We’ve received a number of tips indicating that that Jellyfish’s flagship product, online social shopping show Smack Shopping, is going to be shut down. This is surprising move for Jellyfish, a Microsoft-owned online shopping portal, since the premise of the show is based around the audience creating hot (low-cost) deals on online products. In a economy where a good deal is desirable, one would think Smack Shopping could survive. Scheduled shows used take place 24-hours a day, 365 days a year, but last year Jellyfish changed Smack Shopping format to only one show per weekday and none on the weekends.

We wrote about Microsoft acquiring the discount online shopping service, Jellyfish, in 2007. And creators and serial entrepreneurs Brian Wiegand and Mark McGuire have had several successes in the start-up world, with the most recent, Alice.com, set to launch this March. When Microsoft bought Jellyfish, they seemed optimistic about the website, saying that they “think the technology has some interesting potential applications as we continue to invest heavily in shopping and commerce as a key component of Live Search.”

Here’s the email sent to registered users.

Dear SmackShopping User,

Thank you for using SmackShopping and participating in the SmackShopping
community over the past few years. Regrettably, we are closing down the
site effective February 16, 2009. SmackShows, chats and other interactive
SmackShopping services will be discontinued at this point. However, you
will be able to redeem any coins you have accrued for 90 days (until May
15, 2009). At the end of 90 days the site will be brought down completely.

Please do not reply to this email, but if you have any questions, please
contact us at questions@smackshopping.com.

Sincerely,

SmackShopping Team

We’ve added SmackShopping to the Deadpool.

Thanks to Shawn Rubel for the tip.

From MAKE, this homemade LED jellyfish costume is crazy. Imagine running around in the dark with that thing on. Cool, right? Now imagine it while you’re drunk.

Halloween LED Jellyfish Costume [MAKE]

Under the terms of the deal, Jellyfish.com will maintain its standalone identity and its 26 employees will remain in Wisconsin.

Jellyfish.com previously took $5 million in funding from Kegonsa Capital Partners and Clyde Street in October 2006.

Jellyfish.com’s platform, which Marshall Kirkpatrick described when he reviewed in for TechCrunch as being “a little bit frightening and bizarre,” is a reverse auction where buyers bid on reducing prices, betting on when to place an order without knowing quantity at the given price.

The Microsoft Live Search team said they “think the technology has some interesting potential applications as we continue to invest heavily in shopping and commerce as a key component of Live Search.”

Take The Grill on the Road
X-Ray Business Cards
BlinkyBugs: The Coolest DIY Project You’ll See Today
Jellyfish Beer Bong
Slouchpod Endorses Laziness: We Get Fatter

MOW-AERATOR: Gopher Perforator
BlinkyBugs: The Coolest DIY Project You’ll See Today
Jellyfish Beer Bong
SmartShopper USA SS-101 Hands On
Wi-Fi Could Be Dangerous To Your Health (But What Isn’t?)

The Jellyfish Beer Bong is one tentacle short of being the most awesome frat-accessory ever. For $10.99, you get an inflatable plastic beer bong that comes in the shape of a Jellyfish. Unfortunately, it only has one funnel for beer flow, which is kind of disappointing considering Jellyfish tend to have several tentacles flowing side to side. But the booze experts over at Liquor Snob reviewed it and say that for the price and portability, you really can’t beat the Jellyfish.

Rumor has it you can snag it for $7.99 for a limited time. Chances are I’ll order one for endless fun in the sun this summer.

Official Site [via Liquor Snob]

The fine folks at Jellyfish are planning to offer phones and laptops at a considerable discount, so hang out next Monday and be ready to rumble.

Smack Page

The fine folks at Jellyfish are planning to offer phones and laptops at a considerable discount, so hang out next Monday and be ready to rumble.

Smack Page

The fine folks at Jellyfish are planning to offer phones and laptops at a considerable discount, so hang out next Monday and be ready to rumble.

Smack Page

On the first day the event was held, 10 people got Apple 2GB iPod Nanos for free. On Friday 50 SD-P1700 Portable DVD Players were sold in the Smack, some for as low at $60. Thursday’s PowerShot SD450 Digital Camera never fell below $100.

Affiliate revenue sharing, real time chat, crowd shopping – sounds pretty 2.0, doesn’t it? Or perhaps it just sounds like fun. As I post this, the iPods are at $310, the forum is hopping and no one knows how many are left.

The company plans on holding the Daily Smack reverse auctions every Monday through Friday. If you find yourself in psychological shambles by the end of the week, here’s a link to the National Council on Problem Gambling. I’ll see you at Jellyfish though.

Update: It looks like the iPods sold out for right about $200, down from a starting price of $350. The forum was quite active towards the end, sociology and psychology students would have had a great time. See also Woot, a site that sells a single item for a low price every day (and was repeatedly derided in the Jellyfish Smack forum) and ZeeDive, a site with a different model we reviewed here.

Kegonsa Capital Partners and the company’s founders Brian Wiegand and Mark McGuire provided initial seed funding for the company earlier this year. There is no shortage of comparison shopping sites around the web, but very few of them are this interesting. Sharing affiliate revenue is nothing new (see our coverage of Kulist and FatWallet, for example) but doing it with class and getting funding is impressive.

If the site gains substantial adoption, the company hopes it can drive base prices down and commissions up. Vivek Puri’s excellent blog StartupSquad had a good explanation of the service and reported that the round was about to close two weeks ago. See also our comparative review of shopping review sites Retrievo, ViewScore and Wize.