The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

To the Reader Who Bought … Wait, What the Heck Is That $224 Gizmo, Anyway?

Posted on | August 21, 2011 | 7 Comments

I keep calling attention to people who shop our Amazon Associates links to buy stuff I didn’t even know Amazon sold until I saw the sales report informing that I’d earned a 4% commission on it.

But a couple of days ago, one of our readers purchased something that I don’t even know what it is.

Perhaps some tech-savvy reader can explain what you do with a “IOGEAR 4-Port HDMI Multimedia KVM Switch with Audio, USB 2.0 Hub and HDMI KVM Cables” — It slices! It dices! It makes cole slaw! Julienne fries! — but all I know is that one of our readers paid $223.69 for it, which provided me with a commission of $8.95.

Every purchase made through the Amazon links here, no matter how large or small, provides a 4% commission. Some reader purchased a book I’ve often recommended — Thomas Sowell’s The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy — for $12.24, which meant a 49-cent commission for me.

Lots of small commissions add up, but lately I’ve been trying to push the high-dollar items. We haven’t yet sold that $120,000 7-carat diamond ring but, for example, did you know you can get a casino-style roulette table for a mere $659.23 at Amazon? And then you can invite me over to your house, where I’ll stay until dawn or until I’m flat broke, whichever comes first (usually the latter).

But seriously, folks, it doesn’t matter what products are advertised: Click any Amazon link on this site, browse through their vast selection and anything you buy during that visit will kick me a 4% commission — which is substantially less than the house “take” on a roulette table, I hasten to add.

UPDATE: Just noticed that the roulette table says “wheel not included,” so you’d need to buy a wheel: a deluxe professional 19.5″ model is $299.99, but you could go top-of-the-line and get the 30-inch mahogany-and-maple wheel for $5,477.77. I’m just sayin’ . . .

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Category: Amazon

Comments

7 Responses to “To the Reader Who Bought … Wait, What the Heck Is That $224 Gizmo, Anyway?”

  1. M. Thompson
    August 22nd, 2011 @ 4:15 am

    They bought a computer thing that allows you to use a single keyboard, mouse, and monitor for multiple computers.  Smitty would be able to give you a far better explanation.

    This is a really high end one that works with the latest high end Audio/Visual and computer components.

  2. JeffS
    August 22nd, 2011 @ 5:10 am

    What he said.  “KVM” = “Keyboard-Video-Mouse”.  Looks like it handles USB as well.

    Of course, Stacy could just revert to his usual Luddite self, and call it a “doohickey”.  Perhaps a thingamajig.  Or even a whatchamacallit. 

  3. Alan Kellogg
    August 22nd, 2011 @ 7:38 am

    Considering what it does, it’s too complex to be a doohickey, and it’s certainly not a whatchamacallit, so I guess thingamajig fits it best.

    BTW, spellcheck recognized doohickey, whatchamacallit, and thingamajig, but not spellcheck.

  4. Adjoran
    August 22nd, 2011 @ 7:59 am

    Wow, subsidizing real news content by selling advertising on a response basis rather than an impressions basis . . . what a concept!

    It might have saved the NYT from eventual bankruptcy, if only it had been discovered before they put their ne’er-do-well scion Pinch in the top job.

  5. mojo
    August 22nd, 2011 @ 5:19 pm

    I believe the accepted technical word is “Thingamajig”…

  6. Anonymous
    August 22nd, 2011 @ 9:23 pm

    But does it make Julienne fries?

  7. Anonymous
    August 22nd, 2011 @ 9:30 pm

    Interesting hierarchy, where does a franastat fit in?