Gotdatmoney
Member
Well good thing I don't have prime. I def wouldnt make it up at that margin.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Canada: Amazon Reduces Prime's 20% Video Game Pre-Order Discount to 10%
- Thread starter CazTGG
- Start date
Stabby McSter
Member
does the 20% discount happen when you preorder?
cuz i'm assuming those prices are locked in once you preorder so those should be safe
unless the 20% doesn't kick in right away, then OFF TO BEST BUY
CaviarMeths
Member
So I just canceled my subscription and was surprised that there wasn't even one of those quick questionnaires asking why I was cancelling. Guess they don't care.
Join us, its glorious.
You'll stop caring about retailer prices and only be on the look out for good deals on PSN/XBL/Steam/eShop credit...
Losing out on trade-in credit stops hurting after a while - especially as your backlog gets so ridiculous that you aren't even sure what year that game you wanted back-in-the-day actually came out.
Also, you'll come to love Monday nights for Xbox, Tuesday afternoons for PlayStation, and watching your Steam wishlist all days in-between.
I regret nothing.
xCaptainCanadax
Member
Yeah but if you only buy prime for games then you need to order a decent amount to even come out ahead if youre paying 79.99 a year right out of the gate.
They don't lock in the price at time of pre-order.I just checked and my invoice now states a total of $288 instead of $256 which means they apply the discount just before shipping and they already reassessed it to 10% instead of 20%. Needless to say I've cancelled my last 4 pre-orders now.
It does in the US, but apparently not in Canada.
PerfectFlaw
Member
Maybe next time you'll choose to not be born in a place the economic free world hates.
So much this. The reality is, Amazon's sales are often just reactionary to what EB Games, Walmart or Best Buy do. As consumers, I think we should aim to reward the initiator of the discount versus the me-too price matcher. When the initiators are gone, so will be the incentive for Amazon to have discounts, and you get stunts like this.
For the OP, the other big 'fuck you' to consumers was taking away the eligibility for the 20% discount two weeks following a game's launch. With games so expensive at launch, it was nice to see if something was, at the very least, a critical hit before purchasing.
SatoAilDarko
Member
Same. GCU gives you discounts even on clearance games. $8 for a game is better than $10. Way more flexible.
Mass_Pincup
Banned
If I cancel now do I lose access to everything prime related instantly?
Don't want to lose out on Prime video right now.
Don't want to lose out on Prime video right now.
Of course. It's all connected
TimeEffect
Member
What about e3
That was how i did my day one shopping
That was how i did my day one shopping
.
It truly is a barren wasteland when it comes to deals. I buy everything off CDkeys that I can because paying $50ish CAD is a lot more palatable than $80 CAD + tax.
Mass_Pincup
Banned
Thought it might work like Netflix on Spotify where it last until the next payment deadline.
Too bad, will cancel anyway I guess.
AlexFlame116
Member
I'd have switched to GCU a long time ago, but I can't as long as they do their preauthorization stuff. So I'm still sticking with Amazon unless they pull that crap here, then I'll go somewhere else.
catpurrcat
Member
I respect your game, but I and others got a Switch, PS4 pro, for nearly 50% off thanks to convenient timed trade ins. Same with PS4 at launch. Getting decent money for fad-of-the-week kinect games. That was glorious, The regrets if buying those digital, too much.
All digital is extremely difficult if you're a medium or high volume buyer on a budget.
Last time i did the e3 deal they screwed up most of my preorders and customer service took over an hour to figure out how 20% off works despite typing it out piece by piece. To make things worse they purposely hold back shipments to bundle them with other "shipping soon"(which could be weeks) orders to save cash even if you choose to ship separately. They do so to try and push you to prime. Buying from Amazon is nothing but constantly getting jerked around, order errors and unreliable shipping. I don't now how a company people seem to love in the states can be so awful in Canada.
It's been getting weaker again for the last 3 weeks. Still not as bad as it was but inching its way back to the dump.
It's been getting weaker again for the last 3 weeks. Still not as bad as it was but inching its way back to the dump.
BRSxIgnition
Member
The following was just pointed out by Lone_Prodigy in the Canadian Deals thread:
They advertise it (Prime) with 20% off game pre-orders during their big sale, then dupe everyone who signed up by halving that benefit a month later without telling anyone.
Christ that's sketchy.
They advertise it (Prime) with 20% off game pre-orders during their big sale, then dupe everyone who signed up by halving that benefit a month later without telling anyone.
Christ that's sketchy.
WrenchNinja
Member
I'm really not sure what you get out of Prime for being Canadian anymore. Like even delivery is hardly ever on time.
DeuceGamer
Member
Yea, this seems like a bait and switch type of situation. I'm sure they have it covered in their TOS, but it's still shady.
I'd be fucking livid if I were Canadian. Amazon Canada done fucked up. Hopefully y'all's equivalent of an Attorney General can go after them for this.
They are probably doesn't give a shit to us. That's why they are doing this. Fuck them though
Me too. Guys, push them hard on this, they're entirely in the wrong here.
I've thought long and hard about that but I will take my chances with honest retailers.
Kabuki Quantum Lover
Member
Yeah, Im going to have to cancel before this renews.
It works the same
Did you already cancel?
That's Amazon's MO. They might take some upfront losses to get new customers in. Once they get what they want they change terms. Even better if they kill a competitor that did not have their deep pockets in the process.
That's why even though they match the 20% off in the US I still always use BB with GCU for games. GCU also includes Amiibos which prime does not.
That's why even though they match the 20% off in the US I still always use BB with GCU for games. GCU also includes Amiibos which prime does not.
Well they give you the opportunity to buy hot items like a switch when they have stock.
I understand tacked on benefits like free shipping, bonus points or preorder discounts if you're a member, a lot of stores have store cards, but to deny customers access to product stock unless you pay for a membership is some bullshit. Don't understand how that's not illegal.
Not sure, mine renewed a month ago but since I haven't used benefits it said full refund when I went to cancel. You might just get prorated to when you last used it to end of cycle
Barrow Roll
Member
Preorder your games during E3 and wait for sales on stuff that doesn't get listed during E3.
LastOne2100
Member
Please Best Buy, save us by bringing GCU to Canada? 
Eclectic Jabber Monkey
Member
That seems pretty strange, they have locked the discount % in for me in past years and for my current E3 orders, still 20% off. I pre-ordered Zelda for Wii U back when they had 30% off for E3 pre-orders and when it finally shipped it this year they took off 30%.
I'll keep an eye on my pre-order prices but I can't see them retro-actively changing peoples discounts. Perhaps your changes were a glitch, maybe should've talked to their customer service first? We'll see if this happens to other people over time, but to me it wouldn't be worth it for them to do change discounts after pre-orders were made at 20% considering how much bad press they would get.
HungOverOnATues
Member
I've got an amazon student membership up for renewal next month, but even at the reduced price I'm not sure that I'll keep it. Prime Video in Canada still sucks, no Amazon Basics discount, "2 day shipping" on pre-orders ends up taking a week or more if it comes by Canada Post, and now this. I don't really want to pay $40 a year just for free shipping on a storefront with much smaller selection than the US site.
IceDoesntHelp
Banned
r.i.p. gaming deals.
Call your local newspaper or TV station, if you have one. You can also try finding a tech reporter on Twitter and point them to something like this thread, or see if there's a consumer advocate column in your area. The CBC does one but I think it's largely B.C.-based.
Short answer: Just because this is big news to you and me doesn't mean the press has caught wind of it. But this is a classic Goliath-screws-David story so I imagine this will get ink.