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[BY2K]

The 89,99$ PS4 scam on Amazon? People took advantage of it after all.

http://kotaku.com/people-are-scammi...m_source=Kotaku_Twitter&utm_medium=Socialflow

There's nothing like some good ol' fashioned corporation scamming on the holidays. And as we inch closer to Black Friday, some particularly ambitious shoppers have convinced the mega-chain Walmart to sell them PlayStation 4s for as cheap as $50.

Don't cry for Walmart, though. Cry for price-matching. "We're committed to providing low prices every day," reads the Walmart website. "On everything. So if you find a lower advertised price on an identical product, tell us and we'll match it. Right at the register."

They're probably going to tweak that policy soon. Last weekend, some lucky shoppers got their hands on $60 Wii U and 3DS bundles by asking Walmart to price-match what turned out to be a glitch on Sears' website. And now, more devious shoppers have come up with a different scam to get PS4s: fake Amazon listings.

It's a simple process. First, someone sets up a bogus third-party retail listing on Amazon that will claim to sell PS4s for super-cheap, like, say, $90:

 

[TomShoe]

On my way to Best Buy & Amazon right now.

 

[Kouriozan]

Just saw it on twitter, Xbone next? :lol

 

[gamechanger87]

Amazon pulled the listing.

 

[Nickle]

You technically aren't doing anything illegal, but it's still unethical.

 

[DTLIONS1013]

Apparently at 11:45 Amazon emailed Walmart saying they were fraudulent

 

[PartTimeWarrior]

Black Friday
Cyber Tuesday
Bogus Price Match Week Before Thanksgiving

 

[Nibel]

 

[Escalario]

Of course they did. It's their own fault for having the "we can match the lowest price" thing. No sympathy from me to those big retail chains.

 

[NickFire]

Damnit Kotaku. Classic turd in the punchbowl reporting this before giving crafty gamers a chance to get their price matches taken care of.

 

[kulapik]

It's gone, btw.

 

[darkside31337]

This is why retailers don't want to price match other ones. Because of asshole scammers trying to abuse the system.

 

[conweller]

Fraud is so much fun and not illegal at all!

 

[Trey]

Good ol entrepreneurial american spirit. Clean holiday fun and deal making. Bless.

 

[HouseofSuffering]

I wouldn't be surprised if this also involved a friend or acquaintance ringing it up for you in most cases.

 

[LTWood12]

This is fraud.

 

[RedTurbo]

Why the fuck are people bragging about this?

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Damnit Kotaku. Classic turd in the punchbowl reporting this before giving crafty gamers a chance to get their price matches taken care of.

Oh, that's what we're calling it now? Nice.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

Any car dealerships price match?

 

[Bam Bam Baklava]

Say goodbye to price matching now thanks to these pathetic scammers.

 

[gngf123]

$60 WIiU's on one day, $90 PS4's the next.

Must be fun for you Americans.

 

[Zoned]

Damn definitely unethical but not illegal.

 

[vypek]

This seems to be taking it a little far. A glitch compared to intentional fake pages

 

[Ooccoo]

Employee bonuses will be cut following this so Wal-Mart doesn't care really

 

[wildfire]

This is why retailers don't want to price match other ones. Because of asshole scammers trying to abuse the system.

This isn't why but it is an appropriate additional reason.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Of course they did. It's their own fault for having the "we can match the lowest price" thing. No sympathy from me to those big retail chains.

The affects the store-level employees more than the upper corporate staff. So yeah, FUCK THOSE STORE-LEVEL PLEBIENS...MY CHEAP PS4 IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THEIR BONUSES THAT MIGHT DICTATE WHETHER THEIR CHILDREN HAVE AN OK CHRISTMAS OR NOT.

If I were a WalMart manager, I would take one look at this, say NOPE and be on my way.

 

[Isotope]

When's the XB1 price error gonna happen. May as well join in on the fun.

 

[Fried Food]

I think this is great. The internet is a tool. Nothing wrong with using it. I see nothing illegal going on in these cases, at least nothing that would lose in court.

 

[RedTurbo]

Say goodbye to price matching now thanks to these pathetic scammers.

If price matching goes away then big box retail is done for. It'll be reformed now someway but it won't go away.

 

[LTWood12]

Damnit Kotaku. Classic turd in the punchbowl reporting this before giving asshole gamers a chance to get their price matches taken care of.

Fixed

 

[shandy706]

Why the fuck are people bragging about this?

Because the moral level of some people is non-existent.

Any car dealerships price match?

LOL

 

[malfcn]

At Target they make sure the listing says sold by Amazon and not a third party. I would have assumed Walmart would have had a similar policy.

 

[Brazil]

Congratulations on the theft!

And he's so proud of himself, too. Ugh.

 

[TheSlySoul]

Damn definitely unethical but not illegal.

Pretty much.
It is abusing a broken system.

 

[OverdriveOtaku]

I really hope this doesn't ruin price-matching policies for the rest of us.

 

[SerTapTap]

I'm amazed they honor these obvious scams/pricing errors. I don't think I could go into a store and actually take advantage of this, though. Even the Best Buy Gamer's Club with $15 phone thing rubbed me the wrong way.

 

[vinnygambini]

Employee bonuses will be cut following this so Wal-Mart doesn't care really

Pretty much.

The retailers eat the cost which in turn affect yearly employee bonuses.

Not illegal to do so, but unethical.

 

[Smidget]

At Target they make sure the listing says sold by Amazon and not a this party. I would have assumed Walmart would have had a similar policy.

Yeah, pretty dumb otherwise.

 

[TomShoe]

Stealing from multi-billion dollar companies. So evile.

 

[amnesiac]

Hmm there's a big difference (ethically) between taking advantage of a glitch and intentionally creating a fake price.

But I'm one of the people who got a Wii U for $60 so who am I to talk.

 

[stan423321]

It's one thing that this is absolutely wrong from moral point, it's another that those sellers don't have a basic level of mistrust to buyers. Seriously, if I showed something like this around here as a proof, the seller would cry Photoshop instantly.

Basic level of mistrust, what the hell am I writing here.

 

[PumpkinSpice]

Pretty much.
It is abusing a broken system.

Price matching is really stupid.

What's to stop me from just modifying the DOM on Amazon.com to change the price shown in the browser?

Or setting up a proxy to do that?

It seems stupidly easy to scam retailers with this system.

 

[Sephzilla]

Congratulations on the theft!

And he's so proud of himself, too. Ugh.

With all do respect, I think calling this "theft" is a little too far. It was a paid for transaction that was technically legal. He didn't smuggle a PS4 out of the store in his coat. It's also technically not his fault that Wal Mart wasn't very thorough checking the validity of that price (how did someone not raise an eyebrow at a $300 discount?). What that guy did might be unethical, but it wasn't theft.

 

[Smidget]

Price matching is really stupid.

What's to stop me from just modifying the DOM on Amazon.com to change the price shown in the browser?

Or setting up a proxy to do that?

It seems stupidly easy to scam retailers with this system.

At least Target has thought of it and so has others, they use their own systems/computers/iPads to look at the prices.

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

Don't get the unethical comments. At the end of the day in a free market people can buy and sell for whatever they like. If companies are not vigliant against this kind of stuff thats their problem, not the buyer.

If this is unethical so is buying games from a store reigon apart from your own, for example.


Its poor taste to brag about it though.

 

[Jeff Vader]

See? This is why we can't have nice things.

 

[braves01]

Here's a legitimate, ethical $35 PS+ deal all can take advantage of. VisaCheckout is free to sign up for, no fees or anything like that and you can use non-Visa cards with it.

 

[Veritigo_X]

Won't someone please think of Wal-Mart! It's the holidays and it would be nice if they could actually prepare a nice hot meal for their family this season.

 

[flyinpiranha]

Finally, a Wii U price I'll be willing to pay.

 

[GulAtiCa]

Pretty scummy to do this.