Multiple Woot-Offs in progress

[Makai Guy]

www.woot.com
www.kids.woot.com
www.wine.woot.com

 

[Passepartout]

I watched it off and on all day, waiting for a BOC. (I gotta get a life) The infamous screaming, flying monkey just started. That usually signals the end of the wootoff. No BOC this time.
Jim

 

[Rose Pink]

I watched it off and on all day, waiting for a BOC. (I gotta get a life) The infamous screaming, flying monkey just started. That usually signals the end of the wootoff. No BOC this time.
Jim

Jim, what items have you purchased in a BOC? Enough to make it worthwhile?

 

[Passepartout]

Enough to make it worthwhile?

Absolutely not! Bags O' Crap are myths. They don't exist. There was a time that people got big screen TVs, computers, all manner of stuff like a grab bag for $5 + the usual $5 shipping. Now if you can score one its a couple of T shirts and some trinkets and a flying monkey. It's all about the chase.

Imo, woot went downhill after they were acquired by Amazon. There are just too many 'one item, deeply discounted a day' sites now. When woot was the only one it was a fantastic outlet for (mostly refurb) electronics and stuff accompanied by somewhat irreverent text.

Jim

 

[JudyS]

Absolutely not! Bags O' Crap are myths. They don't exist. There was a time that people got big screen TVs, computers, all manner of stuff like a grab bag for $5 + the usual $5 shipping. Now if you can score one its a couple of T shirts and some trinkets and a flying monkey. It's all about the chase...

I'm with Jim here. I've gotten two or three Bags O' Crap, and they all were in fact crap.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Absolutely not! Bags O' Crap are myths. They don't exist. There was a time that people got big screen TVs, computers, all manner of stuff like a grab bag for $5 + the usual $5 shipping. Now if you can score one its a couple of T shirts and some trinkets and a flying monkey. It's all about the chase.

Imo, woot went downhill after they were acquired by Amazon. There are just too many 'one item, deeply discounted a day' sites now. When woot was the only one it was a fantastic outlet for (mostly refurb) electronics and stuff accompanied by somewhat irreverent text.

Jim

I generally agree, except that the regular woot site had deteriorated long before Amazon bought them. A victim of their own success. When I first discovered them they were a pretty good clearance outlet. In time, too many of their offerings were just gimmicky trinkets or stuff that was obsolete. And the refurbs too often were poor quality and were not backed by the manufacturer - e.g., if you buy a H_ refurb computer off of woot, the warranty service isn't HP but some other company you've never heard of.

******

Wine woot is holding up as a decent place to get decent vino. winedavid (Dave Studdert) does a good job of selecting product, and I've found the discussions to be a reasonably good guide as to whether the wine is something that I would like. The pricing is usually good, and sometimes outstanding.

You can also see how some winemakers are increasingly relying on winewoot as a sales outlet. It makes sense for them - when they send wine through a normal distribution channel to a wine shop, the winery is lucky if they get 50% of the price at which the bottle sells in a wine shop. That's one reason they run tasting rooms - they make a lot more money on direct sales. On winewoot, they can price the product at about 60% of the prevailing retail price, get more revenue per bottle than they would normally, and without the added expense of running a tasting room.

The question there is whether they will also be a victim of their own success. The winewoot model is a natural for wine sales, and more wineries are coming on board. They've increased the number of offerings but the ball is rolling and more wineries are coming on board as they realize this is a viable offering.

It's gotten to the place now where some of the established wineries have decreased the amount of "discount" from retail they offer at winewoot. Still cheaper than retail, but the wineries have built enough recognition that they don't need to discount so heavily to get sales.