Got an I/O ticket...only to have payment gateway fail?
34 comments
Can't say I didn't see this coming. It's been the same absurd registration experience for several years now. What Google really needs to do is stop throwing all this free swag around so the conference can really find its intended purpose and audience again: developers. I've to most I/Os since its inception, and damn has the quality of the actual conference gone down since the first.
Although I don't think the free stuff helps matters, WWDC tends to be a very similar free for all - slightly less hectic, but that's only because Apple don't give notice of when the tickets are going on sale, so it's more of a mad scramble than a pre-planned thing.
Which is to say, in terms of registration issues I'm not sure making it more technical and getting rid of the free swag would alleviate matters, if you just go by what happens with WWDC.
Which is to say, in terms of registration issues I'm not sure making it more technical and getting rid of the free swag would alleviate matters, if you just go by what happens with WWDC.
Interesting. I've never gone to a WWDC, but I've been to the first three I/Os, and while it could be the fact that the conference has become better known since then (and increasingly at larger scales), you can definitely see the effects that the free swag have on registration demand (and the effect on the quality of the people going to the conference) over the years. It's been really disappointing to witness the change, as personally I/O was my favorite tech event back when it was true to its original purpose: a conference for developers.
Agreed. Google Ticket Plinko, followed by Google Wallet Plinko.
Google can serve mail and handle search, but online registration and payment gateways don't seem to be its strong suit.
Google can serve mail and handle search, but online registration and payment gateways don't seem to be its strong suit.
Oh, it's I/O time again.. HN for the next few days will be nothing else than blogs crying about not getting in (and various reasons for why it is not fair). Oh well..
I'm not really bothered by the fairness (or otherwise) of it, I'm just amazed that Google keeps getting this so horribly wrong. I thought they might have learned after the Nexus 4 mess that they need to improve their purchasing system, but no.
Their 'fix' appears to have been handling page reloads for us, and making sure it's only done every 30 seconds- rather than, say, addressing the underlying weakness in their system.
Their 'fix' appears to have been handling page reloads for us, and making sure it's only done every 30 seconds- rather than, say, addressing the underlying weakness in their system.
and about students wanting free stuff leaving the good longtime cutomers in the dust... or something like that
I would wager that a fair chunk of the demand for Google IO is people wanting to be showered in gadgets and then there are people who legitimately want to learn stuff. Maybe I'm just being cynical. I have never been to Google IO so I don't really know. Any previous attendees have impressions about this?
yeah well, my response was a little tongue in cheek. i tend to watch the videos online. people don't go there just to watch stuff. they go there to network, and get free stuff.
contrary to what the current conference/technology trend may dictate, technology is not a rockband where the live show is better than the studio recording.
contrary to what the current conference/technology trend may dictate, technology is not a rockband where the live show is better than the studio recording.
Yes, I've been to several prior events and the number of folks that used to be Devs has certainly migrated to folks that are in for the free goodies.
I have to believe eliminating the "free goodies" will definitely return it to a dev conference vs. an Oprah event. Maybe this will be the year. This year the system said they found a ticket (actually several times), but apparently they were just dangling it in front of my nose, because I couldn't get through payment gateway, Google Wallet.
Each year registration is like a game of Google Plinko.
I'd be curious to know the # of user requests that brought the Wallet to its knees.
I have to believe eliminating the "free goodies" will definitely return it to a dev conference vs. an Oprah event. Maybe this will be the year. This year the system said they found a ticket (actually several times), but apparently they were just dangling it in front of my nose, because I couldn't get through payment gateway, Google Wallet.
Each year registration is like a game of Google Plinko.
I'd be curious to know the # of user requests that brought the Wallet to its knees.
The online videos are great. Although it would have been beneficial to sit down and talk some of the teams in person. Anecdotally I have heard that in talks with engineers on different teams you can learn a lot of little tips and tricks that aren't made widely available to the public because of a lack of interest and/or ability to make the information useful, or because they are little quirks in the system that can be helpful if you know them, but if everyone does then would cause problems.
I've always thought it would be interesting to see how long it takes tickets to sell out if you had to write a bit of code first. Something simple like fizzbuzz perhaps. The architecture from code jam is there.
I've never been, but given that the tickets seem to sell out long before the list of panels/events is even posted, I'd say that Google is as much at fault as the gadget-grabbers.
I'd love to know what, exactly, I'm trying to spend a cool grand on.
I'd love to know what, exactly, I'm trying to spend a cool grand on.
I now think there are actually only five tickets available, being distributed in chocolate bars around the world...
What a frustrating experience. Waited in line for an hour only to have a broken checkout screen. You think they would have their shit together by now.
Searches never got anything for me. Girlfriend got to buy button which never returned from graying out after pressed. Wish I'd tried the dismiss popup and retry or check wallet in another tab tricks people mentioned working here. As it is, lost the ticket due to the 5 minute finish count. Oh, well, always next year. :)
Everytime it comes up, I'm always fascinated that online checkout under demand is still unsolved, even by a giant like Google.
Obviously it's a small chunk of all online sales, but it always seems like the process fails somewhere
Obviously it's a small chunk of all online sales, but it always seems like the process fails somewhere
This brings up a common problem I have with high demand ticket sales. Why not, for at least the first portion of tickets, us a scaling price? When sales open, the price is $10,000. Drop the cost by 1% of the starting price per minute for the first 90 minutes. Recalculate the starting price at the current price and begin again until we reach a floor.
So if sales start at 9:00 am we have the following schedule:
09:00 am : $10,000
09:01 am : $9,990
10:30 am : $1,000
12:00 noon: $100https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_auction
Google doesn't necessarily want the richest companies/developers to attend. Nor are they interested in extracting the maximum amount of money (though of course they could do a few charity auctions). A good mix of small companies, freelancers, corporations is probably what they're aiming for.
Google doesn't necessarily want the richest companies/developers to attend. Nor are they interested in extracting the maximum amount of money (though of course they could do a few charity auctions). A good mix of small companies, freelancers, corporations is probably what they're aiming for.
If the goal is to spread tickets evenly over all potential attendees, then lottery style ticket sales make more sense.
Although if they want to control the composition of their audience even more, they can sell some tickets via Dutch auction and use the profit to pay for the costs for attendees are specifically invited.
Although if they want to control the composition of their audience even more, they can sell some tickets via Dutch auction and use the profit to pay for the costs for attendees are specifically invited.
You made it further down the line than me. Clicked the signup within a second of going live and still loading...
How irritating. I got as far as getting a ticket for Google I/O three times. Google Wallet failed to complete the transaction all three times, although once it got as far as creating a "pending" transaction. After the third Google Wallet failure, Google I/O was sold out.
Geez....
Geez....
I've got 2x $900 pending charges shown on Google wallet after attempting to purchase the ticket.
Kind of happened to me. The first time, the modal didn't complete, but I received an email that the charge updated. For kicks, I jumped into the queue again and that time the page completed all the way to the reg form. I now have two pending $300 charges.
I was able to get the Google Wallet options to appear and hit 'purchase', but the the 'purchase' POST request timed out.
Trying again, but now I'm seeing this: "Try again. We couldn't find you a ticket, but there still might be tickets left!"
Trying again, but now I'm seeing this: "Try again. We couldn't find you a ticket, but there still might be tickets left!"
Another view of the ticketing process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...
I think this is definitely not a good first impression of Google Wallet. It was my first time using Google Wallet and I think it was for many others as well.
GOT ONE! Try opening a new tab an logging into Google Wallet after a ticket is reserved...That might have been a coincidence, but it worked
Same here :(
http://imgur.com/B7xRaPZ
sold out :(
Same here. Have a pending payment in my Google Wallet account. Ah well.
The site says sold out. I just got up.
I hate to be obvious, but putting registration up in the morning for a bunch of developers (most of whom are on the West Coast) isn't the best idea in the entire world. Especially when it sells out in 15 minutes.
I hate to be obvious, but putting registration up in the morning for a bunch of developers (most of whom are on the West Coast) isn't the best idea in the entire world. Especially when it sells out in 15 minutes.
I mentioned this in another thread: lots of engineers do live outside of California. The majority of engineers in the world are not based on Pacific Time.
Last year Apple put WWDC tickets on sale at 5:30AM PDT without notice...the rumour mill suggested this was deliberately done by Apple to ensure more attendees from outside the west coast. I heard something similar from someone at Apple as well.
Whatever time you put tickets on sale, somebody is going to complain. There are certainly two sides to the coin here...I'm not pretending to have a solution, but merely pointing out a time that's convenient to you may well not be convenient to, say, developers in Asia.
Last year Apple put WWDC tickets on sale at 5:30AM PDT without notice...the rumour mill suggested this was deliberately done by Apple to ensure more attendees from outside the west coast. I heard something similar from someone at Apple as well.
Whatever time you put tickets on sale, somebody is going to complain. There are certainly two sides to the coin here...I'm not pretending to have a solution, but merely pointing out a time that's convenient to you may well not be convenient to, say, developers in Asia.
Happened to me twice. Trying for a third ticket now...
All sold out.
exactly what happened to me got ticket payment processing..... timer runs out.. WTF
so I wasn't the only one...
Same error. Now sold out.
Same thing happened to me.
same here and Google Wallet still show it is processing... :/
Better than I managed.
got the ticket but my wallet throw an NoFundsFound
Same thing for me.
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