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Why doesn't Amazon sell any Nintendo systems anymore? (And will they sell Wii U?)

thomaser

Member
So what's another good reason for Nintendo to not stock Amazon US with any hardware? Or for that matter what's a good reason Amazon US would have to not make anymore money off selling Nintendo hardware?

Amazon probably doesn't make money on hardware. Nintendo systems are commonly sold as loss leaders. I know for a fact that a big chain in my country sells the 3DS XL at a 10% loss, even now when it's brand new. I'm no expert on huge-store-economy and cannot say why they do this with every single Nintendo system. Seems senseless to me - I like to try to profit, even on hardware. But no matter what the reason is, it's sure to be about money in some way.

I find your argument that Nintendo had a history of doing exactly what I said in the past, but they couldn't possibly do it again kinda silly. As I stated before, my guess is just a guess based on Nintendo's past. It's been going on for months and not one single gaming site appears to give enough of a shit about it to actually ask.

I work in retail, and have dealt with Nintendo for almost 20 years, both as a stand alone store and as part of a big chain. My father has dealt with them since 1982. We have been the biggest Nintendo-seller in the country, and we have also been quite small. We have some experience with their relationship towards retailers and how it has changed over the years.

Seen in light of that experience, talk about Nintendo still "bullying" and "strong-arming" retailers is ridiculous. They're not always easy to deal with, but they are always no-nonsense, friendly and professional. The worst thing they do is to refuse to sell to you if you break the contract, or if you owe them money and don't pay. You seem to have a very strange view of the business, as if it's some kind of playground where people are good or bad and plot schemes and mischief against each other. "Acting like children"... gimme a break.
 

IrishNinja

Member
Dude.

Did I miss something or is the entire basis of this thread no longer pure speculation? Because you seem pretty certain that you know exactly what's to blame, but I'm not really sure what you're basing it on.

it's not just this thread
 
Dude.

Did I miss something or is the entire basis of this thread no longer pure speculation? Because you seem pretty certain that you know exactly what's to blame, but I'm not really sure what you're basing it on.

Just a hunch, and the fact that Amazon responded to me saying I can't buy a DSi directly from them because "we can't stock what Nintendo doesn't provide us". Like I said, it's a guess and I'm open to other suggestions as to why this situation has been going on for so long.


Seen in light of that experience, talk about Nintendo still "bullying" and "strong-arming" retailers is ridiculous. They're not always easy to deal with, but they are always no-nonsense, friendly and professional. The worst thing they do is to refuse to sell to you if you break the contract, or if you owe them money and don't pay. You seem to have a very strange view of the business, as if it's some kind of playground where people are good or bad and plot schemes and mischief against each other. "Acting like children"... gimme a break.

How naive are you? Businesses act like children all the time. They threaten, get belligerent etc until they get their way. Nintendo used to threaten and then withhold product if a retailer wasn't giving them exactly what they wanted. Now that the competition is as strong or stronger than them, they can't get away with it like they used to. You contradict yourself when you claim Nintendo's never treated your company this way, yet also admit that they've notoriously treated retailers this way in the past. I also dont buy your reason that Amazon would drop hardware sales because they weren't making enough money off them. Selling the hardware gets consumers to come to Amazon, and when you're there buying hardware you're most likely also buying games and accessories. It's not like Amazon sent back all the stock and said we don't want it anymore. They still have stock of limited edition DSis for sale. They'd be stupid to drop just Nintendo hardware for that reason. Hopefully someone finally gets to the bottom of why this is going on. I don't discount the possibility that Nintendo are acting childish again since they have a history of doing it, and it's curious that Amazon's stock of all Nintendo hardware dried up after they stopped selling the 3DS and posted a message stating why they wont sell it anymore until Nintendo addresses the issue.

Prove me wrong. I'd love to be wrong on this.
 

jschreier

Member
It's weird that people here are still attacking game journalists about this. I've posted the statements I got from both parties last year: Amazon is clueless (and ignored all follow-up questions) while Nintendo says everything's A-OK. When the parties involved refuse to answer your questions, a story is significantly more difficult to uncover, especially when it revolves around something as insidery as a corporate partnership.

And sure, this might be a story worth digging further into (and it's definitely been on my radar), but if there is any drama here, it's buried pretty deep.
 

Mudkips

Banned
I don't think this is any more complicated than the fact that Amazon doesn't like to sell things at a loss.

The simplest explanation is that after the 3DS price drop, some returns over the screen smudges from the bottom screen, and Nintendo refusing to give them a sweetheart deal on the price, Amazon simply took the opportunity to stop stocking it. They instead let others sell it on Amazon for a higher price while taking a cut off the top. Profit for minimal effort vs loss for moderate effort. Not exactly a difficult choice. Willing to bet this is the case.
 
It's weird that people here are still attacking game journalists about this. I've posted the statements I got from both parties last year: Amazon is clueless (and ignored all follow-up questions) while Nintendo says everything's A-OK. When the parties involved refuse to answer your questions, a story is significantly more difficult to uncover, especially when it revolves around something as insidery as a corporate partnership.

And sure, this might be a story worth digging further into (and it's definitely been on my radar), but if there is any drama here, it's buried pretty deep.

So keep nagging them. You don't think it's a big deal that one of the biggest retailers in the country isn't stocking a single bit of Nintendo hardware other than one particular limited edition Pokemon DSi that they haven't sold out of? I have no idea which site you write for, but IGN's wasted more than enough of everyone's time writing stupid shit about what Game X could learn from Game Y. They clearly have time on their hands, as do the other majors.

I guess where the disconnect for me comes from is the fact that people who write about games call themselves "journalists", so I naturally expect them to act as such. A journalist would dig and dig and not give up because someone stonewalled them the first time they asked a question. Threads like this one aren't an aberration. They appear on most gaming forums, because it's a topic many gamers give a damn about.

I don't think this is any more complicated than the fact that Amazon doesn't like to sell things at a loss.

The simplest explanation is that after the 3DS price drop, some returns over the screen smudges from the bottom screen, and Nintendo refusing to give them a sweetheart deal on the price, Amazon simply took the opportunity to stop stocking it. They instead let others sell it on Amazon for a higher price while taking a cut off the top. Profit for minimal effort vs loss for moderate effort. Not exactly a difficult choice. Willing to bet this is the case.

Doesn't explain why they also stopped selling every other bit of hardware.

You guys arguing with daydream sequence are just wasting your time. His post history is pretty suspect in Nintendo related threads.

Oh joy, a Nintendo fan who got his feathers ruffled by something I said. Which post upset you? The one where I lamented the fact that the screens apparently are still prone to scratching on the 3DS XL? Apparently I'm now anti-Nintendo, eh? Pssst, I'm not out to get you or Nintendo. I'm open to being wrong in my guess. I have credit at Amazon that I'd love to put towards a 3DS XL, but I can't. I want to know why. Just like many other people want to know.
 

jooey

The Motorcycle That Wouldn't Slow Down
hey guys Nintendo totally has a long history of bullying retailers even though I can only pull up that one incident in the early 90s

I guess where the disconnect for me comes from is the fact that people who write about games call themselves "journalists", so I naturally expect them to act as such. A journalist would dig and dig and not give up because someone stonewalled them the first time they asked a question.

Yet journalism is not a magical truth machine with a 100% success rate.
 
hey guys Nintendo totally has a long history of bullying retailers even though I can only pull up that one incident in the early 90s



Yet journalism is not a magical truth machine with a 100% success rate.

Yeah, you're right, all the best journalists give up after one failed attempt. People just want effort. But it's easier to write fluff articles about nothing of consequence than it is to badger Nintendo/Amazon until they give something up.
 
Yeah, you're right, all the best journalists give up after one failed attempt. People just want effort. But it's easier to write fluff articles about nothing of consequence than it is to badger Nintendo/Amazon until they give something up.

If they ask Amazon and Nintendo 1000 times and get no answer, from your perspective its the same as if they only asked once.
 
If they ask Amazon and Nintendo 1000 times and get no answer, from your perspective its the same as if they only asked once.

I wrote that? Where? If they ask that many times then I'd be happy to see the major sites all post stories stating as such and provide the obvious conclusion that gamers care about this situation but Nintendo and Amazon don't care enough about their consumers to provide some simple answers. Simple as that. "We tried really hard to find this out, but we got stone-walled at every turn by both Nintendo and Amazon. Direct your ire at them." But instead we get "What can Borderlands learn from Sim City?"
 

jschreier

Member
So keep nagging them. You don't think it's a big deal that one of the biggest retailers in the country isn't stocking a single bit of Nintendo hardware other than one particular limited edition Pokemon DSi that they haven't sold out of? I have no idea which site you write for, but IGN's wasted more than enough of everyone's time writing stupid shit about what Game X could learn from Game Y. They clearly have time on their hands, as do the other majors.

I guess where the disconnect for me comes from is the fact that people who write about games call themselves "journalists", so I naturally expect them to act as such. A journalist would dig and dig and not give up because someone stonewalled them the first time they asked a question. Threads like this one aren't an aberration. They appear on most gaming forums, because it's a topic many gamers give a damn about.

I write for Kotaku. (Though when I was first looking into this story I was working for Wired.com.)

Now I see what you're saying and I don't necessarily disagree, but a big part of my job involves knowing how much time and energy is worth putting into chasing a given story. A story about a big retailer not carrying one company's gaming hardware, while interesting, might not be worth hours and hours of digging that could wind up leading nowhere. It's less about giving up and more about prioritizing.

(Although this is definitely still on my radar, especially with the Wii U's release coming up soon.)

Also, IGN writers don't write stories like "What Game X Could Learn From Game Y" because they have time on their hands; they write those stories because they expect their readers to enjoy reading them. Believe it or not, this job does not come with a lot of spare time!
 
I wrote that? Where? If they ask that many times then I'd be happy to see the major sites all post stories stating as such and provide the obvious conclusion that gamers care about this situation but Nintendo and Amazon don't care enough about their consumers to provide some simple answers. Simple as that. "We tried really hard to find this out, but we got stone-walled at every turn by both Nintendo and Amazon. Direct your ire at them." But instead we get "What can Borderlands learn from Sim City?"

Honestly a article about what boarderlands could learn from sim city is vastly more interesting then why some retailer does or doesn`t carry a product.
 
Did anyone stop to consider that this might have something to do with Nintendo insisting on releasing new games and consoles on Sunday, putting Amazon at a severe disadvantage to physical retailers when it comes to Nintendo products?
 
(Although this is definitely still on my radar, especially with the Wii U's release coming up soon.)

I imagine their Wii U status is the same as the 3DS XL. They're offering to notify consumers if they're able to provide a pre-order program in the future, but can't guarantee that they'll sell it. Same offer for the 3DS. If as some people suggested Amazon chose not to sell Nintendo hardware because they cant make money, why bother with the ruse of offering to notify consumers about possible pre-order deals for hardware?

Honestly a article about what boarderlands could learn from sim city is vastly more interesting then why some retailer does or doesn`t carry a product.

Honestly it isn't. Unless I missed the threads on every gaming forum asking for it. Kinda hard to find a 3DS forum on any site where someone isn't asking the very same question posed in this thread.
 
Honestly it isn't. Unless I missed the threads on every gaming forum asking for it. Kinda hard to find a 3DS forum on any site where someone isn't asking the very same question posed in this thread.

Then maybe its just me, the borderland article/conversation could bring around interesting new game concepts/ ideas. Possible spurning new creative ideas in future game makers/designers.

Where the Nintendo questions gets me...what?
 
Then maybe its just me, the borderland article/conversation could bring around interesting new game concepts/ ideas. Possible spurning new creative ideas in future game makers/designers.

Where the Nintendo questions gets me...what?

For the thousands upon thousands of Amazon customers, it gets them answers on whether or not they can pre-order a Wii U or 3DS XL from them. It's obviously a big deal.
 

jschreier

Member
Yeah, you're right, all the best journalists give up after one failed attempt. People just want effort. But it's easier to write fluff articles about nothing of consequence than it is to badger Nintendo/Amazon until they give something up.

Sending the same question 400 times to the same people will do nothing but piss those people off. Once a company sends over a statement, it's very unlikely that they will change it.

There are certainly ways to dig into this story (just like there are ways to dig into pretty much any story), but they're not always fruitful. And for all you know there could be plenty of reporters who have put hours into trying to find an answer to this question only to come up with absolutely nothing. I know I've spent a great deal of time chasing stories that never made it anywhere.

So yeah: GAF loves to hate on game journalists, sometimes for good reason, but in this case I don't think it's justified.
 
Sending the same question 400 times to the same people will do nothing but piss those people off. Once a company sends over a statement, it's very unlikely that they will change it.

There are certainly ways to dig into this story (just like there are ways to dig into pretty much any story), but they're not always fruitful. And for all you know there could be plenty of reporters who have put hours into trying to find an answer to this question only to come up with absolutely nothing. I know I've spent a great deal of time chasing stories that never made it anywhere.

So yeah: GAF loves to hate on game journalists, sometimes for good reason, but in this case I don't think it's justified.

Did the story you investigated get printed? As a consumer it would be nice to see that big sites care enough to even look into it, even if the resulting story is essentially "We know this is important to our readers, we contacted both parties but both parties refuse to answer. They don't hold you or us in high enough regard to provide answers." Sends a message to readers that someone is looking out for them and also fires a shot at Amazon/Nintendo. Perhaps enough of those negative stories would get them to change their tune.
 
I wish they would make amends so I could trade in my 3DS towards a 3DS XL. :\

Yep, I could get a 3DS XL for free with all my credit from trade-ins there. I think that's probably why so many people care about this so much. Amazon seems to give more money for trade-ins than most everyone else, and they make it so easy to do so. So now I have a bunch of credit, but no 3DS XL to spend it on. Booooo.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Sending the same question 400 times to the same people will do nothing but piss those people off. Once a company sends over a statement, it's very unlikely that they will change it.

There are certainly ways to dig into this story (just like there are ways to dig into pretty much any story), but they're not always fruitful. And for all you know there could be plenty of reporters who have put hours into trying to find an answer to this question only to come up with absolutely nothing. I know I've spent a great deal of time chasing stories that never made it anywhere.

So yeah: GAF loves to hate on game journalists, sometimes for good reason, but in this case I don't think it's justified.

did MS immediately admit to the RROD problems, or did it take a lot of media coverage to get the truth out of them?

I just think a few sites mentioning it could shine more light on the issue. It's not like it's a busy news or release period. Maybe people won't care anyways, as I didn't see much when Target stopped carrying popular Amazon products.
 
Did the story you investigated get printed? As a consumer it would be nice to see that big sites care enough to even look into it, even if the resulting story is essentially "We know this is important to our readers, we contacted both parties but both parties refuse to answer. They don't hold you or us in high enough regard to provide answers." Sends a message to readers that someone is looking out for them and also fires a shot at Amazon/Nintendo. Perhaps enough of those negative stories would get them to change their tune.

Thats easy to say sitting on this side of the fence. You dont care if bridges are burned because there are always more people willing to jump into the gaming journalism arena.

There are journalists all over the country trying to dig into stories certain sectors of the public may care about and if their attempts are absolutely fruitless they dont go throw shots at the people they wanted to talk to because now those people will never talk to you again. If a statement is released on something then thats usually the final say from those companies unless you are able to dig something else up from another source. You cant just keep hammering someone with questions because it gets you nowhere and hurts only you in the long run.
 
Thats easy to say sitting on this side of the fence. You dont care if bridges are burned because there are always more people willing to jump into the gaming journalism arena.

There are journalists all over the country trying to dig into stories certain sectors of the public may care about and if their attempts are absolutely fruitless they dont go throw shots at the people they wanted to talk to because now those people will never talk to you again. If a statement is released on something then thats usually the final say from those companies unless you are able to dig something else up from another source. You cant just keep hammering someone with questions because it gets you nowhere and hurts only you in the long run.

So that's your view of journalism? Don't run stories that are potentially negative because someone might stop talking to you? The problem with your logic is that in this case Amazon and Nintendo already aren't talking to them. Journalism isn't about not pissing people off. It's about informing your readers and telling the truth to the best of your ability.


they do sell them on the site

Hooboy.
 
So that's your view of journalism? Don't run stories that are potentially negative because someone might stop talking to you? The problem with your logic is that in this case Amazon and Nintendo already aren't talking to them. Journalism isn't about not pissing people off. It's about informing your readers and telling the truth to the best of your ability.

Hooboy.

See, there are only 2 people knowledgeable about this particular situation, that's Amazon and Nintendo. If they arent saying anything then there is nothing you can do.

Like i said, unless they can get another source that lets them in on what is happening and then that leads to more pressure on either Amazon or Nintendo then its dead. If you have no other source of information just hammering Nintendo and Amazon leads you nowhere because you have no leverage on them at all. You are just an annoying journalist.

How can you inform your readers of something if you cant get information on it at all?
 

antonz

Member
Is this why there are no XL preorders, and why Theatrhythm costs so much?

Game wise amazon has no problem selling them. Seems in the case of Theatrhythm that Amazon is sold out so one of the price gouging retail partners are being used.

Amazon regarding hardware specifically mentioned the Hinge on the 3DS as to why they stopped carrying it due to users returning it claiming it was defective. Amazon in that case gets screwed because Nintendo says Its not defective and we sure as fuck arent taking it back.

So now Amazon has open boxed hardware they have to sell cheaper due to its now used status. Amazon decides its not worth the losses and ends that product line availability.
 

antonz

Member
the problem with 3DS doesn't explain why they dont carry the Wii

Nintendo telling them tough shit on the 3DS may have made Amazon corporate say tough shit in their own way to Nintendo hardware. They love the games to sell because they cant get bit in the ass on those.
 
Yeah thats what I was thinking. Think I'm going to order one form them, no idea when my order with Play Asia is shipping, but if it ships before the Amazon one I'll just cancel my Amazon order. If not then I'll cancel my Play Asia order and get it for cheaper.
 

lobdale

3 ft, coiled to the sky
For what it's worth, the Wii U already has a full product page with descriptions and "sign up to be notified," which is more than they ever had for XL.
 

graywolf323

Gold Member

Pikma

Banned
XL had that as well. They never notified anyone though, since obviously they never received it.

Why are they lying then? It seems to me that the problem comes from both sides, and if that's the case, this will prolong for a long time, or maybe not, but that's how I see it. I couldn't care less, I only buy SW from them.
 
I don't know if they are lying. The fact that they put up pre-order pages for Nintendo hardware tells me they want to sell hardware. I agree with whoever was saying that the decision to not sell Nintendo hardware at Amazon directly is Nintendo's. Probably because Amazon dared pull a shitty, defective product at one time due to consumer complaints. It's affected me since I'd rather buy hardware from them (no tax, great customer support, great return policy).
 

boyshine

Member
Amazon probably doesn't make money on hardware. Nintendo systems are commonly sold as loss leaders. I know for a fact that a big chain in my country sells the 3DS XL at a 10% loss, even now when it's brand new. I'm no expert on huge-store-economy and cannot say why they do this with every single Nintendo system. Seems senseless to me - I like to try to profit, even on hardware. But no matter what the reason is, it's sure to be about money in some way.

CDON's been extremely active in cutting the price on Nintendo hardware recently for some reason. Remember they cut the price on 3DS to lower than the "official" price cut level - before the price cut. The price of 3DS in Norway now is $165 + tax (1199nok incl 25%tax, cdon). That's the same as US prices if I'm not mistaken, which used to be unheard of here.. And the stores take the loss to win the customer.
 

Pikma

Banned
I don't know if they are lying. The fact that they put up pre-order pages for Nintendo hardware tells me they want to sell hardware. I agree with whoever was saying that the decision to not sell Nintendo hardware at Amazon directly is Nintendo's. Probably because Amazon dared pull a shitty, defective product at one time due to consumer complaints. It's affected me since I'd rather buy hardware from them (no tax, great customer support, great return policy).

Yeah, but if it were really the case and Amazon had all the interest in the world, they would consider removing those VITA ads from the 3DS product page, I mean, there's nothing wrong with that kind of advertising, and it's actually good for the consumer, but I'm sure Nintendo isn't too much happy about it, since there's no 3DS ads on the VITA page.
 
Yeah, but if it were really the case and Amazon had all the interest in the world, they would consider removing those VITA ads from the 3DS product page, I mean, there's nothing wrong with that kind of advertising, and it's actually good for the consumer, but I'm sure Nintendo isn't too much happy about it, since there's no 3DS ads on the VITA page.

Why would there be 3DS ads on the Vita page if they don't sell the 3DS?
 

LuchaShaq

Banned
I don't know if they are lying. The fact that they put up pre-order pages for Nintendo hardware tells me they want to sell hardware. I agree with whoever was saying that the decision to not sell Nintendo hardware at Amazon directly is Nintendo's. Probably because Amazon dared pull a shitty, defective product at one time due to consumer complaints. It's affected me since I'd rather buy hardware from them (no tax, great customer support, great return policy).

Amazon's customer support and return policy are so good that they would have to charge 100$ more for me to buy hardware anywhere else.
 
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