Oh, boys and girls, I’m not happy about this! Here is a direct quote from my Wootbot email:
“Holy crap! Woot has signed an agreement with Amazon - yes, the Amazon - to become an independent subsidiary of the ecommerce colossus. Woot HQ will remain in Carrollton, Texas, and will operate as autonomously as other Amazon companies like Zappos and Audible.”
The reason I’m so unhappy? My hubby and I like Woot (or at least we always have. . .) But my hubby knows how to carry a grudge better than anyone I know, except his father (I’m guessing that’s who he learned it from!) And Amazon turned him down, years ago, for an auctioning right (he’d had an eBay account for a long time, but something about his credit history or something rang the wrong bells with Amazon), and ever since then, he’s refused (I mean flat out refused) to do any business with Amazon. I wanted a Kindle a couple of years ago. Nope. Amazon. Won’t do it. (Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m a grown woman; but some things are not worth risking marital harmony for!)
Yeah, while I don’t have a significant other who would forbid me from buying from a particular place, I was a little put off by this news as well. I’m a little concerned it’s going to totally change the way Woot! runs. They say it won’t; that they’re still going to be able to run independently, as they always have, and that nothing will change. I hope that’s true, because I love Woot!
By the way, I suppose this is a somewhat suitable place to brag that I’m awaiting delivery of my second Bag Of Crap, scored in the last Woot-Off!
In short, it’s a cool online store that sells one item a day. The item goes on sale at midnight central time, and is on sale until the following midnight, or until it sells out. The item can be pretty much anything, from HD TVs, computers, bluetooth headphones, kitchen knife sets, Roombas, etc., and usually at a very nice discount.
Every once in a while, they’ll have what’s called a Woot-Off, where instead of selling one item that day, they’ll unload a whole bunch of stuff in limited quantities. As soon as one item sells out, the next one goes on sale. The Woot-Off can last a day or two.
It’s a fun, cool, independent site, with a great community, which is why there’s some concern with a mega-company like Amazon taking them over.
Thanks! It’s actually my second in about two months, so I’m a very lucky bastard. The last one, sadly, had only true crap in it that immediately got thrown out. Hoping I get better stuffs this time!
A Bag of Crap, for the uninitiated… at some random point during the afore-mentioned Woot-Off, a Bag of Crap goes on sale. They generally only have around 2000 of them for sale, and they sell out in seconds. They’re grab bags, usually of just random, fun crap they have lying around the Woot offices. BUT, some of them will have truly valuable content. People have received Roombas, XBox 360s, and HD TVs as part of their Bag of Craps in the past, and even the lesser ones will often have MP3 players or hard drives and the like.
I’m pretty sure that if you score a third one (while some of us have been trying without success since 2005) before the rest of us get our first, I’m legally allowed to have you killed. Or at least kicked in the shin.
Hope you get some great crap!
I’ll be plank grilling some chicken on my newly-arrived woot!-branded cedar planks tomorrow night…
I’m of two minds about this. I have no particular beef with Amazon, but I like Woot’s independent streak. I haven’t bought anything off them in a while, but they’re always so much fun.
I don’t really know Woot, but Amazon bought Zappos? Are they going to keep Endless? Zappos has become steadily more expensive over the years, I hope they’ll come down again.
