I didn't find this posted anywhere but I just received this email from checkout.com

Thank you for making Checkout.com one of the most popular entertainment destinations on the Net. We'll be closing our site shortly and charting a new course as part of Amplified Holdings, a leading service provider in the world of digital media.

Today, February 15th, we will stop taking orders. If you have recently made a purchase from Checkout.com we will make every effort to fill your outstanding order. Your credit card will not be charged for any items that we are unable to fulfill. For your convenience Checkout.com will, remain live for the next four days so that you may access your purchase information.

If you have purchased music or movies at Checkout.com, you know that we have served as Wherehouse Music's online partner. If you are a registered Checkout member, you will soon receive an email letting you know when WherehouseMusic.com will be open for business.

We thank you for your patronage.

Another one bites the dust. I wonder though if they hadn't made that initial mistake would it have made any difference? Probably not, maybe it would have added a month or two.

What mistake are you talking about?

Let's see if I can remember the details. When they first opened they sent a note to select people offering a limited time discount of 55%. Of course the details of this got out quickly and they were swamped w/ orders. The thing I don't recall though is whether or not the 55% was ON TOP of their usual up to 40% off or something else similar to that. Anyway it turned out to be a DEEP discount that some people <i>really</i> cashed in on.

Yes, it was 55% off on top of the 40% off (making it around 70% off MSRP), when they intended it to be 40% off, total. I didn't go overboard on the deal, but I did get the Alien Legacy box for $39.

But leaving with some humor
 

The subject line for their email was...

"Checkout is... well, checking out."

I never got anything from them. I totally missed out on that deal they had way, way back. But actually Geoff already knew that checkout.com was on its way out since they pulled out of his affiliate program.

[Edited by ibuyufo on 02-15-01 at 09:29 PM]

RIP Checkout. I enjoyed their service, and I specially enjoyed the 31 DVDs I got from them during their 75% off sale, or however much it was. It was a mistake for sure, 55% off....but it was accidently 55% of the already marked down sales price.

There was some griping as their site "went down" and shopping carts were emptied and the rules changed to a max 15 DVDs..etc. But they did ship out all those I ordered.

I only placed one order with them (2 discs), not from that big sale, and I had no complaints with them. I got a great deal on the order, with a coupon, and they shipped promptly. A+ service from my one order with them.

I think I got one or two DVDs from them, using some kind of decent coupon that I got at a supermarket. Anyway, I got the email, too. But I haven't used them in probably a year or so -- since I started buying at Amazon at 70% or more off. Now, even that is drying up. Waaaaah!

Somebody call the waaaambulance :)(loved The Kid). I didn't even have a DVD player back when they had their massive sale, so I only got a couple of CDs. Too bad too cause I'm pretty sure people were getting Robocop Criterion for $8 or something insane.

Bad Business plan
 

It is know wonder checkout.com is out of business, they could never really figure out a sound business model. Do we want to be a entertainment content site or a e-commerce site? When it comes down to it you can't make money off content and banner advertisments. If they would have concentrated a little more one providing a top quality e-commerce application they might still be alive. But I am sure blowing all there money on advertising did not help.