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[DryvBy]

This is why store-exclusive crap shouldn't happen.

 

[jetsetmario]

With limited quantity restrictions, yes. Also Pit was never re-listed.

That's crazy... so anyone who got an order in last week when they were Buy one get one 40% off with free shipping were forced to re-order today at regular price?

 

[ostrichKing]

I ordered before the bogo fiasco and still got screwed over...they cancelled EVERYTHING and right now you can't even find them listed on the site...ridiculous!

 

[Lonnie413]

They have in store preorders on them now.

 

[AdventureMike]

That's crazy... so anyone who got an order in last week when they were Buy one get one 40% off with free shipping were forced to re-order today at regular price?

Seems to be the case.

I ordered before the bogo fiasco and still got screwed over...they cancelled EVERYTHING and right now you can't even find them listed on the site...ridiculous!

Yeah they were up earlier and have since (so it seems) sold out again.

 

[yongeandcollege]

I sort of feel like these toy threads don't belong on the gaming side. I know these things unlock costumes and stuff, but they aren't games and barely qualify as accessories.

 

[AdventureMike]

I sort of feel like these toy threads don't belong on the gaming side. I know these things unlock costumes and stuff, but they aren't games and barely qualify as accessories.

They are threads about DLC related to video games. I don't know how you could conclude they don't belong on the video game side.

 

[akileese]

Someone had posted that CS told them the reopening of preorders was a mistake and that they were all going to get cancelled again. Seeing as how now everything that isn't wave 1 is gone from their site, this is looking to be the case.

 

[DryvBy]

That's crazy... so anyone who got an order in last week when they were Buy one get one 40% off with free shipping were forced to re-order today at regular price?

Basically. This is essentially bait and switch, right?

 

[SmokedMeat]

Basically. This is essentially bait and switch, right?

Or maybe Nintendo isn't getting the shipments out as promised? It's not like only one retailer is experiencing a problem.

 

[YuriLowell]

Basically. This is essentially bait and switch, right?

no.

 

[rjinaz]

I sort of feel like these toy threads don't belong on the gaming side. I know these things unlock costumes and stuff, but they aren't games and barely qualify as accessories.

You should probably just ignore threads that don't interest you. I do it several times every day since I don't have interest in many game genres. Better than thread whining which can get you banned.

 

[Danthrax]

I sort of feel like these toy threads don't belong on the gaming side. I know these things unlock costumes and stuff, but they aren't games and barely qualify as accessories.

Amiibos' main purpose is to touch them to the Wii U Gamepad while playing Smash Bros. to load up character data for an NPC that you can customize and "train." That data is stored in the Amiibo.

It very much is a video game accessory.

All the other stuff Amiibos do — unlocking weapons in Hyrule Warriors or costumes in Mario Kart 8 — is ancillary to their main purpose.

 

[rjinaz]

Basically. This is essentially bait and switch, right?

In a sense, but they don't actually charge you until the order ships as I understand it, so nobody actually paid anything.

 

[ostrichKing]

no.

It's not bait and switch...but it's terrible business practice...Cancel everyone's orders, say they are sold out, then open it up for orders again...

 

[Occam]

This is why store-exclusive crap shouldn't happen.

In some parts of Europe, possibly the entire EU, retailer exclusives are against the law because it's seen as a distortion of competition. They have the right idea.

 

[Plinko]

Basically. This is essentially bait and switch, right?

Not even close to the definition of bait and switch.

 

[AdventureMike]

In a sense, but they don't actually charge you until the order ships as I understand it, so nobody actually paid anything.

Well, it could technically turn into one.

I have yet to be refunded for the money I put down on in-store pre-order cards. If those DO turn out to be as bunk as the cancelled online pre-orders, then they have truly stolen from me.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Is ToysRUs in bad financial trouble or something? Or do we just have no idea why this happened? Will Lucario be offered elsewhere or we don't know yet?

If Amiibo are too stressful to shop for, just stop caring about plastic figurines that don't do anything meaningful for your game.

It wouldn't surprise me if they are. They are so barebones and inept like Kmart is that I assume they have similar issues. I wondered why only 2 of my preorders shipped last week from them. Pretty close to just returning all my amiibos, this shit kills all my desire for them.

 

[djshauny]

You should probably just ignore threads that don't interest you. I do it several times every day since I don't have interest in many game genres. Better than thread whining which can get you banned.

I wouldnt call it thread whining. Its him just ex[ressing an opinion. If he gets banned for that then I dont know what to say..

 

[Keyouta]

Store exclusives are dumb, the nearest Toys R Us is 5 hours away from me.

 

[metsallica]

Yeah, but is the packaging in English?

From what I can tell they are, yeah, though there are some slight differences from the US packaging. If you look at Rosalina, here's Europe:

Here's the US:

Here's Europe:

The series name is on the European packaging, as are her other names used in the region.

 

[DeanBDean]

Nintendo laughing and skipping to the bank.

I'm not going to pretend to know how Nintendo's management views this kind of situation, but I know from what I've read about supply this is not a situation a healthy company desires. Demand is fine and dandy, but it does not earn one money if you're not actually selling anything. The best situation to be in is to produce exactly what the customer desires. However, its better to have a little more than much too little, which seems to be the case in the US.

 

[rjinaz]

I wouldnt call it thread whining. Its him just ex[ressing an opinion. If he gets banned for that then I dont know what to say..

I didn't say he/she was going to get banned for that specifically, I hope not, but if he or she continues to visit threads they have no interest in it's probably inevitable. It's best to just avoid those thread and let the mods sort it out, they know what they are doing.

 

[thefit]

They cancelled my villagers. First they cancelled 1 and allowed me to keep the second ordered and yesterday I received the cancelled email so I get none ;_;

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

I wouldnt call it thread whining. Its him just ex[ressing an opinion. If he gets banned for that then I dont know what to say..

We have Skylanders and Infinity threads without problem.

 

[Saint Gregory]

What I ended up doing, and this has been twice now, is going through a European Amazon to order the exclusives. I bought Rosalina and Lucario at Amazon.FR. It's a little more expensive, but maybe about $10 all-told (with shipping). Worth it for the piece of mind. You can even log in with your American account, shouldn't have any issues. Just remember to hit that little Chrome translate button if you get lost (you are using Chrome, right?!).

Thanks for the suggestion, this is what I just did.

Vive La France!

 

[Snaku]

Could Nintendo have fucked this up any worse? I wonder if my in store Lucario preorder is safe?

 

[evilromero]

I think it'd be better for them if they had stock to fulfill demand? Unless they're the ones selling them on eBay for 3 to 10 times the cost.
...
Though I wouldn't put it past them. Haha. I think NOA hates its fans.

Doesn't really matter does it? All of those scalpers paid $12 per amiibo I'm guessing.

 

[Mpl90]

I've read a bit later people were able to preorder again, and that the new preorders had the "1 per customer", which could mean they did it to stop scalpers. Is it still true?

 

[Toxi]

I'm not going to pretend to know how Nintendo's management views this kind of situation, but I know from what I've read about supply this is not a situation a healthy company desires. Demand is fine and dandy, but it does not earn one money if you're not actually selling anything. The best situation to be in is to produce exactly what the customer desires. However, its better to have a little more than much too little, which seems to be the case in the US.

By the logic expressed in this thread, Nintendo would make the most money selling zero Amiibos because of "insane demand".

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

Doesn't really matter does it? All of those scalpers paid $12 per amiibo I'm guessing.

It matters because being incapable on supplying demand is considered losing money and scalpers are not the intended costumer to begin with.

 

[ostrichKing]

I've read a bit later people were able to preorder again, and that the new preorders had the "1 per customer", which could mean they did it to stop scalpers. Is it still true?

But they cancelled people who ordered ONLY one of the figures...makes no sense...yes let's cancel all orders and then allow a few people who are on the site to order again...

 

[Popnbake]

I sort of feel like these toy threads don't belong on the gaming side. I know these things unlock costumes and stuff, but they aren't games and barely qualify as accessories.

Well Nintendo isn't treating Amiibos like a gaming accessory.

Unbelievable to make it so that their fans can't even be sure they will get one after pre-ordering these things.

What a mess of a product that was supposed to be getting people interested in Wii U hardware/software.

 

[Kowalski]

So are any of these figurines a hot item or just certain ones? I saw a crap load at my local walmart the other day.

 

[spookyfish]

Well Nintendo isn't treating Amiibos like a gaming accessory.

Unbelievable to make it so that their fans can't even be sure they will get one after pre-ordering these things.

What a mess of a product that was supposed to be getting people interested in Wii U hardware/software.

Nintendo should just sell them in its online store. They obviously can't handle multiple stock allocations.

 

[DryvBy]

Not even close to the definition of bait and switch.

I was thinking of false advertising. Not sure why I thought bait and switch.

 

[VeryGooster]

So are any of these figurines a hot item or just certain ones? I saw a crap load at my local walmart the other day.

Seems like if they aren't mostly based in the Mario (Rosalina probably an exception) and Zelda line (and maybe Kirby) there probably won't be many shipped. Not surprised I already can't find Little Mac and can't order Mega Man and Sonic.

 

[Rezae]

I'm so worn out on this whole fiasco, I think I'm done. I've collected around a dozen, including Marth, Villager, WFT, Diddy, and Little Mac. Probably just going to sell them on eBay or on here while the demand is high. How Nintendo has handled this (IMO manufactured/artificial shortages/demand), I just can't be bothered anymore. I liked the idea and collecting, but I'm not wasting any more time hunting or paying 3x+ more than MSRP due to scalpers at this point.

 

[evilromero]

It matters because being incapable on supplying demand is considered losing money and scalpers are not the intended costumer to begin with.

Well, demand doesn't seem to be an issue. In fact, at the current rate I anticipate it to continue as Nintendo trickles stock into stores over the next few weeks. The burden of selling is on the scalpers. All Nintendo needs to do is adjust supply, but not by too much. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some inflated reporting of demand, keeping in mind that there are several factors Nintendo cannot control. One of those factors being shelf space. Being a new player in the toys-to-life category means limited shelf real estate. So they cannot over supply when there is only so much space afforded to them.

 

[ec0ec0]

GAF is about amiibos now. Amiibos everywhere. More tomorrow.

 

[The Lamp]

Could Nintendo have fucked this up any worse? I wonder if my in store Lucario preorder is safe?

Nintendo hasn't handled this well at all. Neither this nor the GameCube adapter

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

Well, demand doesn't seem to be an issue. In fact, at the current rate I anticipate it to continue as Nintendo trickles stock into stores over the next few weeks. The burden of selling is on the scalpers. All Nintendo needs to do is adjust supply, but not by too much. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some inflated reporting of demand, keeping in mind that there are several factors Nintendo cannot control. One of those factors being shelf space. Being a new player in the toys-to-life category means limited shelf real estate. So they cannot over supply when there is only so much space afforded to them.

Burden in the scalpers? The scalpers are going to be the people benefited from this clusterfuck. You talking about scalpers like they are retailers. They are not.

Also, get this, THIS IS NOT THE FIRST
TIME they do it with software too and that is worse because they are supposed to know about that stuff given their seniority in that market.

 

[metsallica]

Thanks for the suggestion, this is what I just did.

Vive La France!

Absolutely, and you're welcome!

I've read a bit later people were able to preorder again, and that the new preorders had the "1 per customer", which could mean they did it to stop scalpers. Is it still true?

I ordered one Lucario Amiibo. I am not a scalper. At this point there's not a ton of info, but it certainly seems like they killed everyone's order. Has anyone who preordered Lucario on 11/20 NOT had their order canceled?

 

[kitchenmotors]

I sort of feel like these toy threads don't belong on the gaming side. I know these things unlock costumes and stuff, but they aren't games and barely qualify as accessories.

Thread whining or not, this kind of attitude is lame. Don't click the thread.

 

[emb]

Well, demand doesn't seem to be an issue. In fact, at the current rate I anticipate it to continue as Nintendo trickles stock into stores over the next few weeks. The burden of selling is on the scalpers. All Nintendo needs to do is adjust supply, but not by too much. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some inflated reporting of demand, keeping in mind that there are several factors Nintendo cannot control. One of those factors being shelf space. Being a new player in the toys-to-life category means limited shelf real estate. So they cannot over supply when there is only so much space afforded to them.

Shelf space gets brought up a lot, and I think it's an important factor in the overall sales and popularity of these things.

But every retailer that sells these things has an online presence (and worst case, Nintendo could sell them in their own storefront online). With demand as high as it is, Nintendo is leaving money on the table by not supplying more. Shelf space is not a complete bottleneck for availability.

 

[evilromero]

Burden in the scalpers? The scalpers are going to be the people benefited from this clusterfuck. You talking about scalpers like they are retailers. They are not.

Also, get this, THIS IS NOT THE FIRST
TIME they do it with software too and that is worse because they are supposed to know about that stuff given their seniority in that market.

I'm a bit confused by the emotional responses here. First, scalpers purchased the inventory so Nintendo did sell that portion of their inventory. Whether or not the scalpers benefit seems irrelevant in the broader discussion of how this is impacting Nintendo. Note, I'm not talking about the customer. That's another issue.

Second, this isn't Nintendo's first rodeo trickling hot product into retailers. Back when Link's Adventure and Super Mario Bros. 2 were the hot christmas item, Nintendo strategically managed inventory so that they didn't oversupply. This resulted in customers driving to nearby cities and standing in line to get the software. Not only did this create excitement and brand awareness, it got Nintendo a lot of press. What's happening now? Nintendo gets an article in Wired and the USA Today. Seems to be working.

 

[Dice]

When I ordered Lucario it didn't even have a date, just next year. Are they telling me they couldn't make enough in the entirety of next year? This shit isn't worth it. A preorder is either to tell you how many you need to make, or to sell what specific measure you are going to get ahead of time. If you fuck that up and say you don't want my money, I won't be frothing at the mouth to give it to you.

 

[victreeb3l]

I didnt even get a chance to pre order Lucario

Damnit Nintendo print more of these!

 

[OrbitalBeard]

So glad I decided to skip the whole Amiibo thing. I was really excited when they were announced but this type of stuff is beyond ridiculous.