Macy’s Catalog Typo Marks $1500 Necklace at $47

Apr 01, 2013 11:44 AM EDT

Macy's catalog typo recently sparking a rush by customers to take advantage of the deal.

Texas residents in the Dallas area received a circular with a "Super Buy" sterling silver and 14-karat gold necklace for 3% of its retail price. The piece, which was supposed to be sold for $479, was marked down for just $47.

On April 1, 2013, news of the typo began trending high on Yahoo! News as people wanted to learn more about the erroneous bargain.

When a Dallas resident named Robert Bernard went to the Macy’s location at the Collin Creek mall, he was told that the necklaces were all sold out. He was thinking to buy two of them, one of which was for his wife for their anniversary.

When he arrived to the store, he saw that several people paid $47 for the necklace without any problems. Before he could get the piece, a customer in front of him brought every one of them the store had in stock, according to local station WFAA.

As a result, the department store arranged for the piece to be mailed to him free of shipping costs.

But later, Macy’s found out the mistake and all the man got was a refund and an apology.

Macy's apologized for the error Friday but didn't explain how it happened.

Beth Charlton, a Macy's spokeswoman, said in a statement:

"When the mistake was caught, signage did go up in fine jewelry departments and on store doors alerting customers that a mistake had been made."

"For those customers who bought the necklace at the $47 price, they were fortunate," but for the rest of us, she adds, "we are sincerely sorry."

Macy's could not immediately say how many necklaces it mistakenly sold at the wrong price.