Kickstarter contributors got access yesterday, but Meh.com launched this morning for the rest of us. As Matt Rutledge promised, you’ll find just one deal today. It’s an iRobot Roomba 560, a refurb model from 2007. iRobot sells the things for $249. The Meh price? Just $179. That seems a little better than meh. What I find most intriguing about the site, though, is that it shows everyone its sales figures in real time. As of 9:30 this morning, 13,201 people had visited the site; 836 people clicked the “meh” button (I was one of them); and 28 people bought a Roomba. There’s also a map showing where the buyers hail from. That’s transparency. As for the product writeup, the art at which Rutledge’s old Woot.com excelled so brilliantly at times, this one did not impress. When I was working on my profile of him, Rutledge showed me a writeup they were considering for an upcoming product. It was hysterical and packed with vulgarity — something Amazon would never do. I hope they try it.
