Wal-Mart erroneously priced a handful of computer monitors at a heavy discount online last week.
Monitors ranging from a high-definition, 24-inch product by Viewsonic to a 20-inch version made by Hewlett-Packard were made available at the bargain price of $8.85.
The suggested retail price of those two monitors are $199.99 and $185, respectively, although retailers often offer them at discounts.
Many of the monitors were sold out by 8 a.m. ET, although the prices persisted on Walmart.com.
Wal-Mart says that a technical error caused a number of products to be priced absurdly low or high on its website earlier Wednesday. The company says it is working to resolve the issue and that the site may have intermittent problems with availability until then.
A spokesperson declined to specify whether an error was made, but said the tech goodies were unavailable in the retailer’s brick-and-mortar stores and are “no longer available” online. She also couldn’t immediately comment on whether people who swooped in on the pre-holiday snafu would be able to buy the monitors at the specified prices.
