$4 million in losses: inattentive employee brought a successful company to bankruptcy in one day (3 photos + 1 video)
To convince people that the big discount was the result of a mistake, the company even released a short video of the employee responsible for the pricing error. 
A small Chinese company that specializes in selling washing machines is at risk of losing 30 million yuan (US$4.2 million) after one of its employees mistakenly put the wrong prices on products.
Little Swan Dongshan, a small company based in Anhui Province, China, is now asking customers to cancel their orders. An error by one of the workers reportedly caused a 20-minute rush on the online store (more than 40 thousand orders). This could lead to a net loss of 4.2 million US dollars.
Little Swan sold 70 million yuan worth of washing machines for only 40 million yuan, meaning the potential loss is about 30 million if they have to fulfill all the orders with the wrong price. 
"Tens of thousands of orders and tens of millions of yuan are astronomical figures for us. We sincerely sympathize with all affected customers and ask you to understand our situation and agree to withdraw the orders. Apparently, one of our company employees accidentally marked some washing machines with incorrect prices. The products were sold at significant discounts, which immediately caught the eye of customers," the company said in a statement. 
For example, washing machines that normally cost 1,699 yuan ($240) were sold for only 299 yuan, while 2,499 yuan models were mistakenly priced at 439 yuan.
"We recognize that this issue has caused confusion among the public and has seriously disrupted the market. We feel deeply apologetic and upset about this," said Little Swan Dongshan, the owner.
To convince people that the big discount was the result of a mistake, the company even released a short video featuring the employee responsible for pricing. She apologized for the blunder, noting that she would not be able to cover the losses even if she sold everything she owned.
The relevant government agencies are currently investigating the case. According to lawyers, the company must provide convincing evidence to terminate the sales contracts. Otherwise, it will have to fulfill tens of thousands of orders and possibly go bankrupt.
