Best Buy’s Big Coupon Mistake Causes Chaos

by Nate Wooley | January 23, 2013 9:19 am

[1]Electronics retailer Best Buy (NYSE:BBY[2]) got more than it expected when it released a $50-off coupon.

The company forgot some things when it printed the coupon. While it did state that shoppers could get $50 off any purchase of $100 or more if paid via MasterCard (NYSE:MA[3]), it left off limitations, Gizmodo reports[4]. A few items were excluded from the deal, but Best Buy didn’t limit the number of times a coupon could be used nor did it place any limit on the number of items purchased.

Shoppers took advantage, buying hundreds and even thousands of dollars worth of gift cards and other items. A shopper could go through the line multiple times, each time buying $100 worth of goods, and get it all at half price. One shopper, who posted a photo of his receipt, bought $1,600 worth of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN[5]) gift cards for $800.

Best Buy quickly realized its mistake. By the afternoon, the online coupon had been altered to shorten the term to that day only, instead of the original week. It also limited the discount to one item only and to exclude gift cards. Finally, one coupon per household, please.

More stories about retailers:

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• Groupon Cancels All Gun-Related Deals[8]

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/01/best-buy-big-coupon-mistake-causes-chaos/

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