DEAD: SMOKING HOT!!! ATI All-In-Wonder X1900 $149.99

[aboothman]

If a large corporation were to go belly up just from selling a few hundred items a year at or under cost, then:

1. They have far larger issues than a few pricing errors

2. How in hell did they grow to be a large corporation in the first place?!?

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: aboothman

2. How in hell did they grow to be a large corporation in the first place?!?

Well, probably not by selling thousands of items for hundreds of dollars under cost, that's for sure.

 

[DAGTA]

Originally posted by: aboothman
If a large corporation were to go belly up just from selling a few hundred items a year at or under cost, then:

1. They have far larger issues than a few pricing errors

2. How in hell did they grow to be a large corporation in the first place?!?

There were probably thousands of cards ordered. Say 5,000 for example.

The real price was $449 but the listed mistake price was $149.

$300 * 5,000 = $1,500,000. Not many computer companies can handle a 1.5 Million dollar loss in one night.

 

[allies]

I'm with jagec...if these really go through, and someone wants to offload one for $200-250 pretty please PM me.

 

[astrocase]

I say we vote. All those in favor of them losing over a million in one night say aye. AYE!

 

[scootermaster]

I hope they cancel them all....which they probably will.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: DAGTA

Originally posted by: aboothman
If a large corporation were to go belly up just from selling a few hundred items a year at or under cost, then:

1. They have far larger issues than a few pricing errors

2. How in hell did they grow to be a large corporation in the first place?!?

There were probably thousands of cards ordered. Say 5,000 for example.

The real price was $449 but the listed mistake price was $149.

$300 * 5,000 = $1,500,000. Not many computer companies can handle a 1.5 Million dollar loss in one night.

I wouldn't consider 5,000 a realistic estimate. Maybe closer in the area of 3000 at most. On top of that, there is a difference in the retail price and the cost to the store. For all we know, it could cost about $75 per card to the store, making their profit from the cards $375, so if they sold them at $149, they would only be cutting their profit down to $75.

The actual cost to them is more reliable number to go by, otherwise taking off even a dollar would lose money in your equation.

 

[pclstyle]

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: DAGTA

Originally posted by: aboothman
If a large corporation were to go belly up just from selling a few hundred items a year at or under cost, then:

1. They have far larger issues than a few pricing errors

2. How in hell did they grow to be a large corporation in the first place?!?

There were probably thousands of cards ordered. Say 5,000 for example.

The real price was $449 but the listed mistake price was $149.

$300 * 5,000 = $1,500,000. Not many computer companies can handle a 1.5 Million dollar loss in one night.

I wouldn't consider 5,000 a realistic estimate. Maybe closer in the area of 3000 at most. On top of that, there is a difference in the retail price and the cost to the store. For all we know, it could cost about $75 per card to the store, making their profit from the cards $375, so if they sold them at $149, they would only be cutting their profit down to $75.

The actual cost to them is more reliable number to go by, otherwise taking off even a dollar would lose money in your equation.

the whole point is not to come off as having a reputation for making mistakes, then obliging each and every single person that took advantage of the error...

This time a video card, next time a 30" monitor. People do enough scavenging for markup errors as is- why would MC want to give them even greater motivation?

 

[Wiseguy69]

wouldn't consider 5,000 a realistic estimate. Maybe closer in the area of 3000 at most. On top of that, there is a difference in the retail price and the cost to the store. For all we know, it could cost about $75 per card to the store, making their profit from the cards $375, so if they sold them at $149, they would only be cutting their profit down to $75.

Woah, does anyone really think their cost is $75? Clothing retailers have a "healthy" average markup of around 40%. So a $50 pair of pants cost them around $30. The markup on PC parts stinks. Cost on the AIW x1900 from a distributer hovers around $390. I'm sure MC got a better price being a large store, but not much better. Many small local stores purchase their stock from places like MC and especially Newegg because they can't get the prices that Newegg does. Newegg operates on very small margins and large volume, they are constantly competing on price and if they could afford to drop prices below what they already are, I'm sure they would. Selling the x1900 at $449 would have meant a nice $60+ profit for MC. Nobody is getting them for $75, or Newegg would be selling them for $125.

Great example from this thread...

CompUSA's cost for the Antec Aria case is $90, which is exactly the distributor price. CompUSA is bigger than Microcenter (I think) so they should have more buying power and even they get prices similar to what I have seen. That said, if Microcenter honors the orders, they are losing a lot of money.

If their backorder policy is to cancel after 30 days, does that mean they can't sell any more of these cards for the next 30 days (since they're out of stock) if they choose not to honor the orders?

 

[Fluence]

There would definitely be more than 5000 of these sold by now. Consider that some people here have posted that they ordered 10 apiece. Fatwallet and other deal sites spread things like this very quickly.

On that note, if any of you get enough and can spare one, I'd buy one for $200, also...
I tried ordering at noon yesterday but couldn't place the order, and do not have an MC nearby.

Good luck to the rest of you...

 

[Ike0069]

If I did end up getting one, there is no way I'd ever let it go for a mere $200.

It's a $400+ card, so why would anyone sell it for only $200? $300.....maybe.

 

[bigi]

People who ordered more than one card will not get any.
Those who ordered one only may get it.

 

[allies]

Originally posted by: Ike0069
If I did end up getting one, there is now I'd ever let it go for a mere $200.

It's a $400+ card, so why would anyone sell it for only $200? $300.....maybe.

Because he/she is nice

I'd probably pay $275 for it actually

 

[mikeford]

If I get any extra I can pm you the auction number so you can bid.

 

[allies]

Originally posted by: mikeford
If I get any extra I can pm you the auction number so you can Buy It Now for $200.

Sounds great :thumbsup:

 

[cmbehan]

Color me interested if any of you do get some in and are interested in turning them over.

 

[vtohthree]

There was a monarch employee around one of the forums I hang out(I can't remember, they're all the same, computers, computers, and more computer related), but in general the markup for these video cards are not much, depending on cards, I'd say they maybe be only $20, maybe give $30 more, but I wouldn't think much more than that.

All in all, I agree, and hope they do not let these go through, this would be a huge blow for them.

 

[astrocase]

They've pulled the item from their website and I called and they said they have no ETA on it coming in. They're not going to sell this for 30 days are they?

 

[Lucifer Lost]

Who's to say that fulfilling these orders won't earn this company a lot of free positive press for the money it costs them? And how many people have been to their site in the last few days because of it that otherwise would never have gone there? I bet sales are up, though probably not enough to make up for the loss right now. I know that I didn't know much about Micro Center before this. Buy.com had a similiar issue a couple years ago and they paid out and came up with the "Price Mistake of the Day" promotion that they've gotten some mileage from.

 

[aboothman]

ya I restrained myself from posting my opinion on how much they pay for the card, and how many they would be selling if they did let all these orders through. I restrained myself because I have no FACTUAL data...it would all be
pure speculation. That having been said.....on to the speculation

I AM sure that a million dollar loss is an absurd figure no matter what the figures are. But whatever they lose,
it would be one hell of a tax writeoff. I do not think it would really help PR as people tend to be fickle
when it comes to good deals (speculation). Personally, I buy from the place with the best price and best reputation.

And when it comes down to it, even IF they did receive 3000+ orders, there is no way in hell they have near that
many of this card in all of their stores and warehouses combined.

 

[Elixer]

Originally posted by: voodoo3
It appears that FW has pulled this thread from their site!

It appears your wrong.

They just moved it, like they do when all hot deals are expired.

 

[astrocase]

Link? I searched for x1900 and didn't come up with the AIW.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Well so far no one reporting getting one of these cards for $149.00 but I'm still hoping they'll honor those of us who weren't "slobbering piggies" and just managed to order one! I, like I'm sure many others am surprised to read that the mark up for these cards is so low! I would have thought the mark up would be 100% so that if MC purchased the cards for $225 and then sell them for $450. Those piggies who purchased more than 2 cards would I suspect cause a red flag to go up at MC which alone could have killed the deal for the rest of us!!! Shame on you naughty piggies!!!

 

[astrocase]

A 100% markup in any business is pretty rare isn't it? I work on 20%-40%.

 

[elph]

Retail clothing markup is typically 100%, but in other businesses it's quite rare.