SparkFun is giving away $100,000 in free stuff at 11 AM EST today

[PaperclipGod]

I did a search and didn't see this mentioned yet, which is pretty surprising. SparkFun.com.

Each person who checks out after 11 AM EST today, Jan 7th, gets $100 free. You just pay shipping. No minimums, no catches.

Their site is getting hammered atm, but it's worth a shot. I didn't post this in the free forum because the "time to launch" is so close and OT gets way more traffic. Plus, this isn't the usual kind of "free stuff" offer where you can send away for a snuggie or a toaster.

 

[rockyct]

Good luck with the site being down and all.

 

[PottedMeat]

i doubt i'll get through but i'll put some stuff in my cart. that DIY oscilloscope kit seems pretty cool, and maybe a dual axis gyroscope breakout board.

 

[bobdole369]

Ya, site isn't down or anything, just as several hundred thousand geeks are trying for a free hundred bucks (and there are only a thousand free hundreds to go around) its really really slow.

 

[dullard]

Those of us who regularly buy from Sparkfun are hoping that no one else knows. But, this has been plastered all over the hot deals types of forums for 2 months. I highly doubt that I'll get in. But, I'll try.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Have fun with all that. I'll just work hard and when I want something I'll go buy it.

 

[Praetor]

SO..... I order a $60 item and just pay shipping? Sweet.

 

[Kelemvor]

Never heard of that site before. What do they have? Trying to look around but it's taking forever...

 

[dullard]

Never heard of that site before. What do they have? Trying to look around but it's taking forever...

It is based mostly around building robots. Microprocessors, circuit boards, motors, sensors, etc.

 

[novasatori]

hehe i am staring at this too

been waiting since they announced it - i have been short on money and wanting to get an arduino usb so i am hoping to get one of those at least

 

[PaperclipGod]

Those of us who regularly buy from Sparkfun are hoping that no one else knows. But, this has been plastered all over the hot deals types of forums for 2 months. I highly doubt that I'll get in. But, I'll try.

Yeah... but this is probably great marketing for them. Instead of spending 100k on advertising this quarter, they can give it away for free, and get tons of free viral traffic.

As much as they want to frame this freebie as a way of "giving back" to their customers, the cynical side of me doubts any company can be so purely altruistic.

On the up-side, if this works and they get a lot of new customers as a result of all the attention, they'll probably try this again in the future!

 

[Kelemvor]

Looks like they closeed the site down...

SparkFun Electronics is Temporarily Closed!
SparkFun Electronics has been temporarily closed while necessary upgrades are installed and configured.
Please be patient and check back soon. We're working tirelessly to make this down time as brief as possible.

In the meantime, feel free to join us in #sparkfun on irc.freenode.net

 

[bobdole369]

Laaaammmmmeeee!

sparkfun electronics is temporarily closed!
Sparkfun electronics has been temporarily closed while necessary upgrades are installed and configured.
Please be patient and check back soon. We're working tirelessly to make this down time as brief as possible.

 

[dullard]

Yeah... but this is probably great marketing for them. Instead of spending 100k on advertising this quarter, they can give it away for free, and get tons of free viral traffic.

As much as they want to frame this freebie as a way of "giving back" to their customers, the cynical side of me doubts any company can be so purely altruistic.

On the up-side, if this works and they get a lot of new customers as a result of all the attention, they'll probably try this again in the future!

I understand that logic. But, you don't gain a lot of new customers by having a website that is down and a promotion that gives you maybe a 1% chance of actually getting anything due to too much viral traffic. They really should have done it as a $30 free giveaway to 3333 people. $30 is enough to buy most items they sell. That would still garner lots of traffic, but it'll keep the less desperate people at bay so the website might not have crashed.

 

[novasatori]

$30 would definitely make more sense

 

[Miramonti]

To accomodate all the frustrations with sparkfun, I've started a $1m giveaway on my own site, www.jjsole.com, which started almost 15 minutes ago.

Please get in asap before all the traffic blows out my domain registration.

 

[novasatori]

To accomodate all the frustrations with sparkfun, I've started a $1m giveaway on my own site, www.jjsole.com, which started almost 15 minutes ago.

Please get in asap before all the traffic blows out my domain registration.

looks like its already blown out

damn

 

[PottedMeat]

looks like its already blown out

damn

you still have time to get to the 5 o'clock free crack giveaway!

 

[Miramonti]

looks like its already blown out

damn

I was afraid the internet wouldn't hold up on this one. On behalf of Icann, I offer my deepest apologies.

To those who missed out, I've talked to my good friends at Southwest Airlines and arranged for anyone who flies with them and mentions my site by name, they will receive a complimentary bag of pretzels. On the house.

 

[Miramonti]

you still have time to get to the 5 o'clock free crack giveaway!

This is true, thanks so much for your support.

All that's required is a credit card to cover a small $4.95 processing fee, which 10% of every order will be donated to the Cable Installers of America Splakling Fund.

 

[rockyct]

Those of us who regularly buy from Sparkfun are hoping that no one else knows. But, this has been plastered all over the hot deals types of forums for 2 months. I highly doubt that I'll get in. But, I'll try.

Yeah, considering only 1000 people really can get in on the deal.

 

[bobdole369]

 

[bobdole369]

Got 4 sessions running from 4 different points of presence (comcast in SFL, AT&T in SFL, Chicago and LA 10mbit datacenters), nothing is connecting.

 

[novasatori]

I had the shipping selection up, hit proceed to payment

GG time out

 

[rockyct]

I had the shipping selection up, hit proceed to payment

GG time out

All I've done is managed to get something in my cart.