Image : Amazon

If you’ve been bragging to your friends about the excellent deal you scored during Amazon’s Prime Day stunt, don’t. There’s little chance you did as well as many members of the Slickdeals forum did. Thanks to an error on Amazon’s website, several of them were able to score some very expensive photography gear—including lenses and camera kits—for just $94.48 apiece.




It started when a Slickdeals member discovered and shared a Prime Day deal for the Sony a6000 mirrorless camera bundled with a 16-50 millimeter lens for $94.48; a kit that normally sells for around $550. In the wild west that Amazon’s vast online store has become, it’ s not uncommon to see questionable third-party sellers offering brand name gear at incredibly low prices which are, more often than not, too good to be true. But this camera kit was being sold by Amazon directly.


Not everyone who contributed to the Slickdeals forum’s discussion about this deal saw the discount when they logged into Amazon, and by the time many of them read about the pricing mistake the camera bundle had long sold out. But other members soon noticed that the Sony bundle wasn’t the only piece of photography gear discounted to $94.48. Forum member killroyriley shared, “Everything with the prime day tag on my account is 94.48. I just bought a 3000$ telescope for 94.48,” while member Eragorn asked, “Just ordered an a7iii for $94 with kit lens... They won’t ship and then change the price will they?” AyoItsPat found what seemed like the most impossible Prime Day deal, “I got a $13,000 lens for $94 LOL waiting for the cancellation but that’s like 99.3% off.”

Online pricing errors happen all the time, and it’s hit-or-miss whether a seller will honor the discounted price, or simply cancel the order. Several members found that Amazon did the latter, but others instead got order confirmations and even notices about a product immediately shipping. A Slickdeals member who goes by SoccerMomDeals claimed Amazon actually delivered five of the $13,000 Canon lenses they ordered, “WOW they actually delivered the lenses! I ordered 5 of the “Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM Super Telephoto Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras” lenses for just $500! That’s $65,000 worth of lenses! Can’t believe Amazon actually delivered! Now the question is what’s the best route to get these sold? Should I head straight to Adorama and see if they will purchase them?”

One of the many items that people got for a steal.

PetaPixel spoke to one photographer who ordered two of the $550 Sony a6000 kits, a $2,000 Sony a6500 with a bundled lens, a $2,000 Sony a7 body, and a $5,500 Sony a9 bundled with a 24-70 millimeter lens before Amazon had locked their account for suspicious activities. The order went through and a day later the Sony a7 and one of the lenses actually arrived, but it remains to be seen if other items on backorder will be eventually shipped as well, or just canceled.




FujiRumors also reported that a member of its Fujifilm X100 Facebook group was able to order a $1,300 Fujifilm X100F from Amazon for just $102 including taxes and shipping and, as of a couple of days ago, it was in the hands of UPS with a confirmed tracking number. Amazon did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment but it will probably cancel the vast majority of these orders, particularly when low stock meant that orders had to be passed onto third-party sellers. But a few savvy Prime Day deal hunters clearly hit the jackpot this year, and hundreds more are going to start paying more attention when Prime Day 2020 rolls around next year.