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Love Calm Quiet · Aug 21, 2006, 02:22 PM

Well, this is pretty impressive. Occasionally I've gotten their apology after something went weird with their shopping cart db, but now EVERY page (Home included) gives you:
"An error occurred when we tried to process your request. Rest assured, we're already working on the problem and expect to resolve it shortly.
If you were trying to make a purchase, please check Your Account to confirm that the order was placed.

We apologize for the inconvenience."

Must be a sophisticated attack -- or some part of the country has been nuked?

Anybody seen any Tech news site covering the booboo?

hyteckit · Aug 21, 2006, 02:23 PM

Damn, will be on news in a few minutes or a few hours.

mitchell_pgh · Aug 21, 2006, 02:34 PM

Somebody probably kicked out the plug.

Judge_Fire · Aug 21, 2006, 02:38 PM

They're back.

gopikrishna · Aug 21, 2006, 02:42 PM

errr... Not so much.

Love Calm Quiet · Aug 21, 2006, 03:54 PM

Okay, they're back up now. How much revenue you think they lose over that hour-ish outage?

gururafiki · Aug 21, 2006, 05:00 PM

Originally Posted by Love Calm Quiet

Okay, they're back up now. How much revenue you think they lose over that hour-ish outage?

About $180,000. Here is the PDF.

Peter · Aug 21, 2006, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by Love Calm Quiet

Okay, they're back up now. How much revenue you think they lose over that hour-ish outage?

hundreds of thousands.

MaxPower2k3 · Aug 21, 2006, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by gururafiki

About $180,000. Here is the PDF.

That was 6 years ago. I'm sure Amazon's business has doubled by now, if not much more.

gururafiki · Aug 21, 2006, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by MaxPower2k3

That was 6 years ago. I'm sure Amazon's business has doubled by now, if not much more.

Yea, I was just realizing that. I'm thinking around $250,000 an hour these days...?

milhous · Aug 21, 2006, 05:15 PM

using simple division and multiplication (as average estimate)

amazon.com's 2005 revenue: USD $8.49 billion.
amazon.com's 2005 net income: USD $359 million.

(24 hours/day)x(365 days/year)=8760 hours/year

(USD $8.49 billion revenue/year)/(8760 hours/year)= USD $969,178.08 in lost revenue per hour

(USD $359 million net income/year)/(8760 hours/year)= USD $40,981.74 in lost net income per hour

edit: the real loss obviously requries more factors to calculate, these are just averages from the year prior.

davesimondotcom · Aug 21, 2006, 05:18 PM

I'm thinking a quarter million is a low estimate, if $180,000/hour was 6 years ago.

Edit: And milhous comes through with real numbers. Gotta love someone who is willing to do their research.

Doofy · Aug 21, 2006, 08:10 PM

Originally Posted by Love Calm Quiet

Okay, they're back up now. How much revenue you think they lose over that hour-ish outage?

Almost nothing.

Most of the people who wanted to buy something off them today will simply wait until tomorrow.

Peter · Aug 21, 2006, 08:19 PM

Originally Posted by Doofy

Almost nothing.

Most of the people who wanted to buy something off them today will simply wait until tomorrow.

no way.
You'd shop somewhere else.
If you wanted to buy a book, amazon would be the first place you'd look. If amazon wasn't working you wouldn't just stop searching.

Doofy · Aug 21, 2006, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by Peter

no way.
You'd shop somewhere else.
If you wanted to buy a book, amazon would be the first place you'd look. If amazon wasn't working you wouldn't just stop searching.

Amazon has huge brand currency. Thus, most people shopping there will be repeat customers who won't be coming in off an external search.

Since most of these people will have used Amazon before, they'll be familiar with it. Most would prefer to wait a short while rather than have all the hassle of giving their details to another site, gambling on the delivery efficiency and customer service, etc., etc..

There's a reason why most accounts packages have a "preferred vendor" field in their stock control systems - people tend to like familiarity.

Love Calm Quiet · Aug 21, 2006, 09:04 PM

Originally Posted by Peter

no way.
You'd shop somewhere else.
If you wanted to buy a book, amazon would be the first place you'd look. If amazon wasn't working you wouldn't just stop searching.

Excuse me, there IS nowhere else... not that regularly provides 30-35% off list price, free shipping, selection of every conceivable topic, used-book marketplace.... (Sorry: didn't mean to be an advertisement.)

But it's probably true people that will just come back later: I just went back to "work" for an hour till they were up again.

Peter · Aug 21, 2006, 09:22 PM

hmm, guess you're right. Thinking about it I cannot think of anywhere besides Amazon that sells games/books at decent prices.

MaxPower2k3 · Aug 21, 2006, 09:23 PM

Barnes and Noble is pretty good for books, but overall they (and everyone else) don't compare to amazon.

gopikrishna · Aug 22, 2006, 05:13 AM

Originally Posted by Peter

hmm, guess you're right. Thinking about it I cannot think of anywhere besides Amazon that sells games/books at decent prices.

For books? I don't even bother with BN (except to study a book at their bricksNmortar stores...

For example, titles from SAMS or O'Reilly are often discounted 0% by BN: while Amazon's discount is a standard 30% off or more.

I really don't know how BN.com continue to sustain online

Dakar · Aug 22, 2006, 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by MaxPower2k3

Barnes and Noble is pretty good for books, but overall they (and everyone else) don't compare to amazon.

It helps Amazon that they're powered by B&N.