Gamertell

Remember eCost’s Black Friday (2008) deal for a Wii for only $99? It became so popular that the company turned it from a system per hour into a catch-the-bargain-if-you-can style sale to further inflate the site’s traffic. Basically, one Wii went live for the bargain price at a random time each day and if you happened to be the person to order at the exact moment, you got the uber cheap system.

This time eCost has offered two Wiis for $69 each (includes Wii Sports, WiiMote and Nunchuck), two first gen 4GB iPhones for $99 each, two Intel Netbooks for $99 and two Blue-Ray players for $74, along with a few other deals.

But, before you get too excited, there are catches.

The first catch is that you need to try eCost’s Platinum Premium Service ($1 for a 30-day trial, $39.95 annual fee). Basically, it allows you elite access to the site’s mostest specialist sale items first, advanced notice of sales (more on that below) and free shipping on some items (but not during the 30-day trial).  If you use eCost a lot, it might be worth it to you in the long run. Apparently it’s so awesome that being simply labeled “Platinum” or “Premium” isn’t good enough. It needs to be both.

The second is that only two Wiis (or a limited number of the other items) are sold at the bargain price and are available at random times between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. (PST).

And, third, it’s over.

The bargain sale happened yesterday (March 19, 2009), even though eCost’s newsletter subscribers were sent the email after the bargains had theoretically started. Even more odd is that the sale page still shows the sale items. I’m assuming that the lateness of the newsletter was meant to accentuate the fact that, if you don’t pay up, you’ll miss the real deals.

The only saving grace is that there is a promise for future deals and, considering the populuarity of the Wii in enticing people to the site before, eCost will likely toss out a few more.

eCost, you’re pushing your luck.

The Back Friday deal was a nice idea that went out of control but using a gambler’s tactic too often is going to piss off many more customers than the very, very few winning buyers. I’ve happily spread the word about select bargains in the past but if they become too convoluted and require a membership, you can count me - and likely many others - out.

Read [Gamertell] Site [eCost]