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Amazon Collapses Under Weight of 1,000 Xboxes

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the everyone-is-falling-down dept.

theodp writes "Is there such a thing as a BusinessWeek Cover Jinx? Amazon was bitten by the success of its 1,000 Xboxes for $100 promotion, which brought the entire site to its knees for about 15 minutes on Thanksgiving Day. Singing the too-much-traffic blues on Black Friday were Wal-Mart and Disney."

4 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. Re:No Chance by 11223 · · Score: 4, Informative
    No more than 999 were on Amazon's network. I got one.


    I had two networks to choose from: Comcast cable modem, and a supposedly "slower" SBC DSL connection. I ended up using the DSL as Amazon went unreachable on the cable modem at 5 till 1 (CST). At 1:00, Amazon was taking 10-20 seconds to load, but it did load. I clicked, answered a simple math question ("what's 18 + 19" IIRC), and it gave me the "you've got it" page.


    I'm still shocked I got it, especially since I'm in Chicago, not on the west coast.

  2. THIS should be a Slashdot story... Submit it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here's the buyer asking if the contract is binding including an email from the seller.

  3. Re:You want the blues? by cgenman · · Score: 4, Informative

    Lots of online retailers have put up items at mistakenly low prices, only to retract later. It's not at all uncommon. They refund your money, and keep the goods.

    I forget what the legal defense of this position was, but it seemed airtight. Anyone remember offhand?

    --
    The ______ Agenda
  4. Re:No Chance by Crysalim · · Score: 5, Informative

    You are the first person I have seen claim they got the code. I didn't believe anyone did until now, but that's only because I also was able to make it to the question link...

    ...but when I answered the question (19 + 6), it turned me down. It was incredibly frustrating, because I was under the impression that I had already received a claim code (this is what the buying tips page said), and it was waiting for me to answer that question.


    Screenshots: (1) The question | (2) The denial