EDIT: 3/30/2014 Midnight - Arduino Day is over! If you placed a backorder on March 29th then don’t worry about settling your balance right away. We’ll get in touch with you when payment is due! Also, if you contacted Customer Service before the Arduino Day sale ended please be patient and we'll respond as soon as possible.
It's worldwide "Arduino Day" - celebrating Arduino's 10th birthday! Arduino has been a key player in the DIY movement and has been instrumental in 100s of our projects. To be it succinctly - we're fans.
So March 29th we are offering the following boards at a discount price. These discounts run March 29th, 2014, from 12:00:01 a.m. - 11:59:59 p.m. Mountain Time. There is a limit of two units for each product (per order) and back-orders are allowed.
EDIT: 3/29/2014 3:45am (Mountain Time) - We've identified the backorder malfunction and enacted a work-around. Products are back-order-able again! Thank you for bearing with us.
Distributors - these prices don't apply to you, but we have a special discount for you (we emailed you a list of your items).
So on March 29th, here are the deals!
We hope this helps you build something amazing! Happy Birthday, Arduino!
3/29/2014 5:15am (Mountain Time) - edited to add: A Note About Payment For Back-Orders - you don't have to pay until the goods arrive and are ready to ship! See our Payments Information page for details.
If you are paying with PayPal, and your order has back-ordered items, you may not be redirected to the PayPal site. This is because we do not take payment until your order is ready to ship. Once everything is in stock, we’ll send you a money request.
3:45am (Mountain Time) - edited to add: We've identified the malfunction and enacted a work-around. Products are back-order-able again. Thank you for bearing with us.
1:15am (Mountain Time) - edited to add: We realize the malfunction with the backorder system. We apologize for the added frustration and the unhappy surprise. Thank you for your patience.
So not only have these poor people come in to work in the middle of the night to fix a glitch so we could all save a few bucks, they have also taken the time to apologise individually to every complaint.
I must admit I was surprised by some of the comments.
I agree!
To those of you that set alarms for midnight, stayed up till midnight or took off early from work - just to order something - I ask WHY? They stated clearly that back orders were allowed. So they had a bit of a SNAFU with it at MIDNIGHT (when everyone is in bed - or should be). Then you berate them because of a hiccup. It is not as if they tried to be sneaky and screw you out of something, that is not how they roll, or we would not be their loyal customers. You can still order your products even tonight at 10pm - with the same result, you will get the discount - so just calm down, breathe and enjoy the fact that Sparkfun decided to be nice and promote Arduino at their expense, and to our benefit.
To Sparkfun Employees - I have been in this kind of SNAFU before, it sucks. Thank you guys for the splendid job and the discount :)
Probably these folks decided they can't wait for backorders and wanted to order while the boards were still in stock. I doubt it really matters all that much unless they have a mission-critical project hinging on the boards. But some people just have to be first (like the people who post "FIRST!!!1!" on forums just to be first, even with nothing to say). I can wait (no critical projects, just a chance to get the good-quality "real" boards at a lower price than the eBay Asian knockoffs), so my backorder has been placed.
I'll add my voice to those who say "Thanks, Sparkfun!!"
I just wanted to say thanks to SparkFun for being such an awesome company by offering this sale, and working around the clock to fix the glitch that happened!
backorder! backorder! backorder! backorder! backorder! backorder! backorder! backorder! Please activate
Activated, backorder away! So sorry for the bug :(
Thanks for doing this, Sparkfun! When the dust settles from this sale, can you let us know some data abut it? How many of each device were ordered, (maybe even with the times-- there were 147 5V-pro-minis sold between 00:00 and 01:00, but only 30 the next hour, etc) I understand that the backorder glitches may throw the numbers off, but I'm always fascinated by statistics like that.
There is still... Quite a lot of dust, but we're sitting (11:00 Mountain) at 3522 orders so far today. There will definitely be a post mortem writeup of some sort with a pretty chart. Well, maybe not a pretty chart, but a chart.
Did you make any money off the boards? It seems like the components/pçb cost more then the price you were selling them for.
not really. I'm sure we'll give more details in the beautiful chart brennen promised, but generally speaking, it's about breaking even, more or less.
Yeah, wanted 2 of the red boards, this says backorder is allowed, but no go when I got them in the cart! Fix this please!
This is fixed now - you shouldn't have an issue placing a backorder. Sorry about this bug!
Thanks for the awesome sale, I got my order in with no issues.
Will there be a post this upcoming week with numbers of how many sold, I think it would be neat to see how many of each sold.
There will certainly be a follow-up blog post detailing the volume of the sale to an extent, as well as some preliminary estimates on how quickly we'll be able to build up stock and fill backorders.
Hi SparkFun. Long time lurker, first time order. Everything went smooth through the shopping cart and payment system. I ordered two of everything and a DEV-09716 - FTDI Basic Breakout - 5V and also a DEV-09873 - FTDI Basic Breakout - 3.3V. I heard about SparkFun and this deal on Reddit. Happy Birthday Arduino from the UK.
reddit brothers
They've seen that there is a problem and say they plan to fix it, so I hope they'll take some back orders from me in a few hours - I was glad to see that as otherwise most things I wanted to get were already out.
Back-order capability is fixed. Sorry for the waiting and frustration this bug caused.
Let me be the first to say Happy Birthday Arduino. Ordered 6 boards np.. thanks Sparkfun!
Per your email: To help celebrate we are offering one-day discounts on a selection of our favorite Arduino products. The sale will only last from 12:00:01 a.m. until 11:59:59 p.m. MDT on Saturday, March 29th. Limit of two units per order and backorders are allowed!
[edit] But I still love you, SparkFun! Thanks for giving us all the fun toys over the last few years. I'm sure you'll get this straightened out in the morning.
Does morning before the sun rises in Colorado count? :) Thanks for the support! We did get this fixed and backorders are working again. Whew I think it's time for more coffee now.
Enjoy your well earned coffee. I didn't doubt you for a second. I hope it didn't come off as whining (hence the edit). You're the best, and I have the animatronic top-hat and fleet of xbee synchronized light up vests to prove it!
Hey, no worries, it didn't come off that way at all. :) And thank you!
Well great, I thought you said you were going to allow backorders. Now all the boards I want are out of stock and no backorders allowed. Ooooops now I can't order any at all. There goes a $100+ order...
Yeah, what's up with that? Backorders are allowed but impossible.
Yes, looks like they didn't set up the stock codes properly.
Hopefully they have someone checking in on the website on Saturday and will fix it up before midnight.
It's a good thing SFE has insomniacs employed. :) This is fixed now! Sorry guys, this bug definitely took us by surprise.
Thanks guys, fortunately I managed to order what I really needed before the stock ran out.
I had planned on buying some stuff I probably didn't need but fortunately for my bank account it ran out of stock before my order completed. Now I have some $$$ left for a GPS module :)
Same happened to me as well. Hopefully this gets sorted out.
I can't believe what incredibly bad luck I have had on flash sales like this - I have been trying for years to get in on good deals, but I guess I'm just too slow - you know like 1 min. after the sale starts....
Ditto. I don't have much luck either. I'm hoping that sparkfun is reading these comments. I will still order if I can get backorder. I don't mind waiting. If not I may not order. I wanted to get 2 red boards and 2 pros but they are sold out. I tried to order 2 mins into the sale and everything was already in my cart. I even set an alarm to wake up to place the order.
We are here! Started working on a solution as soon as we started seeing responses. Took us awhile, but backorders are back up and running!
Thanks for fixing the backorder issue. I'm glad Sparkfun came through for us! Due to lack of stock and this backorder bug, all of my items in my order are backordered. Any chance you can give me a time line on how long I should expect to wait for the backorder to be filled?
We should have a better timeline on Monday as to how long it's going to take for the backorders to be filled. We'll get communication out as soon as we can with more details. :)
Thanks for the response. And a big shout out to everyone at Sparkfun! Thanks again for the sale. And I'm glad you were able to fix the backorder bug. Keep up the great work. I very much enjoy the site and what Sparkfun has to offer!
I won't order separately because I would have gotten free shipping, but not if I order just the pro 3.3 and 5v cards.
That sucks...
I just got email that the in-stock items I ordered during the sale yesterday are now packed and ready for shipping. Does Sparkfun ever let its employees go home?! :)
lol - That was fun! got my order confirmed in the first six minutes past midnight - i'm a first timer with Sparkfun though not a beginner in technology, I enjoyed looking forward to my first order for quite some time (new product ideas) and this 10th anniversary for Arduino as Sparkfun announced by email got me the push I needed. I emptied my only backorder item in the checkout as I was directed due to the bug - the feeling i got was it may be discontinued, not a problem - I'll be back... To the Sparkfun folks: A whole bunch of thanks and appreciation for what you do and how you do it. Pushing close to 60yrs of age - ya had me feelin like a kid (kidult) - I enjoy all what your doing and how your doing it! Thank You for that fun experience and I enjoy all the positive feedback I see. I'm with ya all - thanks!
I wish this had been better publicized.
A good way to make sure that you don't miss out on any big events like this is to subscribe to our newsletter. You can do that by checking the newsletter box in your account settings. You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and G+.
Thanks for such a great sale and getting the back ordering stuff sorted out. Y'all are the best!
I agree! I wanted to order several of the different ARDUINOS and was not able to. I will not place any further orders with Sparkfun unless you honor your advertisement. Hopefully this is just an IT glitch.
Definitely just a glitch. Trust us, this is not how we envisioned this going. Things should be up and running now. Our sincere apologies for the frustration this caused!
'twas indeed "just" a glitch, whose source we’ve now identified, and got a work-around in place. Sale items are now back-order-able.
Really wanted to try out the red boards. Whats up with the back orders!
Apologies for the added frustration. We identified the problem, and it's fixed now. Back-order capability is back.
Was going to order >$80. But with no back-order I ordered $20. Maybe later... Maybe not.
without backorders can't complete the order... happy birthday to the ground
Back-order capability is fixed. Our apologies for the disappointment caused by the glitch.
I didn't have any birthday cake to throw at the time either so i went to bed, Thanks for getting it fixed!
I just got 5 boards before they sold out!!! Thanks!
our team developed a open source Mini PC Banana Pi, it can be compatible with Raspberry Pi and Arduino, you can know more from our website: www.lemaker.org, you can try to use it. ,thanks Best regards Jet Xu: jetxu@lemaker.org skype:solarxu www.lemaker.org
Thanks for hosting this great event. I work an overnight shift and hit the back order snag, but it was no big deal. I took it as an opportunity to revise my order...which ended up becoming 2 orders. Thanks for supplying my hobby/addiction!!! An extra thanks to the tech who had to work the bugs out at an ungodly hour....buy that person a beer on me.
Thanks Sparkfun! I got a Redboard! I'm so happy!
I certainly don't mind settling my balance early nor do I mind waiting if that is more convenient for you guys. I just didn't see any way to do it via paypal or I would have taken care of it just to make sure I don't forget. I'm not really all that big on checking my emails but I'll try to keep a closer eye on them for the next few weeks :D
If making a payment now is easier for you, I can definitely get that set up. Just email cservice@sparkfun.com with your order number and address it to me (Casey). We're very flexible, so it's not a problem! :)
I can't believe how generous this sale was. I got two of everything except the uno's and a lipo battery to break 60. I have no idea what I'll do with all of them but my possibilities are pretty open. Thank you, SparkFun.
Thanks for the great sale! I've placed a bunch of orders for items at work, but this is my first personal order. Can't wait to get started on some projects and introduce my kids to it. Thanks again!
How come the Yun is not on sale ?
Sparkfun has bills to pay too. Not only are they probably LOSING a ton of money with this sale, but Sparkfun employees have to be working like crazy to make this happen. They aren't doing this so advanced arduino users can get a good deal, they're doing it so that people who are new to arduino can have a place to start. Personally, I'm disappointed the Leonardo was not discounted, but I can understand why it isn't. Arduino boards are probably Sparkfun's main money maker, they can't put them all on sale at once.
Happ Birthday, Arduino! Thank you, Sparkfun!
Don't get me wrong as I really like Sparkfun but this deal is a PR disaster. The products immediately sold out and I can't back order (9:45AM PST). If you are going to run an offer like make sure you have the products in stock to meet demand otherwise you just irritate your customers. Yes, I am irritated!
They worked very hard to correct the problem. Sounds like a PR win. If you bought everything it was a 53% off sale. The 10 boards I got = 63% off. P. R. Win!
SparkFun you guys are awesome!
Thanks for fixing the backorder issue. I just placed an order. It would be great if you offered a discount on the Sparkfun Inventor's Kit today. I have one and it's a great kit. Well thought out and well documented. I'd like to get a couple more for my students, family, friends who are just getting into Arduino. I realize you couldn't offer the same level of discount as on single boards. Thx for considering this. --Dan
about custom declarations (for EU orders), will you declare the sale price or the normal price on the package?
We'll be declaring the sale price of the item. :)
Backorder is still giving me this error:
Something broke.
...not to worry. We've logged this error and will be looking into it.
Reference #06d4f9ff1c
HELP HELP HELP fix this. I woke up early EST for this because the site said "backorders are available."
Thanks for the report, we're tracking down this issue now and should have a fix in place soon
The boards are:
Redboard, Uno R3, Mini 3 & 5 volts
I will try one more time and then email CS.
Which product? We'll track the error down.
Follow CaseyD-SFE's instructions, in the reply to your other comment. We'll get you taken care of.
Thank you so much. I tried to stay up until 2PM EST to place the order, but I could not.
Back order is still broken. Can not process please fix ASAP. I don't want to loose out of these items.
Can you try the order one more time? If you're still having issues, please email cservice@sparkfun.com and address it to me (Casey) and I'll look into it further. Don't worry - we'll get your order in the system! :)
"3/29/2014 1:15am (Mountain Time) - edited to add: We realize the malfunction with the backorder system. We apologize for the added frustration and the unhappy surprise. Thank you for your patience." What time should I wake up early this time? I had $50.00 of stuff in the cart to go along with the boards I wanted. An easy 100 order just flew away. I do not plan to spend the day waiting for the problem to be resolved after waking up early EST to place this order! We deserve to be notified by Sparkfun when we can backorder these items.
We've identified and quarantined the malfunction; products are now back-order-able.
9 hours after still with backorder not allowed :(
The problem is fixed. Back-orders are now allowed.
I got on right after midnight and lots of the Arduino Day items were available and I put them in my cart but apparently this doesn't reserve them as I then kept shopping for a bunch of unrelated items and an hour later when I went to check out all of my Arduino Day items had become unavailable. So I'll just wait on everything and I'm sure I'll be able to backorder all that I want later today when that site code gets fixed. Bummed about having to wait now, though, for more Arduinos to come in.
Putting something in your cart doesn't take it out of inventory - no site does that. I am sure items in your cart only update the inventory after you paid for the item. Otherwise, Sparkfun would be in trouble - the other day I accidentally updated the quantity in my cart from 1 to 1111. That would have caused their entire stock to be unavailable :( Yay for safeguards!
We regret having made you wait. The source of the problem has been identified, and the work-around is in place. Items are back-order-able again.
FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT....
FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT.....
Fixed! Back-orders are enabled again. Apologies for the glitch.
Well, fooey!
Come on SparkFun! With all the nerds and geeks around there, how does something like this get missed? Why didn't you guys stock enough boards to last longer than 30 minutes?
Oh well, hopefully you guys get the backorder system worked out.
Well, it's official. Everything is out of stock. 3:43am EST and even the 5V minis are gone. I managed to get 2, although I wanted other boards as well. This backorder thing stinks. I guess I can go back to bed now.
I hope you can fix the backorder malfunction soon :(
We've fixed it, back-ordering is enabled, though not quickly enough to count as "soon". Our apologies on the waiting and frustration.
Backorders are blocked for the uno smd.
Well so much for that. I hope someone catches this small snafu of not being able to order those out of stock items and that the 24-hour period gets extended to account for this.
Good luck buying anything. Most of these are on Backorder and Backorders aren't working right.
Was looking forward to trying a Redboard... Maybe backorders will be working in the morning.
"There is a limit of two units for each product (per order) and back-orders are allowed."
Cam you say false advertising...i was gonna order like atleast 60-80 worth of stuff but not anymore
Not false advertising - it was a programming ERROR - these things happen. They made it right - chill out dude.
Oops. Wrong place. . Edited
Look at them fly out the door. I suspect all stock will be gone in the next hour.
Same issue here. You said you'd allow back orders but there's no way to do it. I put what I wanted but couldn't back order on a wish list and also asked for auto notification. I hope this lets me buy at the sale price. Thx
The backorder feature is working again. You can place an order now and still get the sale price. So sorry about this bug!
.
I got 2 RedBoards and the Mini 3.3!!
I am bummed as well really wanted to try the redboard but no backorders oh well thanks for trying this is why i keep coming here
We fixed the backorder issue. You can order the RedBoard now! :)
Yeah awesome sale but zero stock so this is a HUGE disapointment....this sucks big time
Our backorder feature glitched a little bit. :( It's fixed now! So sorry about the frustration.
How do I back order?
Our backorder feature wasn't working properly, but we have recently fixed this. You can add the sale items to your cart and proceed through checkout to place the backorder. :)