Updated: SparkFun is giving away $100 in stuff, if you can get on

Judging by the fact that the site’s not loading, SparkFun’s free day has kicked off.

I managed to pull up a cached version of their main page detailing the promotion. It seems that every customer today gets $100 towards their order, shipping not included. The promotion will go on until the number of claims reaches $100,000. The caveats are fair and thorough, and after the shipping thing and a no cheating rule, include:

Rainchecks for popular items will be allowed

There is no special code to type in. But you get only one order on Free Day, so spend it well!

Only one $100 credit per household. We ask that you respect this limit and don’t try to abuse this gift.

There is no minimum or maximum order. You can spend more than $100, the balance of which will be charged to your method of payment.

Only Credit Card and Paypal orders will be eligible for the $100 credit. We don’t want to have people tying up inventory with POs, wire transfers, checks in the mail, or lost faxes.

Also, gift cards aren’t eligible and (duh) Free Day purchases can’t be returned for cash, merely exchanged. The rules are actually encouraging, because normally when a deal or incentive is as generous as this one is, you get the distinct impression that the retailer doesn’t actually want you to use it and it kind of feels like a shell game. SparkFun seems to be having fun with it, though, and even if you can’t get on to the site, the company’s Twitter feed is updated with the sale’s status.

UPDATE: As I was writing this, the sales shot from $35K to $100,587.80, ending the promotion. So it looks like if you’re just getting in, you’ll have to pay full price for your red rotary cell phone.