Prime Day fail: Amazon 'working to resolve' website glitch

Andrew Clark | IndyStar

Well, that didn't go smoothly.

The launch of Amazon's much-hyped Prime Day was marred by a major website snafu that left shoppers around the world frustrated, and sharing pictures of their dogs.

The massive online sale was to start at 3 p.m. ET (12 p.m. on the west coast, where Amazon is headquartered, and the Amazon website stopped working almost immediately.

Comparison shop: How Amazon's Prime Day deals stack up to Black Friday deals

Oops! On Amazon Prime Day, site and app crash and shoppers left in lurch

Unscientific testing by IndyStar users allowed some people to visit the product pages for items, and even put them into shopping carts.

But most were unable to access any products, specifically the famed "Prime Day deals."

Users were instead greeted by a series of dog photos or an endless loop when attempting to shop.

Needless to say, the masses were not pleased. Thousands of shoppers took to Twitter to express their frustration, and share the sad-looking "Dog of Amazon" photo that greeted them when they hit "refresh."

Bad news: Amazon seems to be crashing from demand for Prime Day sales. Good news: Amazon's error page is amazing. pic.twitter.com/lhUcipHTZX — Seth Fiegerman (@sfiegerman) July 16, 2018

amazon down on prime day heellpp #AmazonPrimeDay pic.twitter.com/IQRpr72iDw — Lisa Scherzer (@lisascherzer) July 16, 2018

I saved a bunch of money today because the Amazon site is down. #PrimeDay. — Roseville (@Roseville45) July 16, 2018

So Amazon Prime day is already glitching, but at least I get to look at dogs when I refresh it #AmazonPrimeDay #DogsForDays pic.twitter.com/6YmXOaZgcn — Tiffani Tezak (@TiffaniTezak) July 16, 2018

Amazon #PrimeDay off to a good start in the US... pic.twitter.com/i7R6e0C2o1 — Meaghan Werle (@MeaghanW_KR) July 16, 2018

Prime Day crashed Amazon. To be fair, they had an entire year to prep for this.#PrimeDay — Jon McBrine (@jonmcbrine) July 16, 2018

Prime Day is broken. pic.twitter.com/8MLnoNpCuL — Quinn Nelson (@SnazzyQ) July 16, 2018

Amazon Prime Day pages being down is absolutely worth it for the pictures of dogs. — Heather Kelly 🦁 (@heatherkelly) July 16, 2018

I see amazon prime day is going really well. 🤷‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/ENCNPFU0E1 — Liz Dueweke 🐾 (@LizDueweke) July 16, 2018

Saving a ton of money on Amazon #PrimeDay because I'm not able to buy anything pic.twitter.com/ciZSQ56xoH — Ezra (@LumbrioGames) July 16, 2018

I have now met all the dogs of Amazon, and purchased nothing. #primeday — bighoss (@scarybighoss) July 16, 2018

Live look at the Director of IT for Amazon rn #primeday pic.twitter.com/uIzRl5Gqla — Ashley Shapiro (@Ashley_Shapiro1) July 16, 2018

Every major retailer CEO seeing the amazon site crash at the start of #PrimeDay pic.twitter.com/DYN2OzW0z8 — Ryan Khadije (@KhadijeRyan) July 16, 2018

At 4:59 p.m. — nearly two hours after the start of Prime Day — Amazon said in a tweet that it is aware and is "working to resolve this issue quickly." The company added that despite the glitch, there were more orders in the first hour of this year's Prime Day than last year's.

The site glitch appears to take users in a loop.

Upon clicking "Shop All Deals," the site takes many users to a blank page — with no deals. Upon clicking "Shop All Deals" again, you return to the homepage.

On the plus side, if you do happen to stumble on a picture of a dog in the desktop view, you can click a link that takes you to a lovely blog about the dogs of Amazon.

This is the second major shopping flub in a week, by the way. Thousands of breathless shoppers were shut out of Build-A-Bear's famed "Pay your Age" promotion after the company shut down stores amid a crush of interest.

Amazon Prime Day: How to score deals and avoid duds Everything on Amazon will scream 'buy me!' on Amazon Prime Day. Just don't. Here's where to look for deals and what not to buy on Amazon Prime Day, July 16.

Andrew Clark is Facebook editor for IndyStar. Follow him on Twitter @Clarky_Tweets.