Amazon Cancels Free Echo Dot Orders After Discount Fluke

If you were one of the lucky few that got to place an Amazon order for a free Echo Dot during a brief window on Friday, we've got some bad news for you (assuming you haven't already got the email). Just as many shoppers expected, the smart speaker was made free as a result of a discount code issued in error, and Amazon has said that it is canceling these orders, but will be giving those affected a small credit in apology.

It turns out it was a "technical error" that caused an Audible promotion to be applied to the Echo Dot, reducing the $50 speaker to a very attractive price of $0. This "offer" was only available for a very brief time on Amazon's website, and quickly followed by the speaker being listed as out of stock before returning to its normal price.

Would-be Echo Dot buyers who are getting their orders canceled will be treated to a $5 credit on Amazon's behalf. It may be a 100% discount, but at least now they can take a few bucks off the speaker's price.

Audible just happens to be the audiobook service that's owned by Amazon, so it's within the realm of possibility that a cross-promotion offer could be on the way for subscribers, and that the technical error was caused by setting things up on the marketplace's back-end.