Wow, I came over here to put in my 2 cents & found out that corkymork already said it all! I find myself avoiding the site as well, although it used to be part of my morning routine while my coffee heated up.

Wish there was some discussion on the Woot Plus deals.

corkymork wrote:I've been a Woot customer since 2006, and check the site every day. I don't care for the new site, but I'll admit that after 6 years, you get used to things, and maybe it's a knee jerk reaction to change.
That said, I DO like the tabs to the other Woot deals. But that's it. Here are my peeves.

Too busy. Harder to find the info I need.

Shipping cost. No price on the main page except the all you can ship banner. I know it's always $5, but was worried that they may have changed that policy with he new site. And for newbies who maybe don't trust Woot yet; I feel that way when I visit another deal a day site and don't see any shipping cost.

Shipping method. Is it Smart Post? I used to be able to tell at a glance.

Comment pages used to be listed as older and newer instead of previous and next. I liked that.

I find that I'm avoiding the site if the daily emal doesn't list anything of interest. In the old days, I'd look at the various sites to take a quick look at what is available today. Now it's harder to see what I'm looking for amid ads and other deals. That info used to be on the left side all in line, with comments, ads, and side deals on the, well, side.

I miss the oval ridiculously large button. Can a rectangle even bounce?

Maybe some enterprising individual will build an Oldwoot web site that will pull info of the new sites and reformat it the old way.

fishphotogal wrote:You may as well fire the writers, since the written funny bits were moved off the front page, I haven't read one.

I think they did fire the writers -- it's just not smart or funny anymore. They just don't get it.

Slydon wrote:Same writers, honest, and few more besides! But I'm sorry you aren't enjoying our writeups at the moment. Maybe our jokes will impress you again one day in the future.

Is Jason Toon still there? I visited the workshop last week & did not see his pic.

Constructive criticism on the new woot deal page: it feels like it's A/B tested into "let's put everything everyone wants in one place."

Which breaks the whole feeling of the site, which is the focus on one item per day (with all the useful intro content around that item on one page).

Specifically, I think the deals.woot section should be deemphasized – less visual emphasis so that it doesn't make the page look like a summary of two blog posts (the woot item and the deals.woot item).

This site is all about today's deal (singular). That's what makes the site fun. When you a/b test into everything-everyone-wants-in-one-page, you get a portal. You get Amazon. But Amazon is not Woot. Woot is about the thrill of the deal, and the agony of the uninteresting deal. It's not about 'oh, you didn't like this item? Let us show you more from our catalog."

My two bits.

I could click the my account link and see my entire purchase history with their forum threads right next to them.
Now when I click "my account" I have to look for "purchase history", find the product in the list (that no longer fits in one page) and click "view order details". This takes you to your order status, which is unnecessary if you just want to comment in the forum, but hey what the hell. That's where I got lost for a while, until I clicked on the name of the sale at the bottom of the page that takes you to the sold out page. What am I doing here? I already know it is sold out, at this point I don't even care about the forum anymore. But wait what is that in the corner? a green button that says "Join the discussion" finally after I forgot what I wanted to say.

Old woot: click "my account" then "discussion" and you're there.
New woot: "my account">"purchase history">"view order details">"(green link with product name)">"join discussion button" and you're there, finally, if you still care.

5 steps instead of 2... yeeeah...
that...that is way better.

Why don't I see my resent posts when I click my user name anymore?

i really just use shirt woot and so far i hate it. besides the obvious too much going on on this page, the thing that really bothered me was trying to see the zoomed in picture on the shirt. before i clicked on the shirt and there it was before me. now i click on the shirt and it takes me to another page where i have to click the zoomed image to see it, and because it's not a pop up page it's also smaller than before. it really makes me not want to use the page at all. needs to be simple!

It is terrible. Since the change-over I visit much less, and when I do visit I hope it has changed.

While this beta crap is going on, there should be a link to get back to the old site, especially since so many seem to think the beta just isn't working for them.

Good luck.

The concept of woot is lost, the design is just another nail in the coffin. If any other site had this design it might be successful but for woot the goal was simplicity. Now that it isn't very simple, the user is bombarded with advertisements, multiple item selections and just too much on screen presence. Even before the redesign, woots following has been losing ground due to repeatedly bad products, to much of the same thing with prices that and just below Amazon. Not enough to jump at, the site is leaving us long time users wanting a new service to pick up where woot has left off. The success of Groupon and Living Social were born from Woot's simplicity and the market that Woot created. Woot is no longer in that market, its now polished design has alienated itself from its own following. My impulse buying has moved on to somewhere else.

Truly do not like the new design. Way too much going on. Does not display well in Firefox.

you have seemingly lost the touch :-(...so sad.

A better woot redesign:

http://img.zimg.me/4fd5f7c23a445

mechjagger wrote:A better woot redesign:

http://img.zimg.me/4fd5f7c23a445

Put the description below, and move the "Discuss this deal" to the right side (getting rid of the useless scrolling style and making it similar to the old quick-view style) and I'm sold.

Really, most of the redesign I can live with, but the giant "Woot! Plus" is just garish and incredibly out of place.

I think that woot is finding out that the concept that IS/was w00t was not an infinitely expandable one.

It created a new marketing method that was unique and fun, both because of and in spite of its limitations.

I could go into a tirade about how it is folly to try and continually squeeze more and more revenue out of the concept, but it's already been said.

We don't come to woot because it is JCPenny.com. We come to woot because of the novelty and possibility of catching a really good, unique deal for a very short amount of time.

If I don't like the deal, oh well. Stop trying to sell me alternatives every day. Woot is now selling, what? 30 items? More? And most aren't limited to one day sales? Boring, and certainly not unique.


The biggest kicker, though, is that this new main page is a cluttered mess. Pick ONE ITEM and try to sell it to me with that front page. Keep the other fifty items if you like, but don't throw them at my face. Woot- I challenge you to find one item that is worth buying, and then convince me to buy said item with that front page. Browsing until I find something that pleases me is what every other retail location both on and off the web has done for centuries.

Too busy. I hate the new site. No longer looks like woot! Looks like every other over done and too busy site out there.

Slydon wrote:Where were you? Jason's desk is just to the right of me so he has to pass me every morning before he can sit down. If he was missing, I'd know.

Glad to hear it. I cannot possibly tell where I am on this multi-clickable site. Too much for my poor old brain to filter. I was, I thought, checking the Woot Workshop, but then again, I could have been anywhere it would appear. Thanks.

I hope the new Overowners are paying atention - customers are not happy with the site. There is a tendency, especially in retail, to mess up a good thing by changing it. Whether the change is in hopes of increasing revenue or to allow some VP of Mucking-Around to justify her salary or simply because somebody got bored, the customers aren't happy. Now, you can hope that if you keep telling people that they actually really likethe changes, they'll believe it, OR you could listen to your customer base.
Woot. One day,One deal. It was the simplicity of the site that made it successful. It catered to a customer base that craved simplicity and value over splash. People are saying that Woot now just stands for amazon castoffs and closeouts. True or not, it's a growing perception. The customers who built this company are smart people. Listen to them.
There is a vacuum being left by the changes at woot, and other sites are already moving to fill it in. People have brought up the ghosts of AOL, Netscape, etc. Here's hoping woot! won't be just another brand on the scrapheap.

Whenever I click on the mini-deals that branch from the woot deals, they're always SOLD OUT. Even within a couple minutes of appearing.

What's even the point?

inkycatz wrote:

Check out this word cloud, posted by one of our developers.

I'd like to see a word cloud of this (Beta Feedback) thread.

I'm a web developer and this thing is hideous. Comments about it being as bad as Amazon and eBay are spot on.

Simple good. This convoluted upchuck of a design is anything but.

I originally subscribed to Woot for the tech deals. I've bought a *couple* of kids things... For my kids... But I've bought just as many, if not more things for myself.

Here lately, the kids stuff has been featured in my email almost every day. Can that be changed somehow?

If not, I'll probably unsubscribe, and because I have a busy life with kids, I'll probably end up forgetting about this site if I do that. =(

I don't want to forget about this site but bring back the old email format please!

ThunderThighs wrote:Yes, you can change the sale that is displayed as the main sale in the Daily Digest. In the email, click on the picture of the site you want to be the default in future emails. That will take you to the site but also set that site as the default for future Daily Digest email.

So click on the woot logo itself will do that, or even if I click on the picture of whatever item it is for that day?

Its a nice feature but (obviously) not well known. Perhaps a possibility to add a checkbox in the subscribe area? I ended up accidentally unsubscribing and re-subscribing which looks to have corrected the issue as well.

Slydon wrote:Same writers, honest, and few more besides! But I'm sorry you aren't enjoying our writeups at the moment. Maybe our jokes will impress you again one day in the future.

Perhaps they are spread too thin with a woot for every amazon category and 5 "woots" for each?

I too have noticed what *seems* like a MASSIVE decline in the quality of the writeups... Maybe I have just happened to read the new guys stuff while they are getting their feet though, since the writeups are now hidden, and there's only been a few things that interested me lately.

So I'll hold my breath and hope for better

ThunderThighs wrote:Yes, you can change the sale that is displayed as the main sale in the Daily Digest. In the email, click on the picture of the site you want to be the default in future emails. That will take you to the site but also set that site as the default for future Daily Digest email.

That's.... for lack of a better word.... Kinda of creepy. I get it. Sales. etc... but any tracking based on what you click in an email... I am definitly gonna stick with creepy.

This gives the term "Sellout.woot.com" a whole new meaning!

Looks like Amazon.com is trying to get their money's worth from the Woot audience. So sad to see another cool web icon get assimilated. Don't get me wrong, I don't blame you, this was the logical next step. Not everyone can be Craigslist. I love Amazon and I'm sure you will make more money, but the character and integrity of Woot seems to have disappeared.

It was really fun while it lasted. Your site was a beacon in a cluttered, confusing e-commerce world.

Woot, having officially departed the realm of quirky start-ups, has left a hole that probably will not be filled by a current competitor. I eagerly await the next web shopping phenomena.

I'll miss you Woot and I'll still visit you in prison! But, I'll miss the good times you had when you were free!

-Mike

PS- I hope the Podcasts will keep coming with as much creative freedom as possible!

I tried to submit an order, but it tells me that its being withheld. Seems like one of the car seat colors is out of stock(I ordered one of each). Now I can't cancel the 'withheld' order and just order two of the same color, there is no option. And, when I try and order two of the same color now, it tells me that I've already ordered two?? Very bad.

There should be some way to cancel a 'withheld' order.

I've checked woot almost daily since 2004 and for the first time find myself skipping it in the morning and at night - for the lack of a better way to describe it (knowing that this is not an entirely accurate descriptor) let me just say that it's too stressful to want to visit it. There are too many choices, too much decision-making -- it's the same reason I avoid a lot of Newegg.com's and Tigerdirect's email deals. Newegg's shell shocker deals work because there is only 3 (or 4) -- Woot (used to anyway) operate on the same principle. Google still does. I've long been a Woot disciple and cannot count the number of people I've told about it and steered toward Woot (despite the reduction in my chance to get yet another Bouts of Consternation ) but I'm pretty sure I won't anymore.

For example, I'm interested in the Cyber Acoustic Kindle cover today; however, nowhere can I find the sellout.woot forum discussing the product. A link to the product discussion used to be prominent and easy to find. Now I'm not even sure if it still exists. If so, I cannot find it under the community link. Even a custom google site search doesn't find it. (which by the way has long been mostly useless since it does not allow sorting by date).

Anyway, thought I'd throw in my 2 cents for whatever it's worth.

I know it's only $10 ($5 + $5s/h) but the Kindle cover is a good example of something I would have already ordered on the old Woot site and on this one I probably will not (unless someone can point me to the discussion page).

I'm not a change-phobe, I understand that change is inevitable but I think with this redesign Woot has moved too far away from what made Woot special. I think the one-deal-a-day in different areas (home, kids, wine, shirt) fit within the business model/theme; however, I think the new site goes a step too far.

Perhaps it will increase the bottom line for Woot and/or Amazon, I don't know. What I do know is that it seems likely that Woot will have to develop a broadened, new customer base as its old one begins to look elsewhere more and more often.

My second comment here- The more I visit the site the more I hate it. the new site really sucks. Just sayin'. Too choppy, no flow. It's like you hired a bunch of kindergartners, gave them snippets of crap and a glue stick and left them in a room for a couple hours. Sure you have some of the same things on there, but you keep adding more, moving stuff around. woot.com should be focused on the main item of the day, but you have a 400x600 section for the main item and blocks of random crap all over the rest of the page.

First off, there's WAY too much stuff on the screen. One of the things I've loved about woot! was the simplicity. The brand was all about NOT trying to push a bunch of stuff at me. It was one item, for one day, until it sold out (except for Woot-offs). That was your differentator. Now it's feeling like the big corporate boys are trying to sell me more stuff. Which, perhaps they are. But this format will assuredly turn me off to woot! ... for good. Just another un-fun retail site.

I realize this is likely a waste of my time since somebody’s job is going to depend on defending this mess, but here goes:
The new site is painful to look at. WAY too busy. I come here for the ONE woot item. All the rest is noise. You got a list of all the woots at the top, on the side, at the bottom. The best part (the write-ups) are half hidden. I hear they are not as good anymore. I wouldn't know, because I'm not going to click through to get to the rest of it. If I'm going to click, it'll be to the comments or off your site.
Whoever ok'd this - I wouldn't mention it on your next resume.

I'll close with a thumbs up - thanks for losing the "are you new here" page that stopped you if you were not signed in. I never bothered to go past that.

My second post but who remembers the good old days.

How about this?


Or even this?

makoti wrote:
I'll close with a thumbs up - thanks for losing the "are you new here" page that stopped you if you were not signed in. I never bothered to go past that.

Ha! I'm signed in and it still asks me for id and password if I leave the site for a while.

Slydon wrote:Same writers, honest, and few more besides! But I'm sorry you aren't enjoying our writeups at the moment. Maybe our jokes will impress you again one day in the future.

It's not that your jokes are not funny.It's that they are not on the front page.we are a lazy bunch(I admit I am) and don't want to have to click extra times to get to the fun. reduce the woot plus and put the write up back on the front and I bet you get less complaints.

bower515 wrote:My second post but who remembers the good old days.
...
Or even this?

I DO! :D

ThunderThighs wrote:You will be asked to log in when viewing pages that have personal information: Stuff You Bought and Your Account.

We are using new and improved methods for payment authorization which means you no longer have to enter a CCV. However, for security, we do require you to log in to those pages as they have your address and payment information. This keeps someone from walking by your computer (e.g. work) and ordering all the things on your credit card.

Unless you're one of the people who have your browser save your login info. Then it's just one extra step in our way and not a big issue for these account-hacking coworkers.

(My guess is, everyone who wants to score a BOC stays auto-logged in. Don't know how many people that is compared to the number of account-hacking coworkers.)

I'd love it if the shipping notice emails still had the tracking number. I use a package tracking app on my phone and (I know this isn't Woot's fault but) it's a zillion times easier to copy the number from email than it is from the browser, especially since we have to log in all over again to see our purchase history page.

~"Isn't Woot all about "One Day, One Deal"?
That's where our roots are."~

AND, that's the sales-niche the people who built WOOT! found worked great.
Unfortunately, it worked so great, a large Internet sales company bought WOOT! and in short order converted it into a "lite" version of their big Internet sales company. - Thus today, we have:
Amazon, a great Internet sales site of which I'm a member and have spent thousands of dollars and will no doubt spend more;
and
Amazon Lite (aka WOOT!) a once-great idea and sales site, where I've spent thousands of dollars, but doubt I will spend much in the future. The new owners don't understand WOOT!'s concept and why it appealed to so many crazy people.
.
I'm not sure why we need Amazon Lite, as we have the full version, and it offers more than this version of WOOT! can ever hope to offer.
It's sad. I used to look forward to midnight and the new tune/song (anyone remember them?), the crazy write-ups, and feeling I was sharing a fun place with like-insane folks - and of course, "One Day, One Deal" I might buy ~
.
WOOT!'s new owners think ""if we can find ways to bring you more cool stuff cheap (everyday with a plethora of links to go through, like our big business), it kinda seems like we should"" which goes to show you, the big Internet sales place (Amazon) has no idea what made WOOT! great and why people used to watch the clock to be the first to WOOT! and experience the craziness, and deal, that happened here at midnight.
Amazon Lite? Thanks, but no thanks. It's lost it's charm and there's a better selection at the full scale site.