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Is the "% left" number fudged to hide quantities sold?

Sep 18, 2012 7:01 AM

When a Woot-Off has a slowly selling item, you can watch the "% left" sit at a level for a while and then drop and then sit again. Supposedly, it should be easy to figure out from this exactly how many of the item they have for sale. Not because it matters, but because you're bored waiting for the next item and need something to exercise your brain in the middle of the night to stave off involuntary sleep.

But I saw an item sit at 100% for a depressingly long time, then drop to 89%. That was odd enough, assuming they didn't break one of the units into many pieces and include a few with the first purchase. But then it went to 74% and then to 50%.

So, roughly 12-13% per item. But not exactly.

Are they including a random fudge factor that only becomes obvious on low-quantity items? If so, why would they bother?

Just curious.

mrgrogg mrgrogg

3 Answers answer

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vote-for4vote-against

Nope, nothing sneaky. You're probably seeing the effects of multiple wooters buying at once and the percentage bar updating to reflect that.

thunderthighs thunderthighs
vote-for2vote-against

With hundreds of wooters hitting F5 on an almost constant basis, they probably use some caching so it's not a realtime snapshot, but accurate to within maybe 5 minutes.

omnichad omnichad
vote-for1vote-against

It's all smoke and mirrors.

jsimsace jsimsace

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