Tried to get an Xbox 360 for 100 bucks
Trying to get an Xbox 360 on Amazon.com for $100 yesterday was like trying to catch a fly with chopsticks. And you ain’t Mr. Miyagi.
The effort seemed futile. Amazon was going to sell 1,000 Xbox 360 Core Systems for $100.00 via Amazon.com, starting at 2PM EST on Thanksgiving Day. Surely there was no way we’d get one - I was right.
Eliza had pointed out that she wanted to try anyways and she had the page all loaded up to fire an order away the moment “the gates” were open. Sure enough, Amazon.com was brought to it’s knees during an onslaught that an Amazon spokesman described as “dramatically more traffic than we anticipated.”.
Amazon sold out of Xbox 360 Core systems in 29 seconds. Not 30, no no - 29 seconds.
Were we the only ones not able to get an Xbox? Not hardly. Some tried for the heck of it and failed. Others had friends that failed and so they are offering possible solutions to Amazon. Still others couldn’t load the site at all so eventually just gave up. One guy nailed it when he said that “heads will roll”. I’m fairly sure that a huge amount of money was lost due to this sale. Oh, and I can’t leave out those that decided to scream obscenities at Amazon.com.
I think Amazon will think twice before doing that again. I wonder if Microsoft cares that they sold below suggested retail price? What if Walmart, a company that could afford to lose a few dollars, did that for like a week only to get foot traffic and gain sales for accessories for the Xbox 360 (controllers, etc)? I bet they wouldn’t be terribly happy about it.
Did you try to get an Xbox 360? Did you succeed, or fail?
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I tried, but amazon didn’t load. At 12:57, my time, amazon was toast. I couldn’t load a page for at least 15 minutes, it sucked.
jakedahn on November 24th, 2006 3:28 pm
Jake: I’d love to see Amazon release some of the stats.
Colin D. Devroe on November 24th, 2006 3:39 pm
Amazon was simply executing a loss leader - dropping the price on a particular product (usually not the flagship product either - ie, the Xbox 360 Core not Premium) so much to attract buyers to their store/site in hopes of them buying other products. That’s pretty much what Black Friday is entirely. Have a crappy LCD TV on sale for half the price to get people in the door and woo them with the new Sony so and so.
Paul Stamatiou on November 24th, 2006 8:03 pm
I tried getting one and failed miserably. Couldn’t load the page til about 15 after. How could Amazon underestimate that?
J Phill on November 24th, 2006 9:44 pm
I tried to get one myself, but the site wouldn’t load for me either. I would really loved to have been one of the lucky ones though - e-bragging rights :p
http://www.chrisbrownpictures.info
Chris Childs on November 24th, 2006 11:35 pm
Like everyone else, I was *going* to try. But just being unlucky wasn’t what stopped me. I woke up at 2:30 that day, completely missing the 29 second window I had for a shot at personal glory. Oh well, I want a Wii anyway.
Sameer on November 26th, 2006 5:07 pm
i tried but the site would not load….. called amazon and was told by some guy with a real bad accent that i should have been faster and it is not their fault my connection was not as fast as someone else’s. very rude but what can i do….. nothing we all got those minutes taken away never to have them again
new orleans on November 27th, 2006 2:13 pm
I GOT ONE! I think the reason I got it is because my connection is extremely fast. 12mbps ftw! I LOVE U AMAZON
Yogi on January 16th, 2007 10:07 pm
HAHA BITCHES. I’AM ALSO ONE OF THE FEW LUCKY ONES TO PURCHASE ONE.
BooBoo on January 16th, 2007 10:08 pm