The Weekend War of the Internets
There is a war going on the Internet this very weekend; a war that could very well lead to the apocalypse. It might change the world as we currently know it and it all started when a tech giant decided to murder its 2-month old baby in cold blood and then sell its cadaver for the price of dirt.
HP's servers were slain alive by severe traffic that resembled an organized DDoS. Several retailers and e-tailers refused to sell at discounted prices. Those who offered the discounted price were sold out in a matter of minutes. Among the confusion and extended hunting sessions on the Internet and SlickDeals, I had many failed attempts and then I almost got something... almost.
Some were saying that if you buy the item on Amazon.com (from the company itself and not a 3rd party) and pay full price ($399.99 for the 16GB model), Amazon would honor the fire sale of HP and refund the difference ($300). I must have added the last 16GB unit sold by Amazon.com LLC. I then joined the discussions. Some were reporting that one Amazon CSR's said that the company might honor the fire sale. Other were reporting negative result in their chat with some CSR's who said that Amazon doesn't do price matching. There was lots of hearsay that I eventually got a cold feet and managed, somehow, to cancel the order (I didn't really intend to). Knowing my luck, Amazon started honoring the fire sale no later than 5-10 minutes after my cancellation. I managed to grab one on eBay for $119 (plus $6.58 shipping) from what must be the fastest selling eBay auction of all time (6378 items were sold in 40 minutes and 25 seconds; averaging 2.63 item a second. Towards the end, it was like 10-20 items a second). So on the 20th, I lost a battle and had to pay $25.56 extra >_< I was up there fighting all night and didn't get to sleep until after dawn. I tried to sleep before but my adrenaline levels were way up.
Never give up.
Today, August 21, some of those who refused to sell yesterday *cough*Best*cough*Buy*cough* changed their mind and starting offering tablets for sale. I spent the whole day trying to get a deal but couldn't score anything. "Hoarders" were scouring every site and buying huge quantities to sell later on eBay for 100-150% markup so everything were selling out in a matter of minutes.
Amazon had a lightning deal on the 16GB model (for $99.99) but I missed it. An hour or so later, the good people at SlickDeals were reporting a lightning deal on the 32GB model (which I originally wanted). I missed the deal but managed to get one at the regular retail price! (trying to increase the quantity would have been futile since I barely made it using the 1-click purchase option).
After chatting with a CSR, I managed to lower the item's price to match HP's fire sale's price....
I only slept for like 4 hours last night but didn't feel any tiredness (until now!). I'm happy I managed to get a great deal. Some would say that WebOS is a soon-to-be-dead OS, but at $99.99 and $149.99, the device is a steal, despite its flaws. The 16GB is cheaper than my Kindle 3 WiFi. It's a little fun side project. The community is hard at work to root the device and install Android on it (and maybe even Ubuntu). Let us hope Amazon ship the item soon.
Mission accomplished. Time to sleep :)
August 31 Update: Amazon delivered the TouchPad as promised. DataVis (the eBay seller), however, seems to have sold ghost inventory and has since backtracked on their promises despite earlier guarantees. Oh well, one is better than none.
HP's servers were slain alive by severe traffic that resembled an organized DDoS. Several retailers and e-tailers refused to sell at discounted prices. Those who offered the discounted price were sold out in a matter of minutes. Among the confusion and extended hunting sessions on the Internet and SlickDeals, I had many failed attempts and then I almost got something... almost.
Some were saying that if you buy the item on Amazon.com (from the company itself and not a 3rd party) and pay full price ($399.99 for the 16GB model), Amazon would honor the fire sale of HP and refund the difference ($300). I must have added the last 16GB unit sold by Amazon.com LLC. I then joined the discussions. Some were reporting that one Amazon CSR's said that the company might honor the fire sale. Other were reporting negative result in their chat with some CSR's who said that Amazon doesn't do price matching. There was lots of hearsay that I eventually got a cold feet and managed, somehow, to cancel the order (I didn't really intend to). Knowing my luck, Amazon started honoring the fire sale no later than 5-10 minutes after my cancellation. I managed to grab one on eBay for $119 (plus $6.58 shipping) from what must be the fastest selling eBay auction of all time (6378 items were sold in 40 minutes and 25 seconds; averaging 2.63 item a second. Towards the end, it was like 10-20 items a second). So on the 20th, I lost a battle and had to pay $25.56 extra >_< I was up there fighting all night and didn't get to sleep until after dawn. I tried to sleep before but my adrenaline levels were way up.
Never give up.
Today, August 21, some of those who refused to sell yesterday *cough*Best*cough*Buy*cough* changed their mind and starting offering tablets for sale. I spent the whole day trying to get a deal but couldn't score anything. "Hoarders" were scouring every site and buying huge quantities to sell later on eBay for 100-150% markup so everything were selling out in a matter of minutes.
Amazon had a lightning deal on the 16GB model (for $99.99) but I missed it. An hour or so later, the good people at SlickDeals were reporting a lightning deal on the 32GB model (which I originally wanted). I missed the deal but managed to get one at the regular retail price! (trying to increase the quantity would have been futile since I barely made it using the 1-click purchase option).
After chatting with a CSR, I managed to lower the item's price to match HP's fire sale's price....
I only slept for like 4 hours last night but didn't feel any tiredness (until now!). I'm happy I managed to get a great deal. Some would say that WebOS is a soon-to-be-dead OS, but at $99.99 and $149.99, the device is a steal, despite its flaws. The 16GB is cheaper than my Kindle 3 WiFi. It's a little fun side project. The community is hard at work to root the device and install Android on it (and maybe even Ubuntu). Let us hope Amazon ship the item soon.
Mission accomplished. Time to sleep :)
August 31 Update: Amazon delivered the TouchPad as promised. DataVis (the eBay seller), however, seems to have sold ghost inventory and has since backtracked on their promises despite earlier guarantees. Oh well, one is better than none.