March 16, 2016 12:38 pm

Costco Accidentally Sells a Laptop for $0.01

Early morning on October 12, consumers visited Costco online to find a laptop listed for $0.01. When browsing through HP laptops, the Star Wars™ Special Edition notebook listed for $1,016.99 but when visitors clicked on the item, a new page opened with a new price- one cent. Then if users added on a deal, enhancing the memory or network features, they could successfully add the product to their cart. From there, the laptop price registers as a negative cent, so an add on for $20 dollars appeared as $19.99.

Costco Free Laptop (1)

 

Not only did the webpage confirm the order, but so did a follow up email. Purchases also appeared in buyers credit card histories. News first broke out around midnight on SlickDeals. Orders continued through 9:30 a.m., but became harder to fulfill around 11 a.m. However, as time moved on, the page slowed. Now, the transaction is impossible. Membership was not required for purchases, instead only adding a non-member surcharge. The laptop confirmation email looks incomplete. Again, no image appears but the item number corresponds to a laptop. The automated email confirms the low price and Costco has yet to reach out to buyers about the incident. In fact, Costco has yet to comment on the incident publicly.

The Star Wars HP Laptop is a limited edition product. It offers unique content for Star War fans, including wall papers, concept art, deleted scenes, story boards and more. The laptop offers a HD touchscreen, 12 GB, Intel processors, B&O PLAY audio and a red backlit keyboard, according to the HP website. Costco will need to evaluate the transactions from a business, public relations and publicity standpoint.

 

Were you able to score the deal? What do you expect will happen next? What do you think Costco should do?

 

 

Update: Costco has cancelled laptop orders. However, the company has yet to make a statement or send a response to buyers. 

 

Screen Shot 2015-10-12 at 2.54.28 PM

 

Update: Costco began sending automated emails in the early evening notifying buyers of the error and dismissing the charge. 

Due to a system error, the web site listed an obviously incorrect price for item #990011 HP CTO Desktop of $–.–. As a result, we are unable to process your order and have cancelled it. Your credit card has not been charged.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We value you as a customer and appreciate your business. If you should have additional questions and/or concerns, contact us via email or call our Member Service Center at 1-800-955-2292.

Sincerely,

Costco.com Member Service

 

  • Tim Keheley

    They cancelled my order for 1 laptop. Didn’t even send me a cancellation email :(

  • Jeff LaFond

    They cancelled my orders too. Pretty scummy that they didn’t even notify us. My membership to costco just ended and was going to renew, not sure I should. I’ll be curious how they respond.

    • Tim Keheley

      They’ll respond by laughing at all of the people that thought they were going to get $1000 laptops. Sadly, I was one of those people for a couple of hours.

    • Joshua Breister

      So, let me clarify: you are a member to get better deals for items in bulk, yet they don’t honor an obvious website glitch and they’re an evil company? Grow up.

      • Jeff LaFond

        Read much? No longer a member. No obvious website glitch imfo. Never called them evil. Moron.

        • Joshua Breister

          I apologize. That’s totally feasible. A pimped-out laptop listed as over $1,000 ($1,016.99 be to specific) that then puts itself as .01 when you add it to the cart and then back-charges to -.01 if you add a feature couldn’t be an obvious website glitch. What a moron I am.

    • joe_armend

      Let me get this right, you are considering cancelling your Costco membership because they wouldn’t let you bamboozle them out of a $1000+ laptop? You’re a clown!

      • Jeff LaFond

        Another non reader? Not a member. Yes, i tried to bamboozle them out of an item for sale on their website. (Not sure you understand sarcasm. Maybe someone smarter or older can explain)

  • BoltmanLives

    In for cancellation

  • M63

    They are a business. This was an obvious error, so I would not judge keeping or cancelling my membership over something like this… Especially when you know they’re a reputable company. …come on people, don’t be that guy