Almost Free Day Is Coming!!!

• by Black Angus Rocket Storm
• July 13, 2016

Save the date: 7/20/2016!

No, you didn't read that wrong. The single most epic day in SparkFun's history is making its comeback. If you're familiar with SparkFun lore, Free Day involved giving away a whole bunch of SparkFun gift cards to customers. Our best-documented Free Days began in 2010 and continued through 2011 and 2012. Through all of this we learned a lot about ourselves as a company and how passionate people are about free stuff. Check out the comments from past blog posts if you want some solid entertainment. After 2012 we discontinued the annual tradition for a number of reasons, but it's time to give it another go with a different twist!

What is Almost Free Day?

This year we're selling 3,000 items for $0.01 each, thus the "almost" part of Almost Free Day. We've done this for various reasons, but mostly to keep it legal. We'll have 300 each of nine different board types and one mini LilyPad bundle (SKUs 10867, 11364, 10730, 10044). None of these boards have export restrictions, so customers around the world can participate. Here are the products:

SparkFun OpenLog

DEV-13712

The SparkFun OpenLog can store, or "log", huge amounts of serial data and act as a black box of sorts.

$16.95

SparkFun MP3 Player Shield

DEV-12660

The SparkFun MP3 Player Shield is an awesome MP3 decoder with the capabilities of storing music files onto a run-of-the-mill …

$28.95

Big Easy Driver

ROB-12859

The Big Easy Driver, designed by [Brian Schmalz](http://www.schmalzhaus.com/), is a stepper motor driver board for bi-polar s…

$21.50

LilyTwinkle

DEV-11364

The LilyTwinkle is a tiny little LilyPad board designed to add some twinkle to your project. Even though it's as small as som…

$5.95

SparkFun Micro OLED Breakout

LCD-13003

The SparkFun Micro OLED Breakout Board breaks out a small monochrome, blue-on-black OLED. It’s "micro", but it still packs …

$17.50

LilyPad Arduino USB - ATmega32U4 Board

DEV-12049

LilyPad is a wearable e-textile technology designed to have large connecting pads to allow them to be sewn into clothing & co…

$27.95

Conductive Thread Bobbin - 30ft (Stainless Steel)

DEV-10867

This is 30 feet of conductive thread spun from stainless steel fiber and wound on a plastic bobbin. Use it to sew up all of y…

$3.95

SparkFun LED Array - 8x7

COM-13795

The SparkFun LED Array is a set of 56 red LEDs arranged in a nice 8x7 grid. This little board requires eight pins while the l…

Retired

LilyPad Coin Cell Battery Holder - 20mm

DEV-10730

If you're looking for a simple way to add a battery to your LilyPad project, the LilyPad Coin Cell Battery Holder might do th…

Retired

SparkFun Weather Shield

DEV-12081

The Weather Shield is an easy to use Arduino shield that grants you access to barometric pressure, relative humidity, luminos…

Retired

SparkFun RedBoard - Programmed with Arduino

DEV-12757

At SparkFun we use many Arduinos and we're always looking for the simplest, most stable one. Each board is a bit different an…

Retired

SparkFun RedStick

DEV-13741

In 2015 we developed the BadgerStick as a fun and interactive way for people to learn about soldering and engage with SparkFu…

Retired

LilyPad LED Red (5pcs)

DEV-10044

Here is a simple 5 pack of red LEDs for LilyPad, or whatever else you can dream up. Light up the night! LilyPad is a we…

Retired

What's the catch?

These 10 different products will all be represented as one SKU. That means you won't know which product you get until it arrives. On Almost Free Day you'll just add the "Almost Free" SKU to your cart, and if you make it through checkout before the boards run out, you'll get one of the 3,000 boards.

Is there anything else?

Yes! We'll be offering some special bundles for this day only, as well as having a big sale on the SIK. If you want to get involved in Internet of Things (IoT) or wearables/e-sewing, this is a perfect opportunity with a big discount. The following three bundle options will be $74.99 on Almost Free Day and available on the front page with the one-cent SKU:

SparkFun Photon RedBoard

DEV-13321

The SparkFun Photon RedBoard, to put it simply, is a WiFi/Microcontroller development board in the Arduino form-factor for th…

Retired

SparkFun Simblee BLE Breakout - RFD77101

WRL-13632

The SparkFun Simblee BLE Breakout board is a programmable board that allows you to add mobile app functionality via Bluetooth…

Retired

SparkFun Blynk Board - ESP8266

WRL-13794

The SparkFun Blynk Board is specially designed to work with the ‘widgets’ within the Blynk mobile app to create your next…

Retired

LilyTiny

DEV-10899

The LilyTiny is a tiny little LilyPad board designed to add flashy functionality to your project without taking up a lot of r…

$5.95

LilyTwinkle

DEV-11364

The LilyTwinkle is a tiny little LilyPad board designed to add some twinkle to your project. Even though it's as small as som…

$5.95

Conductive Thread Bobbin - 30ft (Stainless Steel)

DEV-10867

This is 30 feet of conductive thread spun from stainless steel fiber and wound on a plastic bobbin. Use it to sew up all of y…

$3.95

LilyPad FTDI Basic Breakout - 5V

DEV-10275

This is the LilyPad revision of our [FTDI Basic](http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9716). It is the same as our other FTDI Bas…

Retired

LilyPad Arduino Simple Board

DEV-10274

This is the LilyPad Arduino Simple Board. It's controlled by an ATmega328 with the Arduino bootloader. It has fewer pins than…

Retired

LilyPad Coin Cell Battery Holder - Switched - 20mm

DEV-11285

Sure, your flashing, chip-tune playing t-shirt is really cool at the party... but at some point you need to turn it off. And …

Retired

LilyPad Simblee BLE Board - RFD77101

DEV-13633

The LilyPad Simblee BLE Board is a wearable development board that allows you to add mobile application functionality via Blu…

Retired

SparkFun Inventor's Kit - V3.2

KIT-12060

**As you may have seen from [our blog post](https://www.sparkfun.com/news/2241), we recently moved our injection mold for SIK…

Retired

When is Almost Free Day?

The one-cent SKU will go live at 10 a.m. MT on 7/20/2016. The above bundles will go live at the same time. The event will last as long as it takes to sell through the 3,000 boards.

What about shipping?

Unfortunately, yes, you will have to pay for shipping, but we've done a few things to help. All domestic orders over $75 will ship free, as usual. If you'd like free shipping, just add enough to your cart before Almost Free Day to hit that $75 threshold. Then, on Almost Free Day, just add the one-cent board and go! If you can't think of $75 worth of stuff you'd like, try one of the one-time-only bundles above.

What should I do before Almost Free Day?

• If you don't have a customer account, create one before 7/20/2016
• Have your payment information and shipping information ready to get through checkout fast
• Be signed in to your account before 10 a.m. MT on 7/20/2016
• Have your cart filled with everything you want (except the one-cent board or bundle) prior to 10 a.m. on 7/20/2016
• Decide if you want to buy a bundle and be ready to add it to your cart when it goes live
• Plan on potential server crashes
• Almost Free Day may result in shipping times taking longer than usual

What are the rules and restrictions?

• Customer accounts only -- no guests, educators or distributors
• Only available for online orders
• Sale prices applicable while supplies last
• No backorders allowed
• All sale prices expire at 11:59 p.m. MT on 7/20/2016
• Only one "Almost Free" SKU, one IoT Bundle and one Wearables Bundle allowed per order
• Multiple orders on a single account are allowed throughout the day

Thanks for reading. We're excited to participate in another day of madness with you!