Catch of the Day is a bargain hunters dream website. As an online store headlining a range of new products for sale every single day, Catch of the Day was listed on BRW Australia’s Top 100 fastest growing companies of 2010.
With most goods being sold for up to half its retail price, there’s no suprise that thousands upon thousands of consumers visit the website daily in search of that boastful bargain unfound anywhere else.
I am no exception.
I purchased that brown snow jacket on CotD for only $30!
Catch of the Day refreshes their list of products on a 24-hour cycle beginning at mid-day, everyday.
On today is the grocery run.
Five days ago, a variety of sporting apparels.
And just a few days before that, a range of IT-related gadgets (my favourite!).
But once in a blue moon, CotD releases what they call “The Flash Sale”.
The FLASH SALE is special event showcasing a series of top-of-the-range goods for sale at legitimately rare discounted prices.
On the dot of every hour throughout this special day, CotD releases a feature item for sale at “OMGWTFBBQ” prices!
But only within that one-hour period.
Even God says OMG.
The feature items-for-sale yesterday were:
- $1 Havaianas flip flops
- $5 Nerf gun
- $49 10MP Coolpix Nikon Camera
- $49 BenQ 20″ LED Monitor
- $129 Nintendo 3DS
- $199 Play Station 3
- + 6 more mystery items revealed on the hour.
Every single item on that list now had more value than before.
I didn’t just want it, I needed to get it!
And as the clock struck 12 on this Tuesday afternoon, I was prepped up and ready to snipe down the items I so desperately needed.
Ding!
12pm: Logitech UE200 Noise Isolating Earphones went on sale for $5!
$5 freakin’ dollars for a pair of – what I’m sure are – above average quality headphones. Tempation kicked in. Should I get it?
“No, Adam, resist the temptation!” I told myself.
I’ve already purchased 4 different pairs of headphones on CotD in the past. (Wikipedia properly explains my compulsive disorder)
1pm: $5 Nerf gun!
Perfect for those cold nights at home alone to protect me from the boogie man, or worse…
The Pedobear!
I heavily thought about this one. Amongst the 6 featured items on the list, the nerf gun was at the bottom.
A want, but not a need.
I didn’t buy it. There were other fish to catch!
2pm: Cisco Flip Mino III HD Camcorder for $69.
I’ve desperately wanted to invest in a HD Camcorder for some time now. $69 isn’t too huge an investment, which made it an intriguing catch.
Was this flip camcorder really worth getting?
I have never test driven this device, let alone seen it being used.
On top of that, what threw me off was its limited storage capacity of 4GB, with no additional storage capabilities.
Yet another to item to pass on.
3pm: Nikon Coolpix 10MP Camera. The first major feature item I needed was now on sale! YES!
My dextirity and agility was called to come to play. All those years spent playing Counter-Strike should not fail me now!
And as soon as the page loaded, I sniped and added the Camera to my cart before you could say “Gesundheit”.
Ctrl+C my debit card information > Ctrl+V into my details > CONFIRM.
.
.
.
Only 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the sale, and the item was sold out.
You can imagine my dissapointment.
Sad face :(
4pm: The Boyfriend Pillow.
Blergh, I’ll skip the details on this one.
If it was instead the girlfriend pillow, I may have reconsidered…
Actually, maybe not…!
5pm: BenQ 20″ LED Monitor
My Counter Strike skills didn’t do me justice for that Nikon Camera I needed.
I needed to push deeper.
I needed my button-mashing skills from my Dragon Ball Z days!
The website didn’t load for at least a minute.
I forgot to mention that server crashes were abundantly common in special occasions like these.
By the time the page loaded, a minute and a half had passed and the item had already been sold out.
Once again, the dissapointment took over.
Sad face :(
I began to question my faith. OMG Church, Y U NO help me with my needs!
It was5pm and work had ended. I had to leave the office.
I figured that the trend dictated that a feature item would be on sale on the forthour.
That’s every two hours.
Do you like my play on words? Fortnight = Forthour. No? Come on…!
Everything went downhill from then on.
I had no access to my computer.
Hours became minutes. Time flew past so quickly that I kept forgetting to check back on CotD.
When I went back online at 7:15pm, my dissapointment kicked in at its hardest.
I missed out on the one item I was waiting all day for.
Hypothetically, I gave myself a hard slap on the face.
I walked away with the saddest of sad faces.
:'(
I didn’t bother to check back ’til 9pm, which was when the Nintendo 3DS went on for sale!
Once again, it was sold out within seconds.
I knew that was it. The big bargains were gone.
All that was left were the $1 Havaianas flip flops that would be for sale at 11pm.
I was right.
There they were, the $1 Havaianas.
Frustration kicked in.
I was going to rip my hair out.
They only had size 37 & 38.
Sometimes the best piece of advise are the simplest ones.
I wear a size 46.
Ef. Em. El.