Pricing error costs Zappos $1.6 Million

Lucky bargain shoppers who happened to be on 6pm.com, a sister site of Zappos.com, early Friday morning landed some once-in-a-lifetime deals. A pricing error at the online store, which sells shoes, accessories, bags and electronics, capped the price of almost everything it sells at $49.95 for six hours between midnight and 6 a.m. (PST). By the time 6pm.com realized the issue, Zappos had taken a loss of more than $1.6 million on the items it sold below cost.

The pricing error created some amazing deals on the almost 1,500 shoes, 600 clothing items and hundreds of other items that retail over $200, including a GPS unit worth $2,000. Once the pricing error was discovered, the company took the website offline and Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, tweeted about the mistake: "I guess that means no ice cream for me tonight."