The Internet Has Already Found Ways To Blatantly Abuse The Walmart Price Matching Program

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Is there anything the Internet hasn’t exploited? Its sole purpose sometimes seems as if it is nothing more than a medium to fuck with the unsuspecting. Sure enough, yet another method of taking advantage of an otherwise solid offer has been discovered, and it is saving the scammers immensely.

Walmart and other retailers have begun offering a price match on items sold for a cheaper price by online retailers such as Amazon. While in theory this sounds like an incredible deal, the ease of which someone can manipulate an Amazon page has begun to cause a world of problems for the price-matching program.

From Consumerist:

This bit of price-matching abuse turned evil as someone figured out that the meaning of “for sale on Amazon.com” can be very flexible, since anyone with a registered selling account can list an item for sale. Sure, Amazon will take the listing down if you try to list a PlayStation 4, which normally sells for $400, for less than a quarter of that amount. Yet just putting it online will create a 100% authentic-looking Amazon page, which you can then take a screen cap of or show to a store employee on your phone. Instant price-match…if the store employee is not very savvy.

It’s simple genius, really. It takes no technical knowledge, formal training, or planning, yet it works as effectively as any complex schemes.

The bogus listings have already saved many people hundreds, but do not expect it to last very long before corporate puts an end to any possible loopholes.

[via Consumerist]

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Bogey Wells

Bogey Wells is a TFM Senior Freelance Contributor. He occasionally dabbles with PGP.