Is a TV this size for $9.99 too good to be true? Yes.

Although thousands of BestBuy customers ordered the Samsung Best Buy $9.99 TV, only five people will get the 52″ flat-panel LCD TV for that price. As most people assumed, the Best Buy $9.99 TV price was a mistake.

This message has started making its way around:

To recent victims for our price error on BestBuy’s Samsung LCD monitor, we will only allow the first 5 orders to be delivered. The following orders for the model LN52A650 will be canceled and BestBuy will reimburse your payment and follow our ‘Errors on Our Site’ procedure. Best Buy will issue a credit to your credit card account in the amount of the charge. BestBuy, Inc. apologizes for this inconvenience.

Online shopping vs. ‘the old days’

The Internet has more benefits than drawbacks, that’s for sure. But so rarely does an opportunity to point out an in stance in which the “old-fashioned” way is superior, we must always seize these opportunities. Kind of like seizing the opportunity to get an online cash advance before your bank account gets overdrawn.

This certainly is not the first time BestBuy or any other retail business has written the wrong price on something. However, back in the days before Internet shopping, there was a lot more work involved in sticking a price tag on something. And if someone had gone into a BestBuy, saw the $9.99 price tag on a 52″ television and tried to buy it, the matter would have been worked out face-to-face between a stuttering teenage sales associate and a customer who knew very well she wasn’t getting that price.

How much does this LCD TV really cost?

The error that advertised the Samsung 52″ flat-panel LCD for $9.99 has been corrected, and the price is back to its normal $1,699.99. That’s the price it was supposed to be put on sale for, about $100 less than the usual price.

Unfortunately, after seeing the set advertised for $9.99, I think BestBuy is going to have a tough time convincing people that $1,700 is really a good price.

Web site maintenance time

Now, the Best Buy $9.99 TV debacle leaves BestBuy with a problem on its hands. Right now, the Samsung 52″ flat-panel LCD is listed on the site as on sale for the disappointing but discounted $1,700 price, but the item is also listed as sold out.

It really only comes down tto a matter of reprogramming the site to say that the item is not sold out, but first someone, probably a big-time someone from corporate, needs to make sure that the shipping department is aprised of the situation. I don’t know how many, if any Best Buy $9.99 TVs were shipped before the company discovered the error.