expired PS2 $99, Nintendo DSi $249, Movie tix $1, iPod Nano 8GB $149, Tomtom GPS $169 and more - COTD Baitathon
This was posted 1095 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal
Ok folks, it's that time again. At midday on 27th May 2009, our good friends at Catch Of The Day are having another crazy one crazy deal an hour for 24 hours sale. I think we all know what happened last time (http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/7373) so here are the disclaimers they provided this time round:
On the 27th of May we'll be running a little promotion. We'll be selling a lot of stuff that people love and want, at prices they could only dream about. Its all happening to get people talking about CatchOfTheDay. Quantities are very limited, and listed below. We can't predict how big the response will be, have mercy on our servers.
You may be thinking "Ahh they are only doing this to get new customers" and thats entirely true. For better or for worse we are doing this for the exposure. We'd like you to talk to your friends, shout high and low and let it be known that CatchOfTheDay.com.au is the most exciting online shopping destination.
If you think you may just find the excitement a little too much, maybe you have an allergy to server crashes - you should probably sit this one out. In the spirit of being very up front we’ve listed all the items and quantities available below. No promises or guarantees, if you get in, and catch something - congratulations. If not - top marks for trying, chances are high we’ll give it another run next month.
We have no way to predict how big the response will be. There is a high probability our website will explode under the weight of a million bargain hunters jamming the refresh button. Our server administrator sends his regards.
We are calling it the "Baitathon”. The sale will start May 27th at midday"
Here's what they are offering:
100 x Nintendo DSi @ $249
50 x PlayStation 2 @ $99
300 x Micro RC Heli @ $5
300 x 4pk Revlon lipstick @ $10
50 x TomTom GPS @ $169
300 x 1GB MP3 Player @ $5
250 x Movie Tickets @ $1
100 x 8GB iPod Nano @ $149
350 x High School Musical Electric Guitar @ $30
1000 x Trivial Pursuit Digital Choice @ $10
250 x Little Princess Quilt Cover @ $10
400 x Onkaparinga Baby Blanket @ $5
Top Comments
- +3 votes
That's true - but they have tried to 'disclaimer' their way out of everything that went wrong last time - "high probability our website will explode" and by disclosing exact quantities too. They also go on to say "maybe you have an allergy to server crashes - you should probably sit this one out".
We all know what will happen, coz the same thing happens when retail stores have a crazy sale (aka recent Aldi Full HD 42" TV @ 999 sale). It'll be absolute chaos, but at least they are upfront about it this time so I thought that made it a post-worth deal.
+1 votebevisaurus on 19/05/2009 - 15:15 ¶I am going to reserve me vote till I see how the website performs on the day.
- +4 votes
hahaha touche - time heals most e-wounds though, both COTD and Dell deals have slowly reappeared. I guess we need to acknowledge that a) sometimes people stuff up (dell) and b) sometimes people miss out (cotd).
QQQ I am a fan of COTD. Having said that, i seriously hope that instead of just covering your backside with disclaimers this time round, you have also taken reasonable endeavours to upgrade the servers (as much as possible) to cope with additional traffic. I don't think the "we never expected this many people to show" is going to sit well with people this time round.
Don't really think dell has reappeared, only through the MBC deals:
+2 votesanthonettex on 19/05/2009 - 15:51 ¶haha awesome.
look what I found, still live on the website waiting to be redirected to unsuspecting (or suspecting) customers:
http://www.catchoftheday.com.au/sorry.html
+3 votesprices aren't even that special.
plus they now have a higher profile to the wider media now.
if anything, the server problems might be avoided cos the items are generally "crap" or not priced to the point where you might waste your time to get lucky.i do commend them on their warnings and for stating qty though
+2 votesIt's a loss leader sale. A small hit for a bigger reward.
Funny thing is, it can go either way. Those who bite or get close to biting and chewing (checking out their shopping carts) will be back. Others will be so pissed they might not bother being back. Chances are the later will be more prevalent.
One thing I'm sure of is that much of the stuff isn't the 'usual' COTD quantities (Recent post of Hanah Montana guitars revealed a couple of thousand pieces were bought in and being moved out - surely at the bargain price (no complaints here).!
so surely for the general customer base that they have and the amount of clicks they'll all make will definitely make it a painful experience. And they know it!
- +1 vote
haha true, it could go either way, but i think because they're more open about the details this time it might not be so bad..
lol ok who am I kidding.. will i be pissed off if i miss out on a ps2? hell yes. will that deter me from shopping again on COTD? probably for a few days, but i'm a sucker for deals (not saying everything on there is a deal but don't want to miss out).
Speaking of miss out, has anyone ever caught a "Gold Fish" on cotd. i remember reading somewhere on their site that sometimes a rare gold fish will appear (hot item at hot price), but in all my years on cotd i have never seen one.
AyjeofSpades on 19/05/2009 - 21:16 ¶I can't tell if your being serious or not :p
for the record, i got one.
djkizz, they are warm and comfortable.. just perfect for right now..
i'm not sure if you are in sydney, but you can pick them up from these guys http://www.conceptsdirect.com.au/store/stores.php
they have it for 19.95… i got mine from their store as i missed the cotd one too (cotd was 19.75 after inc shipping)..
+1 voteAnother Bait advertising attempt…. someone should report them to ACCC for breach of the trade practises Act
http://www.accc.gov.au/content/item.phtml?itemId=794099&node...
+3 votes———Always be upfront about limited
supply
When advertising specials, be upfront if
the item is in short supply or on sale for a
limited time. If stock is genuinely limited,
such as in a clearance sale, say so in the
advertisement. If the offer is for a limited
time, state this in a highly visible, clear
and specifi c manner.———-I thought they were being upfront by letting us know quantities and what to expect? hmmmmm. Maybe it's just me
Williano, your concern is warranted. However, people don’t waste your time and the ACCC's and PLEASE try not to fill this thread with the legalities of this deal.
I can tell you right now there is no general breach of the TPA . Read the quote above. There is FULL DISCLOSURE of the deal and quantities, including acknowledgment that there will be difficulties in obtaining the goods due to server crashes etc.
Trust me when I say I know the law in this area.
guy84, yes you are correct.
WaywardOne on 19/05/2009 - 22:09 ¶WILLIANO that's right - TRUST ccrap; it must be completely legal as the OP gave their word.
lol.. thanks waywardone :p Im not saying to trust me because i'm the OP. I said that because I know the TPA in detail having spent time working in competition and consumer protection law. When the relevant sections on baiting are read in their entirity, ACCC wouldn't even nibble this one because as I said earlier there is no general breach of the TPA this time round.
Plus I only said it so this thread doesn't become 5 pages long like the cotd birthday sale with half of it being about 'can we get the ACCC onto cotd.'
Having said that, clearly seems people are still very raw from that event. I remember i was absolutely sh#tted at the time myself, having lost the wii after i managed to get it into my cart. Just like how I was sh#tted when I rocked up to aldi for the tv at 8 (which opens at 9) and found 30 people already there. missed out again. but im over it now, and have shopped from both since. i guess each to their own.
anyway good luck to anyone who wants to spend their time complaining to the ACCC, i would much rather someone spend that time finding a way to lock on and hold a connection to cotd's servers - i would be willing to pay for that!
cameron_les on 19/05/2009 - 17:06 Comment score below threshold (-4).People, there is full disclosure this time of quantities and server failures. Giving a -ve vote because you missed out last time is silly. Does that mean next time the aldi tv sale happens you will give it a -ve because you missed out last time even if aldi tells you this time "hey folks, only 8 tvs per store this time, we know it'll be chaos but good luck"
If it's a good deal of course the server will collapse > just look at the oroton deal i posted earlier, server was sketchy for hours at a time and finally when people got through some people missed out on the good products.. that's the way life is.
Be sensible folks, vote on the merits of this deal.
+2 votesSome points are valid, but Aldi stores don't 'crash' and you dont lose your item while lining up at the Aldi checkout.
Seems like COTD is rather happy with its insufficient website and even predicts it'll 'explode' rather then trying to improve it to handle the expected users. That is a poor attitude imo even if they are upfront about it.
I certainly hope some OZbargain'ers get some deals though! I'm just reserving my judgment until it happens.
hehe fair enough zhenjie… losing items at checkout is plain lame and disappointing on cotd's part… i know where you are coming from coz I had the wii in my cart before it conked on me..
maybe for the crazy sales they should do something like ticketek where a screener page lets you in only once there is space on the server for more people to come in?
+1 voteI got one of those PVRs at Aldi last week (TV sold out: 9:00.1am; PVR sold out: 9:03am), you had to ask at the counter to get them, and one queue was moving faster than the other. If that guy in front who couldn't get his card out of his wallet had waffled for much longer then I would have missed out.
- +2 votes
to everyone who missed out on the aldi tv (like me).
after i took a day off and zigzagged nearly all the aldi stores in sydney (cant call stores coz no number) i called aldi head office and gave them a long spiel about my plight and disappointment. the products manager (a lady - i forget her name) said they were looking to bring more of the same tv in within 3 months - so get your camping gear ready folks lol
+3 voteshard (and costly). This happens to the largest of companies when they have something occur that results in floodings. Airlines with tickets, ticket agencies and back in Jan or so it happened to MS when they released the beta to Win 7.
I remember when U2 came out to Australia last I spent 2 hours trying to get tickets and then gave up, made a trip into town (another 40 mins) and then spent an hour in a line of a few hundred people to get the last "decent" seat they had left which ended up costing $200 as opposed to the $100GA one I had wanted and had long gone due to me not being able to get through to their system.
I'm sure these companies are a lot bigger than COTD too.
Anyway I'm holding back my vote to see how they handle it.
- +1 vote...BeAkEr... on 19/05/2009 - 21:29 ¶
yeah that's the thing though mate, airlines etc have massive traffic in comparison
+2 votesPOWERevolution on 19/05/2009 - 21:55 ¶Don't get too excited guys & don't bother to waste your time!!!
I didn't join in last time as I never trust COTD & I know the pain those buyers involved.- +1 vote
I guess you weren't there for the Birthday Sale then…
Anyways another bad thing was the unethical practices revealed by their whistle blower/ex staff. I think the guy got fired for revealing what really happened at CoTD and their birthday sale. Didn't paint them in very good light.
bedlam, chaos, mayhem… the servers were hammered like there was no tomorrow and as a result people couldnt even load the page to see what the deal was. those who managed to see the deal and tried to 'catch' it lost out as the page would time out when getting to the cart. those who managed to get to the cart timed out trying to pay by paypal.. those who got past that timed out clicking the final confirm… so basically lots and lots of pissed off folks really who got nothing for staking out all day waiting for different deals.. and then the apparent whistleblower came out about cotd practices and actual quantities etc and even more people got peeved.. read through the thread from the original deal.. i posted the link up top…
+3 votesAlso the prices does not include shipping, so in effect prices mentioned + shipping would not be so great deal, i guess, by paying little extra, you can pick up from the store and in case if warranty claim is required, most of the time you can go back to that store to claim it.
- +1 voteQQQ - CatchOfTheDay on 27/05/2009 - 12:07 ¶
Load balancing has kicked in, seems very stable thus far.
- QQQ - CatchOfTheDay on 27/05/2009 - 12:23 ¶
Pretty phenomenal. Peaked at 100 transactions per second.
Regarding schedule, wish I could but part of the promotion is mystery and it wouldn't be fair to everyone else - who also have no idea what the order will be.
-1 votehellrazorone on 27/05/2009 - 12:11 ¶Another great way to waste everyone's time.
One item each hour … still haven't learned from their mistakes.
Nor did they listen to ANY feedback provided on this site after the last epic fail!Mind boggles as to how this business runs so successfully.
amberdbrickell on 27/05/2009 - 12:16 ¶Hi, I got an MP3 player. But as soon as the sale went through and I hit refresh they were sold out, so in about 8 mins…
- amberdbrickell on 27/05/2009 - 12:48 ¶
you will prob only be allowed one…seems to be the case with everything on there…one per customer…
- amberdbrickell on 27/05/2009 - 13:08 ¶
may be ok with tix, the doona cover maximum was 5 per member…
ccrap… by the time i put through paypal it was sold out… shouldnt have been posting here til i got it lol.. oh well, spoil the niece enough anyway..
QQQ… come on man.. once people have it in their cart they should have a "hold" on it for 5 mins so they can pay, like the ticketek site!
- amberdbrickell on 27/05/2009 - 13:09 ¶
that would have been helpful for the last birthday sale they had..
PlayStation 2
34
I am not sure about this - the last time they had something similar, I could not even get into their website!