March 9th, 2026
compellingmind blown2 reactions

The fine print giveth and the bold print taketh away: The countdown timer

Raymond Chen

Some time ago, I was purchasing online tickets to an event. When I got to the end of the checkout flow, I got this:

 

Your seats will be held for only a limited time. If you do not complete your transaction in time, your seats will be released.

Time remaining: 3210:00595857565554535251504948474645444342414039383736353433323130292827262524232221201918171615141312111009080706050403020100¹

You must accept the following terms to complete the purchase.

☐ I agree to the Purchase Terms
☐ I agree to the Terms and Conditions
☐ I agree to the Payment Terms

Complete purchase

The countdown timer gives me only three minutes to read the Purchase Terms, Terms and Conditions (which in turn incorporates by reference the Privacy Policy and Supplemental Terms), and Payment Terms. Given that these documents add up to several thousand words, I think I have a case for claiming that the terms are unenforceable.

¹ I wonder how many people stuck around to watch the clock count all the way down. There is no Easter Egg, sorry.

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Raymond Chen

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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  • Brian Boorman

    Meanwhile, the source code for your blog post is over 3,000 lines long. Your timer similarly expires before one can scan the page source looking for an easter egg.

  • Nicholas Salerno

    The footnote reads that there is no Easter egg. On the contrary, the footnote is the Easter egg.

  • Falcon

    This one could be added to the Consumer Rights Wiki, if it’s not there already.

  • Nick

    I had to look at the source to see how you did the clock with just markup. Bravo.

    Now I want to see a clock using non-instant, non-linear transforms, so each number morphs into the next. Or an analog flip-clock 🙂

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