But despite the fact that hundreds of testers were scouring their site for flaws, at least one MAJOR software bug went unnoticed: a $3 billion validation error, as recently reported by NetworkWorld.

Apparently, a Californian software engineer in the market for a Discovery Channel ‘Cells’ CD-ROM was able to find an edition on Amazon. No surprises here. The only problem (aside from the fact it only runs on Windows 98), was that the price tag for the item was about $3 billion. Plus $3.99 shipping and handling, of course. Seeing the price, and knowing full well that Amazon would settle the issue in a fair and timely manner, he decided to purchase the item on a lark. Here’s his first hand account:

I mentioned I was an engineer, so we talked for a few minutes about e-commerce validation routines and such. He described a number of measures they had in place to make sure orders with erroneous too-low prices would get caught; but nothing like that existed for the other extreme.

The best part: He explained that Amazon would be implementing such limits ASAP — and therefore my transaction would be the largest Amazon purchase ever!

Amazon was very professional about the whole situation. The caller acknowledged there was some humorous aspect to it, but made it clear they treat the shopper’s experience with the highest regard and they wanted to make sure it wouldn’t happen again. I felt the message was sincere — it was really nice to get the call.

If there’s a better example of how to handle your customers (as well as your own reputation) when an issue arises, I’d love to hear it.

Curious about the results? Check out the articles below:

• Study: Amazon Most User Friendly by Byron Acohido (@lastwatchdog)
  

• Amazon Trumps Target, Walmart in Bug Battle by Kate Rockwood (@katerockin)

• Holiday Shopping: Amazon FTW! [STUDY] by Christina Warren (@film_girl)

• Amazon Is Least-Buggy Retail Site, Says Report by Nicholas Kolakowski (@eWEEKNews)

So, the battle begs the question: Which e-tailer do you trust the most?

While millions of shoppers were making leisurely holiday purchases, our global community of testers were hard at work – reporting a wide range of functional, usability and GUI bugs, as well as providing  user feedback. In doing so, you’ve once again demonstrated the value of comprehensive testing performed by skilled professionals. Well done!

The media, by the way, are all over this story, so we’ll be sure to provide a wrap-up of all the news coverage later this week.

To the Victors Go the Spoils
The prize for Top Tester went to Brad Sellick of Canada, while Tuyen Tran of Vietnam took home the new Judge’s Choice Award. Other cash-prize winners included Gaurang Joshi and Ranchhod Prajapati (both of India) for Best Bugs, as well as Gizem Sahin (Turkey) and Jaya Dinu (US) in the Best Feedback category. There were over 30 winners in this quarter’s competition, so be sure to check out the results page for the complete list.

And now, a few more top-line findings:

*Amazon ranked highest in most categories (pricing, ease of use, product reviews), while Walmart ranked highest in product search tools and also earned good marks for pricing.

*Target.com ranked lowest in all five categories and accounted for 261 bugs, more than half of all bugs reported in the competition.

*67% of testers did not choose “lowest prices” when asked to identify their most important category. In fact, only 1 in 3 chose lowest prices as their primary decision making criteria.

*Nearly 75% of all survey respondents said they trust Amazon most for their holiday shopping.

The Final Bug Results:

Amazon.com:

• 94 bugs reported
• 11% classified as “showstoppers”
• 21% Technical, 67% Functional and 12% GUI

Walmart.com:

• 150 bugs reported
• 9% classified as “showstoppers”
• 23% Technical, 54% Functional and 23% GUI

Target.com:

• 261 bugs reported
• 7 percent classified as “showstoppers”
• 20% Technical, 56% Functional and 25% GUI

Thanks again to all of the testers who participated in this Bug Battle. Remember, we’re just getting started with this competition, and so if you have ideas for what we should test next, drop us a comment or shoot us an email!

As this post is being written, 100+ testers from around the world have already submitted more than 500 bugs in Walmart.com, Amazon.com and Target.com – another remarkable display of talent from our testing community.

But it’s not over yet. There’s still time to complete your last-minute holiday bug hunting, so be sure to sign in to the uTest platform and get cracking. Remember, our judges are more interested in quality over quantity when it comes to the bugs. In other words, one great bug is all it takes, as evidenced by our past winners.

If you can’t find any bugs to submit – but still want a chance to win cash for the usability survey – then raise your hand in this uTest Forums thread. After all, there’s nearly $4,000 in prize money at stake, so what do you have to lose?

Thanks to all those who have submitted bugs for the competition, and good luck to the remaining participants.

Bug Battles are available to all members of our community. You can get more details in our uTest-only forums.  To participate in the Bug Battle, just sign in to your uTest account.

Here they are, in no particular order:

Amazon.com
Walmart.com
Target.com

The competition – which kicked off at midnight – will give testers one week to search these sites for the most compelling bugs, and to report them through our online platform. And as usual, we’ll be dishing out more than $3,000 in prize money based on:

• Top overall tester (based on the quality of bugs and feedback)
• Top novice tester (same criteria)
• Top individual bugs in each of the sites (most interesting, most severe, best documented)
• Best survey responses (comparing the feature set, functionality and usability)

For more details about the competition – including info on rules and prizes – check out our Battle of the E-Tailers page.

Which site has the buggiest shopping cart? The smartest wish list? The best price comparison? We’ll be sure to give you all the details in time to complete your holiday shopping. Is midnight on December 24th OK? Kidding, we’ll get them to you sooner than that (in the form of our Bug Battle Report).

So testers, go forth and track down some bugs, make some money, and be hailed as a Bug Battle victor within the community!

Special note: uTesters can get the full details and discuss the Bug Battle in the uTest Forums.