How to sell $1.3M of software in 3 days and lose a ton of money

Good story here:

“How Axosoft Sold $1.3 Million Worth of Software in 3 Days”

Here’s how they did it:

1. Take a $495 package and instead sell it for $5.
2. Promise you will donate all of the $5 to the Red Cross.
3. Get Robert Scoble to promote your promotion.

The immediate result:

A. Sell 2,642 copies of the software.
B. Get your ass handed to you in terms of credit card payment fees that you have to eat.
C. Divert the entire company to fullfilling unprofitable orders.
D. Lose a lot of money.

The long term possible result:
I. Great PR.
II. Great referral.
III. Great word-of-mouth marketing potential.
IV. Good chance to get support revenue.

Summary:

A fantastic story of how to get a lot of buzz about your company. Even though they “lost money”, it would have cost them tons more to get similar coverage using traditional methods. For that, they should be commended.