The sim-racing hardware guys over at Fanatec have been on a roll this holiday shopping season. After some popular Black Friday weekend sales, they’re back with a new sales concept: an “Advent Calendar” sale.
Here’s how it works:
Every day until December 25, Fanatec puts one of its products up for “auction” at a specific time (more on that below). Users then bid on the item in $1/€1 increments until the auction expires or the maximum sale price is reached. The user who placed the last bid wins the item at the discounted price.
It’s an interesting and festive approach to holiday sales — when it works. The Advent Calendar sale has been going on for just over a week, but a grinch in the IT department has spoiled much of the Christmas cheer so far. Due to the time-sensitive nature of the auction, Fanatec’s servers haven’t been holding up too well, frustrating many who have tried to participate.
Fortunately, Fanatec claims to have new infrastructure in place, and the users who have won the auctions scored some truly incredible deals.
In the U.S. auction, someone bought the CSL Elite Racing Wheel (see our review) for just $211, a discount of 56%. Another winner scored the Forza Motorsport ClubSport Steering Wheel at 86% off. The biggest winner won the ClubSport Inverted v3 Pedals for just $11.00 — they’re normally priced at $499.95. That’s a 98% discount.
Click here to sign up for the Advent Calendar sale in your region (look for the Advent Calendar link once you select your location). Keep in mind this promotion is only available in the Fanatec US and EU stores for now.
Check out the official rules below. Good luck!
Official Rules
Here’s the official rules, as described by Fanatec:
- The starting price is $1/€1 on all those products.
- The auction ends when the end time is reached or when the maximum price is reached.
- Each product will get a guaranteed discount between 10% and 90%. The exact end price is unknown to the bidder.
- A registered Fanatec user can only place ONE bid per day. The bid which reaches the maximum price or the last bid when the auction ends, wins.
- The placed bid is not a specific amount but an increment of $1/€1 to the current bid.
- It is not allowed to create more than two customer accounts per household.
- The bids can be viewed in real time. It is not necessary to refresh the page.
- The auctions will start at 17:00 PST (in the U.S. store) and 18:00 CET (in the EU store) and the duration is 2 hours.
- The bidder who reaches the maximum discount first, or who places the last bid before the endtime of the auction will win the auction and will receive the product!
- The winner has 24 hours to make the purchase. Otherwise we reserve the right to give the next highest bidder the right to purchase the auctioned product.
