Underpriced Tennis Balls - WWJD?

[Micalzon]

I started to hear great things about the Prince Tour tennis balls shortly after TW started carrying them again and was interested in trying them out. Not wanting to fork out $96 for a case of balls that I might not like I started looking around for anywhere I could just buy a can of these balls.

I went to Amazon and found a listing for these balls for $3.99 (and around $11 for shipping). Knowing these balls were approximately $4 a can I thought I had found what I was looking for. In looking at the product description on the site I noticed that the ad said that 72 balls were included (the amount in a full case). I knew right away that this was an error. I stewed over it for a few days and contacted the vendor directly to let them know that I think they posted the item in error. They thanked me for letting them know and within the hour the price was up to $95. I asked that if I ordered the balls if they would at least give me free shipping, which they did.

After thinking about it, did I do the right thing or would it have been okay to buy the balls at the listed price and hold them to it? What would you have done in this situation?

 

[struggle]

I'd be the proud owner of several cases of Prince Tour balls at $15 per case.

Thanks for nothin'.

Sorry, but I don't have a problem taking a price at face value from the likes of walmart and amazon who do nothing but run local businesses into the ground. They ONLY get my money when it is in my benefit to pay them back.

 

[Micalzon]

I would probably not have had a problem if it was Amazon selling the balls directly but they were being sold by a third party vendor and Amazon was just hosting the ad.

 

[BMC9670]

You did the right thing and got what you wanted - a single can to test, without the high shipping cost.

"Sticking it to the man", so to speak, does nothing in the end. It would have possibly gotten you a cheap case of balls (probably not) but would mean nothing to a giant corporation (even though they were sold by a third party, Amazon would have likely eaten the error). The only way to bring about a change to the uber-corporate culture in the US is to change the corrupt political system. Money makes the rules, not people.

 

[Fifth Set]

I'd be the proud owner of several cases of Prince Tour balls at $15 per case.
...

LOL, I think OP did the right thing and the right thing is good for karma.

But....I have to admit that I would have thought twice about it because these balls are so fantastic.

Plus, some of these smaller online tennis vendors are pretty lame. I'm having a terrible experience with one I just recently started using (not TW). These guys are not the "local small business heroes" that the haters of Amazon and Walmart often make them out to be. I don't feel the least bit sorry for small business that disrespects the customer and is consistently incompetent. I will not use them again - unless I have the opportunity to buy a case of Prince Tour Extra Duty balls for $15, ha ha!

 

[Fuji]

Depends really, I've seen errors like that before and usually the order is cancelled before shipping out.

-Fuji

 

[sovertennis]

I got two cases of Prince balls this spring because (1) I'd heard they were terrific balls and (2) I got a good deal via USPTA. While they are indeed terrific balls for clay and indoor courts, they aren't so durable on outdoor hard courts.

Your decision to alert the vendor was, of course, the proper action to take. Why obtain goods under false pretenses? Simply because the vendor posted the price incorrectly neither ethically nor morally allows the buyer to exploit the error. (Fuji is correct: They would have caught their mistake before sending the goods).