You have yourself a deal...
good point.
we should ask the sparkfun people to post at exactly which tine they ran out.
To finalize things, let's get this straight: you bet sparkfun will run out by 9:05 Am on "free day", and i bet that it will run out past exactly 9:05 (9:05 + 1 second counts)
Is this correct?
Is this correct?
You got it, and your on. To me it's a win-win situation. If I lose the bet it's because I get a nice free GPS module for the price of a 328p. If I win the bet, I at least get a another 328p. 
Lefty
Don't forget, same goes for me - I plan to get some shiny new tools for myself 
although, by participating, I will actually help you win, which wouldn't be good for me 
although, by participating, I will actually help you win, which wouldn't be good for me
Ah but grasshopper, it is possible for you to lose both the bet and the promotion offer. You should have held out for odds.
Lefty
I get a nice free GPS module
Thanks for making that connection! I've had my eye on one of their GPS modules. For some reason (too much caffeine perhaps?) I didn't connect "want GPS" with "free stuff from SparkFun". Pesky brain is always playing games with me!
I didn't connect "want GPS" with "free stuff from SparkFun".
Probably because we aren't often given such structures to work with.
Lefty
I'm going to laugh, there's going to be some 150,000 people or so who put in some orders thinking they get the free $100...
And turns out, it's over! Just 10 minutes after... now, they're stuck cancelling some 100,000 orders because nobody is going to want to pay for the stuff!
Well I'm sure the numbers are high.. but I do have a feeling theres going to be a LOT of returns/cancellations in orders that day as well. 
Well I'm sure the numbers are high.. but I do have a feeling theres going to be a LOT of returns/cancellations in orders that day as well.
Probably not if you read SparkFuns statements. The automatic shopping cart checkout procedure will tell you if you qualify for the free $100 or not, that is if the promotion has been over subscribed or not. So all one has to do is not proceed with the transaction, but your right many will still press on with the transaction and be in for a rude surprise. :-[
PS: And I of course am betting it won't take 10 mins, more like 5 mins or less!
Lefty
Oh god I hope not...
Well...my birthday's on the 23th of january, so I'm getting my stuff either way.
based upon number of views of this forum (228 atm), I'm starting to wonder if it was a good idea to tell people! JK, friends tell friends.
228/1000, ~ 25% more added to the stakes.
Assuming all 228 are different people.
LETS HAVE FUN!!! WOO
All I want on free day is the $49 Maxbotic distance sensor. I'm not spending all $100.
The rest of things that I want are for Chwistmas 
I've seen the deal posted around on Digg, SlickDeals, and Wired. I'm sure that they'll hit 1000 orders in less than 5minutes, assuming their servers don't die in the process.
I'm sure that they'll hit 1000 orders in less than 5minutes, assuming their servers don't die in the process.
From my understanding one of the reasons for doing this is to test their new server :o. It seems a great way to test its capcity, at less for the customers anyway ;D
I think if nothing else Sparkfun should limit it to previous customers, just to reward loyalty.
I think if nothing else Sparkfun should limit it to previous customers, just to reward loyalty.
Oh no! Quick. what's the cheapest thing on sparkfun. I need to get in if they change the rules ;). That does sound like a good idea to reduce the numbers a bit though, and I need to get some blank ATmegas soon anyway!
I didn't see this mentioned in the thread but you do have to pay the shipping charges, the $100 in items are free but you pay shipping.
the $100 in items are free but you pay shipping.
Works for me either way. It's not like they are selling bags of cement.
Lefty
Yeah, I'm more than happy to pay shipping (there's no such thing as a free lunch and all). $15 shipping for $100 of stuff, seems like an alright deal don't ya think ;D. I will probably get more than the $100 just so I can give Sparkfun at least a little bit of money (and it's too good a deal my wife can not say no so I may as well make the most of it!)
One hopes that sparkfun ends up with more than a sobering lesson in "greed management", and we don't see a lot of their merchandise show up on eBay a week after their event is over. (for instance, there are/used-to-be a depressing number of Microchip microcontrollers that show up on eBay in exactly sample-sized lots. Sigh.)
I wonder how this compares with advertising costs in general?
Hey everybody, I work at SparkFun. My personal prediction is that people who REALLY want the free stuff will have to battle through a series of time-outs and slow loading web pages, but will eventually get their order. So I'm guessing it'll be at least a few hours long. There is really no way of telling.
Good luck to everyone! and if you get some free stuff from SparkFun, show us what you make!
darn I'll be ready!!! Hope that I'm one of the lucky ones