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Woot! sells PS3s in order to buy Wiis for its staff

kotaku.com — "In fact, we love the Wii so much, we want to give a Wii to everybody on our payroll. To fund this Wii-for-the-People program, we're selling this Sony PlayStation 3."

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  • ChrisrWilliams, on 10/12/2007, -82/+22I love Woot. They're selling PS3s... to give a Wii to everyone on the payroll. Now that's a great company.
  • LaserRob, on 10/12/2007, -4/+41Love the box arrangement. Nice message to Sony.
  • AMSRay, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Direct link to the source: www.woot.com
  • joehobbes, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7That's cool, but how are they making money from the PS3 (with overnight shipping)? Does Sony sell them that cheap to retailers?
    • bobothn, on 10/12/2007, -15/+5probably not. but woot doesn't mind loosing money on an item.
    • whespe, on 10/12/2007, -14/+4How else do you think a store makes money?
      -the price you pay is more then the price they paid.... nub.
    • AgentMull, on 10/12/2007, -14/+4Have you even been keeping up on console sales for the past few generations? The stores and companies loose money (or dont make any at all) in hopes to make their money on games.
    • joehobbes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5exactly -- I'm far from a newb (or a nub), whespe
      The margins are pretty small even at regular price.
      So how would Woot be "raising money" for Wiis by selling PS3s so cheap?
    • MjrParanoid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7they are taking one asset and recovering thier capital to spend on a diffrent asset. its not about makng a profit per se.
    • anonatron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8@AgentMull
      The stores do not lose money in hopes of making it back in games (and licensing), that is the manufacturer! Granted the stores margin is very small, but the only time they usually lose money is when the manufacturer drops the console price and they have leftover stock from before the drop. Even that is rare because the corporations get the pricing notification early.
    • whespe, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2keeping up with consoles? sony looses the money, woot gets the money. Retailers get the system for about 75% of the MSRP.

      so, store make money by selling them for more then they pay for them... you nub
    • joehobbes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25why do you call people nubs? do you think I don't have hands?
    • Flagg3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3They didn't make any money on them. Keep in mind that they shipped them with express, 1 day saturday delivery, all for $504 delivered. Any markup, which is extremely tiny on video game consoles to begin with, was more than eaten up by the express shipping.

      The point wasn't to profit, and of course the point wasn't to make money to buy Wiis. The point was: it was an excellent marketing gimmick, as witnessed by this very digg.

      It's the same reason that they sometimes ship extremely expensive items in the 'random' bags of crap. (I also read reports that someone claimed to receive a PS3 in his $8 bag of crap).

      Flagg
    • PDelahanty, on 10/12/2007, -10/+4Step 1: Sell PS3s
      Step 2:
      Step 3: Profit!
    • tech42er, on 10/12/2007, -1/+41. Sell PS3's
      2. ???
      3. Profit!
    • msgyrd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You guys must be new to how Woot! works. They'll often sell things at a loss to generate publicity, which makes more money for them in the long run than the original loss did. They've given away large plasma TVs in their Bag of Crap (which only sell for a couple dollars).
  • Randazzo, on 10/12/2007, -68/+2Dupe; http://digg.com/gaming_news/Online_retainer_WOOT_making_fun_of_the_PS3_in_favor_of_the_WII
    • djSyndrome, on 10/12/2007, -5/+60We're sorry your submission didn't make it to the front page. Would you like a cookie?
    • laddr, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12It's all about having the right headline I guess...
    • anonatron, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5I wonder why people continue to cry about their story not making it to the front page first, they always get dugg down. If your story did not make it before another one, well too bad, it is too late now. If everyone started digging the link you post, then we get 2 dupes on the home page. I don't know about the rest of the users, but having an "upcoming" dupe is a lot better than a front page dupe.
    • msgyrd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This one has a better headline. "Woot! Sells PS3s in order to...." explains just as much as your "Online retailer, Woot! makes fun of...." and captures the joke better than yours did.

      Try again, and suck less next time.
  • ApolloXLII, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3they ain't called Woot for nothin'
  • ezikiel2517, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5Sony PWND
  • billisdog, on 10/12/2007, -40/+5I'm sorry but they came off just a bit TOO much as haters in this. I know they think they were being funny, but come on- it's Sony's ARROGANCE that is despicable, NOT the system. PS3 is still one ***** BEAST of a machine that wrecks all the others in power. But here they are just dis-dis-dissing it all around, believing the sins of the parent company to be the defects of the system.
    • jtdgrz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Woot! gave them props on power, and downplayed just about everything else -- which is pretty much entirely true.
    • mtvkilledusall, on 10/12/2007, -2/+34No, I have one. It pretty much sucks.
    • mavranos, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6"Power takes as ingratitude the writhing of its victims."
      Sony thinks they own gaming.

      Sony is an arrogant beast. The PS3 has power but nothing show it off. And developers are not going to spend the resources to use that power until the install base ensures them profit.
    • anonatron, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8you talk about the haters, yet you are a fanboy... making you in turn a hater...

      example:

      "PS3 is still one ***** BEAST of a machine that wrecks all the others in power."

      realistically, the 360 is about as powerful AND excels in some areas. If you want to talk about a group of people, you might want to make sure that your membership packet is not sitting in your mailbox.
    • Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3"PS3 is still one ***** BEAST of a machine that wrecks all the others in power."

      You're kidding, right? Tell me what graphics card is in the PS3 and let's compare it to the most powerful that's currently out on the market.
    • msgyrd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1And the fact that for all PS3's power, the 360 still outperforms it in almost every game. Doesn't matter how powerful it is if developers can't make it work, or if the technology is powerful, but unsuited for gaming. The PS3 is all about pushing BluRay into homes. They're just riding the success of the PS2 to get gaming sales.
  • DiggsOnlyNeoCon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Click on the PS3 picture on woot. Hilarity!
  • MCHampster, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Much better is the picture you get when you click on the PS3:

    http://www.woot.com/Images/Sale/Sony_PlayStation_3QM4-detail.jpg
    • Roger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Wow, thats 80 PS3's or >= $40,000

      Quite an expensive message.
  • toppur, on 10/12/2007, -26/+19These "Wii much better then PS3" stories are getting pretty old...

    I have a strong feeling I'm going to get dugg down for saying this, but hey, it's my opinion...
    • hasbeen, on 10/12/2007, -9/+10Good to know that I'm not the only one who thinks that.
    • jacksons98, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3What's really funny is I sold my Wii to some lady for $500 and used the money to get myself a PS3. I was pretty pumped by the Wii originally, but it really is looking like a gamecube with new controllers. I wasn't expecting PS3 or X360 graphics but at least a significant improvement over gamecube, but sadly Resident Evil 4 on the gamecube is still by far nintendo's best looking game and it's over 2 years old.
    • walkingdogs, on 10/12/2007, -11/+4Awww is somebody sore that a company is doing better than your glorious Sorny. This type of bashing is completely warranted. yes the PS3 may be impressive but sony set themselves up for this. According to sony the ps3 will bring peace on earth and solve string theory but in reality it doesn't quite live up to their hype machine. It's a case of a company putting their foot so far in their mouths that they have to tie their shoes behind their backs. Finally people are figuring out what sony is all about. All promises with no follow through. So stop whining and go play your ps3 and its 2 good games and truly gimmicky controller.
    • Dunadan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Yeah, I love the Wii, you might could even call me a fanboy, but even I'm getting sick of these types of stories. This particular one was fine 'cause it was different and funny, but as much as I like to see Nintendo doing well these stories are getting old.
    • jacksons98, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1@walkingdogs Actually this is my first Sony. I'm not sore at all, in fact I'm still going to pick up another Wii once I can get it at regular price again, but hey if someone offers me $500 for it I'm taking it. :) Actually I have to get one I sold my Gamecube also and I have stack games for it. All I meant was I was disappointed in the graphics, the system sucks big time in the graphics department. The best looking game on the Wii is Zelda and it's identical on the gamecube.
    • walkingdogs, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1@jackson

      wasn't in response to you sorry you took it that way
    • merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Woot managed to sell 80 PS3s in 4 minutes 37 seconds. Clearly, there's no demand for the PS3 at all! God the PS3 sucks!
    • FlakPyro, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2QFT
    • msgyrd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not to rain on your parade, but woot was selling at a loss. If they were selling the Wii at $150 (roughly the same loss), I assure you they would have sold an equal amount in the same timeframe. Also, woot's most frequent/wealthy buyers check Woot! at 12pm when new products are released. The timeframe makes sense.

      The amount sold in whatever timeframe says nothing about the PS3. This had to due with the pricing. If I had more available cash, I would have bought 3 or 4 since you're guarenteed to make at least about $100/each reselling them.
  • kjizzle, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3More blog spam. Link to TFA
    • danakin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You think Kotaku is blogspam?Hahaha!
  • earliodookie, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2hhaha, i love woot even more now. i still want a bag of crap though!
  • sheriffbob, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Yet again Woots genius introduces itself to thousands of new potential customer. Now I just need to sell the damn PS3 I have so I can get that sweet Wii action. sellthispieceofcrap@gmail.com

  • jasnmb, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17Love this line: "And its HDMI capabilities give you polygons and frames-per-second out the wazoo, if you prefer that stuff to having fun."
  • mt066, on 10/12/2007, -7/+11The only thing that kind of irritates me about all of this talk is how everyone suddenly abaondoned the modern console controller and graphics capabilities as soon as the wii came out. Ever since I can remember, people have been oogling over graphics and whatnot (yes, in addition to - not as opposed to - "gameplay"). Am I supposed to believe that all of a sudden you decided you don't like graphics or the standard controller style that's been working just fine for 20 years? Why didn't you say something sooner? This sudden change just coincided with the day you bought your new wii? Even it did. it's OK to like the new idea, but why do we all have to rip on graphics and controllers and stuff now? I still like them. Guess I'm just begging to start a war here.

    ...but the picture was pretty funny
    • intense321, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Because graphics and controllers today have sacrified gameplay! I'd take a classic game of Pong on an old Atari before playing Talladega Nights. At least pong was fun!
    • neoian, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Ever heard of paragraphs? Damn son...
    • kefler, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5@intense321.. uhh isn't Talladega Nights a movie?? not a game..
    • mt066, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Well I tried to pre-emptively address the "gameplay" thing but I guess that didn't work. Obviously there is very little "gameplay" to be found in a Will Ferrell movie. Also, I don't know at what point this gameplay has started to become sacrificed. Did it start in this generation of consoles? Or the one before that?
    • tech42er, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I don't mind graphica nd controllers and such, but I'm NOT paying as much as a laptop for it! I mean, c'mon, $500?
    • msgyrd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Personally, graphics have hit a stasis point for me (and probably others). I'm not buying an HD tv for a while, so the graphic capability is less of a selling point than in previous console generations. Also, controllers designs have stagnated even though room for improvement was there. Add the to mix that the game releases for Xbox and PS3 are pretty much the same games but in HD, and personally, I'll take the risk of purchasing a Wii just to send the message than I want something new from my games. I'm tired of WW2 shooters and generic racing games and Madden's annual release.

      Also, the 360 and PS3 seem to focus too much on being a media center for my living room, when I'd rather spend $300 dollars on building my own PVR/media center with a cheap PC, and not be restricted by DRM, I can upgrade to BluRay or HDDVD drive when one takes the lead, and I can play any format I feel like.
  • Korexz, on 10/12/2007, -21/+0I could rant forever, but just go here:

    http://www.korexz.com/

    Pages and pages of why Sony will fail.

    I was saying long ago that the market for the PS3 will bottom out before christmas.
    • Mufflegrump, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I'm headed out the door, so I'll try to keep this short and sweet. Quit spamming your crappy website in the comments, you piece of *****. Kill yourself.
      Love,
      Mufflegrump
    • Korexz, on 10/12/2007, -11/+0Don't be grumpy that you don't have a blog... jeez man... Would you rather I fill up 8 pages here commenting... I'll do it...
    • Mufflegrump, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I *do* have a blog. But, like everyone else with a soul, I don't spam it throughout the comments :)
      Kisses!
    • Korexz, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0Alrighty, keep an eye out for my 10 page scrolling comment... you can go ahead and bury it... ;)

      Don't be jealous that your blog is relegated to chat logs. I apologize for the fact that I have a mind capable of producing more than "cheese thinking". Maybe if you spent more time THINKING and less time REACTING to people you would be a more well rounded individual, and thus a more appreciated member of the blogsphere...

      I know if I spent my whole day trolling I would get a little bitter too... it's okay.

      Oh, and BTW... the whole "Foamy - Angry Squirrel" attitude has got to go. You wanna rant like Foamy... learn Flash. ;)
  • batmaster, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Um, where's the deal in that?

    The 20 GB models are $499.99 anyway. Shouldn't it be the *60* GB model?
    • ImTheDarkcyde, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2yeah, that confused me as well, usually they give you deals, but i guess this time it was just a way to get ahold of a ps3
    • MjrParanoid, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Why on (your diety of choice)'s green earth would they sell it for less than retail? Especially when they could have raised the price a few hundred bucks and still sold out?

      Give me your bat, bat master! Its time you two were reaquanited >:) .
    • wilf_brim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Given that shipping is 5 bucks with no tax, it is still cheaper than just about anyplace else that you could get it.

      But, yes, your point is at least somewhat correct. Woot is known for discount merchandise, but normally not new release stuff.
    • VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The "deal" was that it was made available.
    • amoirae, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I believe the "deal" is that it will be delivered before Christmas.
  • kenelbow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Woot.com is actually the first webiste I visited with the newly downloaded Internet channel on my Wii this morning and I was greeted with this. I thought it was pretty funny, and maybe a bit ironic.
    • illb, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Great minds think alike. It was my first web visit on the wii too.
  • masgaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3They must have kept one. They sold 80 and there are 81 in that picture.
  • pidge, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2This doesn't make sense. Unless Woot stole these PS3 units from some delivery truck and resold them, how is this helping them much? Lets say Sony is giving retailers a profit of $10 per unit on the 20GB model. They sold 80 so that means the profit was $800. That means they can affordo to buy about 3 Wii's. Do they only have three employees on their payroll or was this just some fanboy statement made by someone who works/owns Woot.com?
    • robustyoungsoul, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I'm gonna throw this out there, but it could it be the description was a JOKE?
  • wonky73, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1This has viral/guerilla marketing written all over it. Will the diggers get all over this like they did the psp one. Of course not it's pro nintendo and digg is full of hypocrits.
  • Korexz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Viral marketing is lame...
  • Microdot, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1wii fans cant grasp sarcasm and parody? who would have thunk it.
  • mmpd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This makes me love woot so much more. Plus, it's not like woot is desperate for cash, they sold over a million dollars worth of stuff in the last woot-off alone.
  • cru99, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0I saw this on here, but my job blocks woot, so no PS3 for me.
  • Daveoh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Guess what? Sony couldn't give a *****, because you guys just helped by buying $10,000 worth of PS3s.
    Way to go.
  •  

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