This week, Amazon.co.uk holds its Black Friday Sale, which is essentially 5 days of great discounts on selected items. But these are not called Black Friday Lightning Deals for nothing - they really do move fast!
The sale starts at 7am and ends at 9pm, with new items being opened for ordering every hour. Daddy Low had told me that I have to be vigilant and stay by the computer, poised to strike if I want to get my deals, but I had thought that would be rather over-the-top behaviour, so had just kept in mind the timings of the items I want.
I missed my first item, because I overslept. Then, I missed the second item, because I remembered the time wrongly. By then, I have decided that I must heed Daddy Low's words if I want to bag my deal, so I hover around the pc for the next item. In fact, I was watching the screen for the half hour preceding that. And watching the time ticking away on the screen, I got more and more impatient. And when the time came to 00:00:00, I excitedly clicked on the item...
And that was my costly mistake - I was supposed to click on the button "Add to basket"; instead, I clicked on the picture of the item, which brought me to the product description and the regular price! Horrified, I started frantically clicking the icon for going back one page, and of course, that took forever, given that probably at least half of UK was also clicking on that page. Needless to say, I did not get my deal and can only kick myself for my silly mistake.
Daddy Low and I decided that we will try again, and this time, we were on the ball, just watching the screen like hawks. We got in the queue - yup, after you click, you still have to join the queue - but did not manage to snap the item. And you start to ask yourself - how fast does one have to be?! We click on the dot and yet still did not get it?
We gave up and out of curiosity, I started to read the Amazon forum. And what an insight into human nature it is!
First, there are people whining about how this is all a scam, since they clicked on their desired item the instant it opened for sale, but yet, they did not manage to get it. And it is amazing how strongly they word their complaints. There are threads going by the headings of "Amazon should be ashamed of itself" and "What a con"...which is really funny, when you consider how this is really just about a company having a sale, albeit it being online and these losers make their complaints sound so much legitimate by dragging in ethics, which in my opinion, is a rather tenuous argument! So, some argue that it is a con, because Amazon probably only has 2 of each item for sale... A friend told me that in UK, there is, in consumer law, a clause that states that there should be a reasonably sufficient quantity of goods available if put up for sale. Now then, what does that mean? Isn't "reasonably sufficient" a matter of subjectivity? And really, which profit-making company, when having a sale, would only put up 2 of each item??? The logic begs questioning.
Second, there are those who brag about what they manage to bag, which really is very unnecessary and rude, I thought. And to rub salt in the wound, some will even state that they don't even want these items in the first place! Which makes you then ask, why did they even click on it instead of giving others a chance?!
And the ridiculousness of it doesn't even stop there. Today, I saw a thread that says "The how-many-items-did-you-bag-competition"! So, you have people writing down how many items they manage to grab and some even listing what the loot is. At which point, you start to ask yourself - do these people have a life??? Especially when you consider that, for them to be able to bag so many items, they must be sitting at home the whole day, glued to the screen, with abated breath, as their trembling finger clutched their mouse, just waiting to click once the item is up for sale. Please, can this be real?!
And to add insult to injury, you have people who bought the items to resell it for a quick buck on Amazon's own forum! What kind of behaviour do you call this? Shameless, I say, to buy something from someone and resell it at a higher price just under their noses, in their own backyard. And the strange thing is there are people who would buy from such touts, which of course, further encourages such behaviour. And if we think about it, how realistic is it even to buy these items and pay through PayPal when these touts have yet to even get hold of the items from Amazon?
And the strangest one yet is the last group which I would call the Good Samaritans. These people claim to buy these items, in order to pass it on to those who really want it at the same promotional price that Amazon is offering. Apparently, these people have superfast internet connection, and so just want to help out the genuine buyers without this advantage and so, in the process, stop the touts from getting hold of the items... now, what about postage, Mr Good Samaritan?
In my younger, ignorant days, when asked about the characteristics of Singaporeans, I would trot out the familiar line - that we are kiasu (afraid that we will lose out to others) and that we love a good lobang (a good deal). After a few years overseas, I have to say that this is not a national trait of any particular country; but that these are part of human nature. Everyone loves a good bargain - I still remember how, when we were in the States with classmates from all over the world, the favourite pastime for the weekend is to suss out the good deals and come back to school and compare. And our dear fren from Bahrain emerged the champion with a deal that no one could beat - a pair of branded jeans for 70 US cents! Granted, it is not designer wear, but it is a reputable brand nevertheless, and we all stood in awe of him ever since :)
And so far, in UK, I see this same love for shopping and good deals. Imagine a shop opening at 5am for their annual sale (the Next 5am Sale)... and people do actually queue up at least one hour before that! That is the height of commitment I can imagine of any bargain hunter. I am afraid I can't compete with such standards. I am happy to get a deal, when I see one, but not lose sleep over it.
Well, the Amazon sale is up for the whole of this week. It is a spot of fun and hopefully, before this week is out, I will be lucky and get something I want :)
First, there are people whining about how this is all a scam, since they clicked on their desired item the instant it opened for sale, but yet, they did not manage to get it. And it is amazing how strongly they word their complaints. There are threads going by the headings of "Amazon should be ashamed of itself" and "What a con"...which is really funny, when you consider how this is really just about a company having a sale, albeit it being online and these losers make their complaints sound so much legitimate by dragging in ethics, which in my opinion, is a rather tenuous argument! So, some argue that it is a con, because Amazon probably only has 2 of each item for sale... A friend told me that in UK, there is, in consumer law, a clause that states that there should be a reasonably sufficient quantity of goods available if put up for sale. Now then, what does that mean? Isn't "reasonably sufficient" a matter of subjectivity? And really, which profit-making company, when having a sale, would only put up 2 of each item??? The logic begs questioning.
Second, there are those who brag about what they manage to bag, which really is very unnecessary and rude, I thought. And to rub salt in the wound, some will even state that they don't even want these items in the first place! Which makes you then ask, why did they even click on it instead of giving others a chance?!
And the ridiculousness of it doesn't even stop there. Today, I saw a thread that says "The how-many-items-did-you-bag-competition"! So, you have people writing down how many items they manage to grab and some even listing what the loot is. At which point, you start to ask yourself - do these people have a life??? Especially when you consider that, for them to be able to bag so many items, they must be sitting at home the whole day, glued to the screen, with abated breath, as their trembling finger clutched their mouse, just waiting to click once the item is up for sale. Please, can this be real?!
And to add insult to injury, you have people who bought the items to resell it for a quick buck on Amazon's own forum! What kind of behaviour do you call this? Shameless, I say, to buy something from someone and resell it at a higher price just under their noses, in their own backyard. And the strange thing is there are people who would buy from such touts, which of course, further encourages such behaviour. And if we think about it, how realistic is it even to buy these items and pay through PayPal when these touts have yet to even get hold of the items from Amazon?
And the strangest one yet is the last group which I would call the Good Samaritans. These people claim to buy these items, in order to pass it on to those who really want it at the same promotional price that Amazon is offering. Apparently, these people have superfast internet connection, and so just want to help out the genuine buyers without this advantage and so, in the process, stop the touts from getting hold of the items... now, what about postage, Mr Good Samaritan?
In my younger, ignorant days, when asked about the characteristics of Singaporeans, I would trot out the familiar line - that we are kiasu (afraid that we will lose out to others) and that we love a good lobang (a good deal). After a few years overseas, I have to say that this is not a national trait of any particular country; but that these are part of human nature. Everyone loves a good bargain - I still remember how, when we were in the States with classmates from all over the world, the favourite pastime for the weekend is to suss out the good deals and come back to school and compare. And our dear fren from Bahrain emerged the champion with a deal that no one could beat - a pair of branded jeans for 70 US cents! Granted, it is not designer wear, but it is a reputable brand nevertheless, and we all stood in awe of him ever since :)
And so far, in UK, I see this same love for shopping and good deals. Imagine a shop opening at 5am for their annual sale (the Next 5am Sale)... and people do actually queue up at least one hour before that! That is the height of commitment I can imagine of any bargain hunter. I am afraid I can't compete with such standards. I am happy to get a deal, when I see one, but not lose sleep over it.
Well, the Amazon sale is up for the whole of this week. It is a spot of fun and hopefully, before this week is out, I will be lucky and get something I want :)
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