Last night I checked the odds that I’d be able to purchase a Wii—28 to 1. I had thought that was a pretty solid chance. Odds like that are hard to come by in any lottery system. So I logged into Amazon this morning and was greeted by the screen above.
Luck was on my side. I was going to get a Wii. I had all my accessories planned out; all the games I’d get. Envisioned playing it Christmas day. It was great. So I clicked “Check Now.”
Woe! I wasn’t a winner. I should have known. I never win anything. Even stuff I have to pay for.
Anyway, I’m just wondering if any of you were winners? It sucks I lost, but I still want to give props to Amazon. This was a good method of sale and I appreciate the effort.
The Lottery is an interesting way of doing things, but I really miss the screaming parents and crazy people rushing into stores and fighting over cabage patch dolls.
Sucks you lost.
Marketing wise, this is a stroke of Genius by Amazon…
“maybe they will buy other things while they go for the big prize”
Consumer wise, I would worry about a backlash if too many people are told – sorry, you where not important enough to us to win XYZ prize (doesn’t matter how nicely they word it)… but hey, here is some other stuff you can buy from us!
Jon
Nope. I lost too. But this was a great marketing idea for Amazon. Sigh, the big corporations always win. I feel your pain. I also had the accessories picked out. I had read all the reviews and even looked over some of the hacks. Next time.
Amit
I lost too! I was so excited about it, oh well.
…You do realize it says “randomly selected to PURCHASE” these items, right? As in… buy it. With money. Not for free. And it’s not the first time I’ve seen this, either. Please correct me if you’ve found out otherwise, but I’m pretty sure I’ve heard this story before.
I didnt get in – I was gonna sell it anyways.
Waiting for cheaper prices, and BLACK.
I lost too. I never know when I will get my Wii.
Darn, no PS3 purchase for me. Good thing too… I don’t have the money!
Actually, I pitched in for a Wii… and won. I also got free shipping, but that won’t arrive til the 27th. It was all rather painless.
The real question is: did they choose x,000 people based on having x,000 Wiis? Did they oversell like the airlines, assuming some folks won’t buy? What happens to any leftovers?
My boss and I both lost for the wii. They said if people don’t claim them then they will sell the leftovers on the site. They didn’t say when though. I’ll be checking back after the 24 hour ordering period. I hope they put them up then.
I won but the claim code got screwed up during redemption and I wasn’t able to complete my order. Now I have to wait on amazon to get back to me. So much for getting it by xmas.
I lost too. No Wii for me this Xmas, so I’ll wait until I see them in stores at MSRP.
If I owned an electronics store, I’d hold back all my Wii stock until December 23rd or 24th, and not sell them to anyone until then. That way, I’d minimize the chance of selling to parasites hoping to scalp them on eBay.
I’m hoping that come the 25th, the scalpers will realize they’re not going to make huge profits, and the systems won’t sell out immediately everywhere every time they’re restocked.
Just come to Australia…. We have heaps of consoles available…. But for some strange reason we have a shortage on games
I signed up for the Wii lottery and got one. Since I have Amazon Prime, I was able to upgrade my shipping from 2 day (free) to 1 day ($3.99) and it’s scheduled to arrive on 12/21.
Australia really has tons?! thats pretty cool. I did hear that Australia was going to be the gaming capital of the world sum where
I got it, but I couldn’t afford it so I let a friend buy it for himself.
I didn’t win and after the fiasco with the 360 lottery I’m not feeling the whole Amazon Customer Votes process. If I had won I’d feel completely different. I’m just a sore loser.
Didn’t get a chance to put my name in. D: It would’ve been more of a try-to-twist-the-odds thing anyway, as I’m without the money to get it. :( Congrats to Michael, though.
I won the “opportunity” to buy one through this “Customer Vote” process via an Email notification, then immediately went to their site and was told they were all gone. Talk about going from a high to a low very quickly! Yowch! I tried multiple times, then clicked on the Wii in my “recently viewed items (on Amazon)” and was able to add one to my shopping cart. I’m also an Amazon Prime customer, so I got it today with only $3.99 shipping and no sales tax. Sweet. My kids have been hounding me and I’m stoked to play it too. I’m 51 years old and couldn’t be more excited. This process was great for me (obviously, because I got one). Kudos to Amazon for making this happen.
Don… you where just played by Amazon like a pawn on a chess board and now you are saying “thanks!”?
Jon
Jon-
I’ve got mixed feelings. Kinda feel like I beat their system. Not sure what you mean w/r/t my being played like a pawn…
yo kid do you have a wii i have 3 of them whats your favourite animal