Free day at sparkfun

jamilm9 · 11-24-2009, 12:39 AM

Free Day is January 7th, 2010!
You can blame it on Chris Anderson's book Free. After reading his book, I started kicking around the idea of what we can do that's 'free'. Sure, we have free bits (open-source hardware designs, available code, etc.), but we don't have free physical widgets. Now combine that with our love of creating shear havoc (AVC, C&D letter, Portable Rotary Phone), and you get Free Day.

Nobody gives away a free physical thing. There's always a catch. So up front: you have to pay shipping. Other than that, it's open season.
$100 max per household
You pay shipping
Limit of $100,000 in giveaways for the day
Starts 9AM MST January 7th, 2010
Ends 11PM MST January 7th, 2010 (or when we hit $100k, whichever comes first)
Rainchecks for popular items will be allowed
Why are we doing this? It's not that I want to create hell for the shipping, production, and the IT teams at SparkFun. There's a multitude of reasons.

First and foremost, we want to give back. We've had a stellar year in 2009, and it's all because of you. So please, have a beer (or a Stepper Motor Driver) on us.

Second: We wish we could sponsor more groups but we don't have a sound way of selecting appropriate projects. Because we can't afford to say yes to everyone, we have to say no to everyone. It pains us every time we have to do it. So this is a way for us to evenly enable all the students and great minds of the world to pickup a $100 worth of free gear. Go for it!

Third: Free Day will possibly create a maelstrom of site traffic, the likes of which our servers have not seen. At the beginning of December, 2009, SparkFun will be graduating out of its high-chair and moving into a server cluster. We are excited to have the breathing room, and Free Day will help us evaluate just how much breathing room we're getting. We'll do everything in our power to keep the site up but please understand that the site may go down.

Fourth: We turn 7 years old! SparkFun is now over 70 employees and is the ripe old age of 49 (in business and dog years). We'd like to celebrate our birthday with a party.

More nitty gritty details:
There is no special code to type in. But you get only one order on Free Day, so spend it well!
Only one $100 credit per household. We ask that you respect this limit and don't try to abuse this gift.
There is no minimum or maximum order. You can spend more than $100, the balance of which will be charged to your method of payment.
Only Credit Card and Paypal orders will be eligible for the $100 credit. We don't want to have people tying up inventory with POs, wire transfers, checks in the mail, or lost faxes.
You will see whether or not your order qualifies for a credit in the checkout process.
Free Day does not apply to our distributors. Sorry!
Every order isn't going to ship on Free Day, or for a few days after. We've got extra tape guns on hand, but please be patient and give us some time to catch up!
We are ratcheting up inventory for Free Day, but backorders (a.k.a. rainchecks) are allowed on most items (some items we simply can't get anymore). We'll get you your goodies just as soon as we can get them back in stock.
As we usually do things here at SparkFun, these rules are open for revision. We may need to tweak them as our astute users point out how silly we are. If we have to make any changes to the rules, we'll let you all know here on our homepage. So mark January 7th, 2010 on your calendars - it's Free Day!

SparkFun Electronics - News

Helmholtz Watson · 11-24-2009, 12:46 AM

UK residents allowed?

tommii89 · 11-24-2009, 01:00 AM

Australian residents allowed?

~Tom

jamilm9 · 11-24-2009, 01:26 AM

it says you have to pay for shipping so probably.

Rob · 11-24-2009, 01:27 AM

Holy hell this is awesome! I better mark this on my calendar now. Absolutely amazing.

pseudolobster · 11-24-2009, 02:17 AM

Oh wow. I'm *so* getting up early that day.

jamilm9 · 11-24-2009, 02:45 AM

i'm staying up late the day before please rep if you appreciate.

ossumguywill · 11-24-2009, 03:35 AM

I am excited!

rpaloalto · 11-24-2009, 03:47 AM

That is so cool.
I'm going to have to make sure I get that day off.
I wonder how easy it will be with so many people all trying at 9am Mountain time.
Their going to shut their servers down

aXit · 11-24-2009, 04:14 AM

I wonder...

Just buy a $100 gift certificate on the day, and wait for the mayhem to calm down before deciding?

ossumguywill · 11-24-2009, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aXit

I wonder...

Just buy a $100 gift certificate on the day, and wait for the mayhem to calm down before deciding?

I guess that would make sense... but they will probably just take those off or something.

aXit · 11-24-2009, 04:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ossumguywill

I guess that would make sense... but they will probably just take those off or something.

They'll probably just make a new rule when they realise.

Well that sucks for me, away on holidays (without internet -_-) and it would be 3am if I got my family to do it.

Gata · 11-24-2009, 04:50 AM

I will definitely participate.

DTMF · 11-24-2009, 05:15 AM

this is just epic . i already have my list made

ossumguywill · 11-24-2009, 05:26 AM

I have class then... If it is a week one schedule, I have compsci at nine.. crap, then bio... those are classes I have no excuse to be on the computer in. If it's a week 2 schedule, I have spanish at nine, but then geometry at 9:15, so I can order stuff then. Damn school.

jamilm9 · 11-24-2009, 08:02 PM

i asked and you can't get gift certificates.

Bionic-Badger · 11-24-2009, 09:40 PM

9AM MST, hoooboy. I hope I'm up!

Eudaimonium · 12-04-2009, 12:19 PM

Hey I'm kinda having trouble finding the price of that coupon, or gisft certificate or whateva. I already filled my cart with 97.80$ of usefull extras.
They have ADJ 1117 and all kind of goodies for soldering...

Totaly awsome.

Bionic-Badger · 12-04-2009, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eudaimonium

Hey I'm kinda having trouble finding the price of that coupon, or gisft certificate or whateva. I already filled my cart with 97.80$ of usefull extras.
They have ADJ 1117 and all kind of goodies for soldering...

Totaly awsome.

It's called reading comprehension. Scroll up.

Eudaimonium · 12-04-2009, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bionic-Badger

It's called reading comprehension. Scroll up.

Oy I did read everything. Problem is that everything that is said about paying is a shipping fee....
Hold on
I'm lost now

I could have sworn that there was a sentence with a gift certificate needed for free day order...

I must have been looking into my lasers too much...

Well... I'm very impatient now. Let's hope it ain't the only Free Day...
BTW I really like the site! They are more focused on hobby electronics, DIY projects and parts.
Only thing missing are some laser diodes.

JK

ossumguywill · 12-05-2009, 01:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eudaimonium

Oy I did read everything. Problem is that everything that is said about paying is a shipping fee....
Hold on
I'm lost now

I could have sworn that there was a sentence with a gift certificate needed for free day order...

I must have been looking into my lasers too much...

Well... I'm very impatient now. Let's hope it ain't the only Free Day...
BTW I really like the site! They are more focused on hobby electronics, DIY projects and parts.
Only thing missing are some laser diodes.

JK

The sentence said that you cannot get gift certificates on free day, don't panic lol

will

daveindelaware · 12-09-2009, 04:45 AM

Wow! This may be my chance to grab up some basic tools or something. A free $100 worth of anything? That's too good to be true!

Thank you so much!

Things · 12-09-2009, 09:49 AM

Make sure you read the small print, they are only offering a total of $100,000 of free stuff. Considering all 6 forums I post on have a thread about it, 1000 people ordering $100 worth of stuff is gonna go quick! Thats if their servers don't crash ....

daveindelaware · 12-09-2009, 01:46 PM

Yeah, I saw the fine print. $100,000 limit. But I didn't know about the other 5 forums knowing about it, too.

Time for a little competition on who can wake up and order first. LOL....

Nefarious · 12-09-2009, 04:54 PM

I'm excited!!! I already know exactly what I'm ordering... er.. gonna try to order, if their servers don't crash

11-24-2009, 12:39 AM	#1
jamilm9 Class 3R Laser Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: canada eh Posts: 1,864 Rep Power: 125	Free day at sparkfun Free Day is January 7th, 2010! You can blame it on Chris Anderson's book Free. After reading his book, I started kicking around the idea of what we can do that's 'free'. Sure, we have free bits (open-source hardware designs, available code, etc.), but we don't have free physical widgets. Now combine that with our love of creating shear havoc (AVC, C&D letter, Portable Rotary Phone), and you get Free Day. Nobody gives away a free physical thing. There's always a catch. So up front: you have to pay shipping. Other than that, it's open season. $100 max per household You pay shipping Limit of $100,000 in giveaways for the day Starts 9AM MST January 7th, 2010 Ends 11PM MST January 7th, 2010 (or when we hit $100k, whichever comes first) Rainchecks for popular items will be allowed Why are we doing this? It's not that I want to create hell for the shipping, production, and the IT teams at SparkFun. There's a multitude of reasons. First and foremost, we want to give back. We've had a stellar year in 2009, and it's all because of you. So please, have a beer (or a Stepper Motor Driver) on us. Second: We wish we could sponsor more groups but we don't have a sound way of selecting appropriate projects. Because we can't afford to say yes to everyone, we have to say no to everyone. It pains us every time we have to do it. So this is a way for us to evenly enable all the students and great minds of the world to pickup a $100 worth of free gear. Go for it! Third: Free Day will possibly create a maelstrom of site traffic, the likes of which our servers have not seen. At the beginning of December, 2009, SparkFun will be graduating out of its high-chair and moving into a server cluster. We are excited to have the breathing room, and Free Day will help us evaluate just how much breathing room we're getting. We'll do everything in our power to keep the site up but please understand that the site may go down. Fourth: We turn 7 years old! SparkFun is now over 70 employees and is the ripe old age of 49 (in business and dog years). We'd like to celebrate our birthday with a party. More nitty gritty details: There is no special code to type in. But you get only one order on Free Day, so spend it well! Only one $100 credit per household. We ask that you respect this limit and don't try to abuse this gift. There is no minimum or maximum order. You can spend more than $100, the balance of which will be charged to your method of payment. Only Credit Card and Paypal orders will be eligible for the $100 credit. We don't want to have people tying up inventory with POs, wire transfers, checks in the mail, or lost faxes. You will see whether or not your order qualifies for a credit in the checkout process. Free Day does not apply to our distributors. Sorry! Every order isn't going to ship on Free Day, or for a few days after. We've got extra tape guns on hand, but please be patient and give us some time to catch up! We are ratcheting up inventory for Free Day, but backorders (a.k.a. rainchecks) are allowed on most items (some items we simply can't get anymore). We'll get you your goodies just as soon as we can get them back in stock. As we usually do things here at SparkFun, these rules are open for revision. We may need to tweak them as our astute users point out how silly we are. If we have to make any changes to the rules, we'll let you all know here on our homepage. So mark January 7th, 2010 on your calendars - it's Free Day! SparkFun Electronics - News __________________ Used to have 26 rep points I am leet

11-24-2009, 12:46 AM	#2
Helmholtz Watson Class 1 Laser Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 57 Rep Power: 4	Re: Free day at sparkfun UK residents allowed?

11-24-2009, 01:00 AM	#3
tommii89 Class 2M Laser Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Gold Coast, Australia Posts: 581 Rep Power: 14	Re: Free day at sparkfun Australian residents allowed? ~Tom __________________ Cheers T.

11-24-2009, 01:26 AM	#4
jamilm9 Class 3R Laser Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: canada eh Posts: 1,864 Rep Power: 125	Re: Free day at sparkfun it says you have to pay for shipping so probably. __________________ Used to have 26 rep points I am leet

11-24-2009, 01:27 AM	#5
Rob Class 2 Laser Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Glendora, California Posts: 478 Rep Power: 9	Re: Free day at sparkfun Holy hell this is awesome! I better mark this on my calendar now. Absolutely amazing. __________________ - 180mw 6x Daquin Build in MX Power Host - - 5mw 405nm Pen (Cheap Piece of Crap) - - Coming Soon Custom Built 100mW 405nm - - WL Evolution Pro 130mW - - Jay Rob's Mini Green Host w/ 60mW O-like Module - - My Dream: 473nm Pen (Someday Soon Hopefully) - - 200mw Dilda Focusable Red Torch - *Remember to always practice good safety habits when using any laser. And never point it at a plane and/or any flying object. You're just asking to go to jail if you do that.*

11-24-2009, 02:17 AM	#6
pseudolobster Class 3R Laser Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: BC, Canada Posts: 1,737 Rep Power: 127	Re: Free day at sparkfun Oh wow. I'm so getting up early that day. __________________ Custom Text

11-24-2009, 02:45 AM	#7
jamilm9 Class 3R Laser Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: canada eh Posts: 1,864 Rep Power: 125	Re: Free day at sparkfun i'm staying up late the day before please rep if you appreciate. __________________ Used to have 26 rep points I am leet

11-24-2009, 03:35 AM	#8
ossumguywill Class 3R Laser Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 2,153 Rep Power: 50	Re: Free day at sparkfun I am excited!

11-24-2009, 03:47 AM	#9
rpaloalto Class 3R Laser Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Palo Alto, CA Posts: 1,258 Rep Power: 121	Re: Free day at sparkfun That is so cool. I'm going to have to make sure I get that day off. I wonder how easy it will be with so many people all trying at 9am Mountain time. Their going to shut their servers down __________________ Read The Forum Rules Follow The Forum Rules Be Kind To Your Fellow LPF Brothers ----------------------------------------------------- Builds, Hosts and Optics from Flaminpyro, Ehgemus, RA_pierce, jayrob, LarryDFW and Me

11-24-2009, 04:14 AM	#10
aXit Class 1M Laser Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 206 Rep Power: 12	Re: Free day at sparkfun I wonder... Just buy a $100 gift certificate on the day, and wait for the mayhem to calm down before deciding?

11-24-2009, 04:50 AM	#13
Gata Class 2 Laser Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Spokane, WA Posts: 417 Rep Power: 8	Re: Free day at sparkfun I will definitely participate.

11-24-2009, 05:15 AM	#14
DTMF Class 1M Laser Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: san diego ca. Posts: 181 Rep Power: 5	Re: Free day at sparkfun this is just epic . i already have my list made

11-24-2009, 05:26 AM	#15
ossumguywill Class 3R Laser Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 2,153 Rep Power: 50	Re: Free day at sparkfun I have class then... If it is a week one schedule, I have compsci at nine.. crap, then bio... those are classes I have no excuse to be on the computer in. If it's a week 2 schedule, I have spanish at nine, but then geometry at 9:15, so I can order stuff then. Damn school.

11-24-2009, 08:02 PM	#16
jamilm9 Class 3R Laser Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: canada eh Posts: 1,864 Rep Power: 125	Re: Free day at sparkfun i asked and you can't get gift certificates. __________________ Used to have 26 rep points I am leet

11-24-2009, 09:40 PM	#17
Bionic-Badger Class 3B Laser Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Utah, USA Posts: 4,497 Rep Power: 256	Re: Free day at sparkfun 9AM MST, hoooboy. I hope I'm up!

12-04-2009, 12:19 PM	#18
Eudaimonium Class 4 Laser Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Pitomača, Croatia Posts: 5,276 Rep Power: 184	Re: Free day at sparkfun Hey I'm kinda having trouble finding the price of that coupon, or gisft certificate or whateva. I already filled my cart with 97.80$ of usefull extras. They have ADJ 1117 and all kind of goodies for soldering... Totaly awsome. __________________ ^Click to enter^ Offering Ultrafire C1, C3 and C6, WF-501B, Powerlight B50, SA-305 SAiK and other heatsinks and services! ^ If you've got programming and coding experience, 2D or 3D art skills, consider joining ME3 Explorer project Dev team! Click to see more! Forums: Facebook group: ME3Ex: Creating new end for ME3! >>You can buy B50 host kit, Guidesman host and heatsinks, drivers, and a whole lot of kits, and bunch of cool stuff at Cajun Lasers<< Are you new and need help? Instead of starting new threads, shoot me a Personal Message! I'll answer all the beginner's and advanced questions you might have! > You know you are a true laser hobbyist when a gun is one of the less intimidating-looking objects on your worktable <

12-09-2009, 04:45 AM	#22
daveindelaware Class 2 Laser Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Newark, Delaware, USA Posts: 253 Rep Power: 8	Re: Free day at sparkfun Wow! This may be my chance to grab up some basic tools or something. A free $100 worth of anything? That's too good to be true! Thank you so much! __________________ Dave - Researching: Red and Green lasers for firearms sight applications (handgun and AR-15 platforms) - Researching: DDL Driver Construction, computer PSU mods - Researching: Sources for unique hosts - Work-in-Progress: red diode extraction from HP dvd1035 drive - Work-in-Progress: Computer PSU mod - Future Orders: components for DDL Driver, LEDshoppe 50mW Green - 1st Laser: red keychain pointer (was FREE)

12-09-2009, 09:49 AM	#23
Things Super Moderator Join Date: May 2007 Location: Cairns, Australia Posts: 6,693 Rep Power: 473	Re: Free day at sparkfun Make sure you read the small print, they are only offering a total of $100,000 of free stuff. Considering all 6 forums I post on have a thread about it, 1000 people ordering $100 worth of stuff is gonna go quick! Thats if their servers don't crash .... __________________ My YouTube Channel!

12-09-2009, 01:46 PM	#24
daveindelaware Class 2 Laser Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Newark, Delaware, USA Posts: 253 Rep Power: 8	Re: Free day at sparkfun Yeah, I saw the fine print. $100,000 limit. But I didn't know about the other 5 forums knowing about it, too. Time for a little competition on who can wake up and order first. LOL.... __________________ Dave - Researching: Red and Green lasers for firearms sight applications (handgun and AR-15 platforms) - Researching: DDL Driver Construction, computer PSU mods - Researching: Sources for unique hosts - Work-in-Progress: red diode extraction from HP dvd1035 drive - Work-in-Progress: Computer PSU mod - Future Orders: components for DDL Driver, LEDshoppe 50mW Green - 1st Laser: red keychain pointer (was FREE)

12-09-2009, 04:54 PM	#25
Nefarious Class 2M Laser Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: LI, NY Posts: 528 Rep Power: 20	Re: Free day at sparkfun I'm excited!!! I already know exactly what I'm ordering... er.. gonna try to order, if their servers don't crash __________________ Science is nothing but developed perception, interpreted intent, common sense rounded out and minutely articulated.

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