Was Sony’s Site Hacked? Listed DSLR Cameras and Lenses Up To 90% Off
May 31, 2015
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Initial reports stated Sony’s online store has the a7R listed for just $199.99 instead of $2,299.99, leading people to believe that someone had made a mistake.
A deeper look, however, reveals that several other products, including the a77II were listed for ridiculously low prices.
With so many product prices being slashed, it seems increasingly likely that a (very) disgruntled worker or a hacker attack is behind this.
The largest price reduction was on the 500mm f/4 telephoto lens which was advertised for just under $1,300 – a full $11,700 off its regular price!
Most of the prices have been corrected, while others are busy being fixed, but will Sony fulfill the orders that have already been placed?
The frenzy began 3 hours ago when a Redditor by the name of ‘kapziel’ posted a link to Sony’s store where the a7R was being sold for $200 instead of $2,300.
Assuming it was a mistake, hoards of happy shoppers rushed to order the camera before the price changed. The common belief being that unless Sony was having a once-in-a-lifetime sale, either the price was a mistake and Sony will fulfill orders nonetheless or worst case scenario the company will apologize for the mistake and provide a full refund.
For a short period of time Amazon had also offered the a7R for $199, due to its automatic price-matching system, but the error there was quickly fixed and orders were cancelled.
As mentioned, though, the steep discounts offered on such a relatively large number of products leads many to believe that Sony is once again under attack by hackers.
I’d like to stress that there’s no proof of this at the moment and it’s just an option being raised, but considering the previous hacker attacks the company has suffered, and the hackers threats to strike again, it doesn’t seem too farfetched.
In what seems to be a rushed attempt to stop the flow of orders, several products have been completely removed from the Sony website while in others the ability to add a product to the shopping cart has been disabled.
It will be interesting to see what actually happened and who is behind the lowered prices, but for those who managed to place an order the big question is how will Sony goes about this; will it apologize for the inconvenience and cancel the order (as the site’s Terms and Conditions allow in such cases), or will it take a financial blow in order to receive positive PR and avoid disappointing its customers?
[via Reddit]
Liron Samuels
Liron Samuels is a wildlife and commercial photographer based in Israel. When he isn’t waking up at 4am to take photos of nature, he stays awake until 4am taking photos of the night skies or time lapses. You can see more of his work on his website or follow him on Facebook.
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12 responses to “Was Sony’s Site Hacked? Listed DSLR Cameras and Lenses Up To 90% Off”
No way they fulfill the orders
Totally related to photography.
yes apparently Sony cancelled all orders and said they wouldnt honor them at those low prices. I was trying to buy one too but they wouldnt send to Canada. However I did see someone else’s address while checking out, which is curiously alarming. does it mean that the site is also leaking customers’ information?
Yeah probably. And capturing your payment information as well.
Well never got to that point..
You only list two options, respecting the order or refunding it. Of course, a third option is having your credit card hacked in a man-in-the-middle attack (cvv and all) and being used to buy guns and drugs.
This happened about 10 years ago with Intel processors, they honoured the first dozen or so orders. What spoilt it was people diving in and ordering 1 CPU when the ordering system was for manufacturers, so it got rumbled. I was sooooo close this morning to hitting the final PayPal button but something told me not to! :o)
It shows pending on my paypal account. It does not hurt anyway.
No the Amazon website uses algorithms to check competitors prices automatically, but it rarely works properly. Someone somewhere was probably selling a dodgy refurbished unit for that price and amazons systems price matched it automatically. In 6 months time Amazon will be knocking on Sony’s door asking for the 11k shortfall too.
Of course Sony won’t fulfill those orders. The terms of service on all sales sites typically have a disclaimer about errors in pricing. The orders will undoubtedly be cancelled and contact will be made with the purchasers to see if they still want to buy the items at the correct price.
A/B Testing gone wrong
sONY STYLE