5:03pm UK, Wednesday March 19, 2003

A shopping website has admitted it made a mistake in advertising expensive computers for £7.32.

Amazon had to shut down its UK site after it was inundadated with people who found out about the deal, and it now says customers will not receive their orders.

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Amazon admits it was wrong

The company has revealed that a "price discrepancy" led to handheld PCs made by Hewlett Packard going on sale at a massive discount.

The iPaq H5450 model, which usually sells for £500 in the shops was on sale for just £7.32 and the iPaq H1910, which costs £280 was selling for £23.04.

Many customers entered their credit card details and had their orders accepted on the internet site.

But Amazon says: "We will be cancelling orders made for the HP iPaq pocket PCs at the incorrect price this morning."

One buyer, 41 year old Iain Macauley, placed an order after being told about the bargain through a friend's email.

He thinks the company should honour the low price: "They have taken my credit card details and given me a confirmation number, so they should now provide the goods."