Amazon has faced a backlash from retailers after a software glitch from a third party site caused hundreds of items to be sold for 1p. The software, run by firm RepricerExpress, is designed to keep businesses competitive by automatically repricing items of stock so they are cheaper than others in the digital market. The firm […]
Amazon has faced a backlash from retailers after a software glitch from a third party site caused hundreds of items to be sold for 1p.
The software, run by firm RepricerExpress, is designed to keep businesses competitive by automatically repricing items of stock so they are cheaper than others in the digital market.
The firm states on its website: “We are here to increase your sales on Amazon and Rakuten’s Play.com and make your efforts as profitable as possible.”
For an hour on Friday, between 7pm and 8pm, a problem with RepricerExpress led to hundreds of items being sold on Amazon at a fraction of their normal price.
At the same time, some customers said, Amazon charged its usual fees for every item sold.
Amazon said most orders were cancelled after the error was spotted.
The orders were placed on its Marketplace service, which allows third-party companies to trade on Amazon.
Repricer Express automatically changes the cost of items for sale on Amazon Marketplace “to keep listings competitive 24/7 without constant attention”.
In a statement, Mr Doherty said Repricer Express would be investigating the cause of the problem and putting measures in place to prevent it happening again.
“We managed to get the problem resolved so that any new prices going to Amazon were correct within about an hour of the problem being reported,” he said.
“It took a further few hours to get incorrect prices reverted to their original prices where possible. Amazon have assured us that seller accounts will not be penalised for this issue.”
He said the firm was helping Amazon to minimise the number of orders with incorrect prices being sent out.
“We take a lot of pride in the levels of service we provide so everyone here is disappointed that our customers have experienced this issue,” he said.
A spokesman for Amazon said they were reviewing the small number of orders that were processed and would be directly contacting any affected sellers.
Repricer Express has been operating for over 10 years, and has offices in Derry and New York.
