# Wowsers - Amazon's dead! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 19, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652 "2013-08-19T19:25:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/1 "2013-08-19T19:25:35Z")
I tried shopping just now and got a fairly cute “sorry” screen with pictures of a bunch of books with apologies as titles (“I’m sorry, my bad”, “Grave Mistake”, “Oops”). Apparently it’s a widespread outage. This’s gotta be costing them big buxx! ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/2 "2013-08-19T19:55:35Z")
Huh. Seems to be working ok for me. ETA: I found some sites that said it was down for as long as 40 minutes. Reuters is reporting that it was down for 15 minutes. Affected U.S. and Canada, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/3 "2013-08-20T10:27:26Z")
First Google, now Amazon. If I were a regular user of I Can Has Cheezburger, I’d be getting pretty twitchy about now. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/4 "2013-08-20T12:39:50Z")
You can always come to my house. Our last book count was over 8,000. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/5 "2013-08-20T13:27:49Z")
Why would they lose money? Anyone who has decided to purchase a particular item from them is not likely to give up on them completely just because of a 15 minute problem. They will just buy it when the site comes back up. Sales over the next few hours will be higher than normal and everything evens out. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/6 "2013-08-20T14:47:10Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > Why would they lose money? Anyone who has decided to purchase a particular item from them is not likely to give up on them completely just because of a 15 minute problem. They will just buy it when the site comes back up. Sales over the next few hours will be higher than normal and everything evens out. They lose the people who decide not to buy at all: “You know what? I _am_ OK! And _you’re_ OK! I don’t need a book to tell me that!” ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/7 "2013-08-20T14:52:40Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > They lose the people who decide not to buy at all: “You know what? I _am_ OK! And _you’re_ OK! I don’t need a book to tell me that!” Or people who just bop over to another site - Barnes and Noble will sell you the same book for around the same price. Best Buy will sell you electronics. Target, Walmart - there are a ton of sites - and very few things Amazon sells exclusively. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/8 "2013-08-20T14:53:57Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > Why would they lose money? Anyone who has decided to purchase a particular item from them is not likely to give up on them completely just because of a 15 minute problem. There are plenty of folks who haven’t yet decided where they’re purchasing from, and are just as happy with one retailer as another. If you’re down for 15 minutes when that person is trying to execute a purchase, they’ll go somewhere else. Not to punish Amazon for being down, but because they have a purchase to make, and have no idea when Amazon is going to come back up. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/9 "2013-08-20T14:56:47Z")
They probably get a pretty big chunk of revenue from impulse buys, too. Why do you think One-Click Shopping was such a big deal? ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/10 "2013-08-20T15:25:33Z")
Amazon’s not dead, it’s just resting. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/11 "2013-08-20T16:04:14Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Amazon’s not dead, it’s just resting. I disagree. It was pining for the fjords! 😉 > [@Amazon](#): > > “I got better!” ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/12 "2013-08-20T16:57:04Z")
You’re not fooling anyone, Amazon. You’ll be stone cold dead in a minute. Anyway, Forbes is claiming they lost $66,240 per minute, for approximately 30 minutes. > **[Amazon.com Goes Down, Loses $66,240 Per Minute](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyclay/2013/08/19/amazon-com-goes-down-loses-66240-per-minute/)** > > It's been a bad week for ecommerce. On Friday, Google temporarily went dark, causing a 40% drop in web traffic. Today Amazon.com went down for approximately 30 minutes, preventing shoppers from accessing the site via Amazon.com, mobile and Amazon.ca.... ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/13 "2013-08-20T17:31:04Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Amazon’s not dead, it’s just resting. Sometimes those [entitled bargain shoppers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WFtDOvU6c28&t=84) can get a little tiring… ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/14 "2013-08-20T19:24:19Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Anyway, Forbes is claiming they lost $66,240 per minute, for approximately 30 minutes. Boy, I know how that feels. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/15 "2013-08-20T19:31:38Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > You’re not fooling anyone, Amazon. You’ll be stone cold dead in a minute. > > Anyway, Forbes is claiming they lost $66,240 per minute, for approximately 30 minutes. > [Amazon.com Goes Down, Loses $66,240 Per Minute](http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyclay/2013/08/19/amazon-com-goes-down-loses-66240-per-minute/) For Jeff Bezos, that’s the sort of change you find when you clean under the sofa cushions. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wowsers-amazons-dead/666652/16 "2013-08-21T05:25:20Z")
Google was down for about 5 minutes on Friday. This company claims that during that time overall Internet traffic dropped by **40 percent**! > **[Google's downtime caused a 40% drop in global traffic](https://www.gosquared.com/blog/googles-downtime-40-drop-in-traffic)** > > Google's 2013 downtime on 16th August for approximately 5 minutes caused a 40% drop in global traffic to GoSquared sites.