Visiting woot.com might clarify things. Woot's business (from their FAQ page: http://woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx http://woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx) is about selling

Visiting woot.com might clarify things. Woot's business (from their FAQ page: http://woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx http://woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx) is about selling one item a day, at a really good price. The Sennheiser headphones are today's item... and in that space where they're calling out AP, they usually talk up the day's product. They work in the sales pitch later in the text, though it isn't included in the TechCrunch article. So their alternative payment is buying their product instead of paying them directly. (But really, it's just a lead-in to the marketing pitch they usually have. I think. It's my first time there, too.)