group analysts figuring that Christmas sales spike because of sales (for gifts), but Super Bowl buyers want the top of the line.

The National Retail Federation said last year on CNNMoney that despite the recession, we would still buy 3.9 million TVs for the Super Bowl. Will we be so bold this year? The federation typically releases its projections at the end of January. I'd assume they'd be down. I'd also assume that the stores already know that and aren't going to over-order like fools. But that still leaves room--if you have the patience--to wait until the buying binge ends to go shopping.

Amid all the depressing news about the lousy economy and even worse retail season I find one piece of news quite cheerful: not only have flat panel TV prices fallen enormously. They're on their way down further.

Writing for the New York Times recently Eric Taub points out that while salesmen say prices are as low as they can get (Shocking!), prices are due to dip further. (He also helpfully notes that springing for the higher resolution 1080p is pointless if you're getting a television that's 40 inches or less. Samsung told investors today in San Francisco that price wars are hurting its margins, so it's investing in a more expensive, faster-refreshing screen.