Just over the weekend, HP unceremoniously dumped the operating system and tablet, telling retailers to rid of their inventory at a fire sale $99.99 pricetag. As news hit the wires (and websites and blogs), savvy shoppers jumped at the opportunity to pick up a full featured tablet at a fraction of market price. Read our live journal from Saturday morning as we tried to get our hands on a cheap TouchPad - were we successful? Find out!
It wasn't long ago that HP had everyone all excited about its webOS and TouchPad. Released barely a month ago, the TouchPad crashed and burned, with hardly any sales and support for the operating system. So imagine everyone's surprise when HP announced they were pulling the TouchPad and ridding their inventory with a fire sale $99.99 pricetag. As news hit the wires (and websites and blogs), savvy shoppers jumped at the opportunity to pick up a full featured tablet at a fraction of market price.
Having woke up at 8am this past Saturday morning and reading the news as it had just hit the web, we eagerly decided to try our luck in getting our hands on a TouchPad (or 4). Being on the east coast and fairly early in the morning, we thought we might have a chance. Here's how the morning went for me...
8:00am: Woke up and checked out a few of my daily blogs. Read the HP news and thought I'd buy one at that price.
8:15am: Got out of bed, got dressed, brushed my teeth, and headed to the computer to check where I might find a TouchPad at $99.99. I was headed to Shendoah Park to hike Old Rag Mountain with my girlfriend, leaving at 9am, so my time was limited, and my girlfriend was pressuring me to get ready to go instead of playing on the computer.
8:30am: Many websites still showed the original $399-$499 pricing. Best Buy still showed the full price. The articles I read said to try Walmart but mileage varied on whether the stores would honor the online pricing. The online pricing said $99.99 but most stores showed out of stock inventory. The website showed one store that would be on the way to my morning destination as having it stock. Calling in they transferred me to a manager who very strongly and rudely said they would not be matching the website's pricing. Reading from other buyer experiences this seemed par for the course.
8:45am: I was in trouble with the girlfriend now, and had to rush to get things packed in the car for our 9:00am departure.
9:15am: Packed and on the road, I was making calls left and right on two phones and searching the web at the same time. Walmart's website kept showing more and more stores coming up with out of stock notices, implying *someone was getting them at $99.99, just not me.
9:30am: Staples showed the TouchPad at $99.99 on their website but out of stock online. Every store I called within our travel route was out of stock.
9:45am: Office Depot listed the 16GB TouchPad at slightly more expensive at $130 but it was worth a shot trying. Every Office Depot along our route also was out of stock.
10:00am: The Micro Center by my house opened at 10 and while I was already past it I figured I could get someone to pick it up for me. When I called at 10 the guy picked up the phone and answered, "Welcome to Micro Center, we don't have the HP Touchpad, how can I help you?" I was doomed without saying a word.
10:15am: Calling around to more stores and searching online, I came up empty. My girlfriend was giving me evil death stares and I figured it was time to pack it in. No HP TouchPad for me at $99.99. Checking out Craigslist later in the day I found it was already flooded with both buyers and sellers. Buyers seemed to be offering $150 for the 16GB TouchPad (sold for $99.99) and sellers were asking for $200-$300. Checking in on Craigslist and eBay this afternoon, prices are already plummeting as more inventory hit the web from those who found them in stock. We're curious where the pricing gap will be bridged, and we're guessing a $150 price point will be fair if there's no more official inventory at retail outlets. At $150 I still might pick one up though, we'll have to wait and see!
And You?: So were you able to get one at $99.99? Will you buy one from a profiteer at $150? $200? More? Let us know if you got one and share your experience!
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Comments (17)
Yep, I tried as well.
I was going to get one or two and save them as Xmas gifts.
@RocketScientist - that woulda been a sweet Christmas present! Are you considering it in the open market? I think if it comes to around $150 I might get one.
bought and sold mine with in 3 hours for 200, Didn't really mean to sell it but put it up on craigslist to see what would happen and got 30 responses.
I woke up a few minutes before 6 am. I checked hp.com. They were sold out. Amazon, didn't have the reduced price. Newegg didn't have the reduced price. Walmart had the reduced price, i selected the option to pick up in my store. My local WM opens at 7am. I paid for it online. Picked it up at 11am. They were out of 16gb on the shelves at that time and had about 3 of the 32gb left. I had to come back two hours later for something else, hey I live in a small town, they were completely out then.
Micro Center's online store showed them in stock at $399, but once you added them to the cart, the price changed to $99. Score, right? Well, I ordered one, and got a confirmation... thought it was a done deal. Received another email shortly after stating that my order had been cancelled due to product availability.
Bummer.
Of course by the time all the emails came through, everyone was sold out.
I will note that HP's twitter account says to sign up here (http://www.hp.com/united-states/webos/us/en/tablet/touchpad.html) to be notified when more are available. I signed up, so we'll see... though I'm sure all I'll get are emails telling me what other great HP products I should buy instead.
snagged one off amazon.com for $99, wasn't actually through amazon, was a different seller. No shipping confirmation yet, but no cancellation either. Look forward to playing with it.
Found out about this on Friday evening thanks to Slickdeals.net and was able to purchase one through HP's Academy website with a coupon code bringing the price down to $92 shipped.
No tracking # yet but my card was charged and I received an email confirming my order.
Anyone who got the deal want to sell me one for $150? Pretty please? Or at cost and I'll throw you a shout out on Uplggd (shh, don't tell our editor Gregory Han). ;)
If the girlfriend can't understand how saving $300 is more urgent than a hike...
to be fair it was a 2 hour drive, we were meeting people at 11am and had a tight timetable since it was a 6 hour hike. Then had to be at dinner which was at 6pm prompt, 2 hours further from the hike.
@wingfeathers - oh, and it's not really *saving $300, more like spending $100, since I wasn't planning on buying it already. ;)
Got one by chance on Sunday morning through Best Buy. Pure luck really.
I stopped by the Best Buy in Rockville, MD, and while they didn't have any in stock the sales person I spoke with said that stores are getting shipments via UPS (meaning they can't track shipments vs. their regular deliveries). The Best Buy in Frederick had just gotten 80 that morning he said and when I called around 2pm they had just sold their last one. Supposedly stores will be getting shipments now and again, just going to have to keep calling/stopping by...
My boyfriend and I both got one, and we have one more order pending with B&N to try and get a third to use as a gift for my mom (she wants an e-reader, and a $99 tablet is cheaper than the cheapest Kindle!). We're both signed up with SlickDeals.net, though, and had alerts through them for "hp touchpad" which is how we knew where to order the ones we did.
Hi jelouise, I've signed up for the deal alerts and how did you set it up to alert you when touchpads were available?
I called the Rockville Best Buy yesterday morning and they had none and when I called in the afternoon the lady said they did get a shipment and sold out already. Damn, bad timing. She says no more shipments coming to their store... :(
We got two, one for me, and one for my best friend. They were from Best Buy. Best Buy is getting them, you just have to check with the stores as they come in via UPS, etc.
Honestly, it is pretty slow for my taste. We have an iPad also. I've going to be mostly using it as a Kindle type e-reader.