I think in 2018. Last year activated at the appropriate time.
I agree it isn’t the buyer’s fault but it ain’t right. If this really is the second time it’s happened, it’s a surprising lack of attention to detail especially considering how much attention to detail we see on a regular basis from Ryan and the crew.
I saw this thread when it was first posted and was able to buy. It was my first tree sale, and I was really excited. Curious to see if they will void the early sales. It wouldn’t bother me if they did in order to make it more fair, but I hope they send out communication if they do that.
Looks like they already shut it down
This happens often to even giant retailers for new / hot products. Stores will advertise items before they’ve been announced (new iphones) and sometimes even sell them before they were supposed to be on the floor. It not easy to organize the new items in the system and then at a set time release them for all to see. So I sympathize with the curators of the online shop.
I did see that some of the items are not visible any longer. The team is probably working to try to stop the bleeding. Maybe there will be a few extra once the sale goes live. I’ll be watching.
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Congrats! Let us know which tree (if you want) once it’s official. I’m fine with it no matter what the outcome, just surprised and a bit disappointed that it happened.
Use the sneaky link I posted above.
They said that this would be the biggest tree sale yet, but I seem to remember that there were more trees last year. 
Yeah I noticed that too. Here’s to hoping the trees come flooding into the store at 10 PDT.
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This is crazy. I can imagine that sinking feeling when trees start to sell a couple hours early. Doh!
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I’m sure Mr. Steele was not amused.
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What do people think of the format of these sales? I kind of think there should be a “preview” period where people can look at what is available and decide what they want to try to buy when the sale opens. Otherwise you’re asking people to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a tree after only the briefest review period. I don’t like to shop that way and probably will never purchase a tree during one of these sales because of it.
I’m sure that would create another set of issues but I don’t like the time pressure aspect of this…goes completely against the idea of bonsai in my opinion.
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I recall last year some trees were added within an hour of the initial sale going live. Maybe they will be adding in more affordable trees? We can only hope.
It’s live now. I think there are more trees. No new “affordable” ones though.
I think an auction format would work well here.
Nah, that’s what Facebook is for.
Welp, this was fun. Congrats to anyone that made purchases! I’m off to the nursery to grab a tree. 
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Where is the link to the sale trees?
hopefully they put more affordable trees for beginners
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