Amiibos

[Kitkumi]

Gather round, amiibo friends, and hear now the tale of Kitkumi's venture to Gamestop for an attempt at pre-ordering! Spoiler; it doesn't end well lol

The short of it, I was the first (and only) person in Gamestop when the orders went live. The store employee (who is awesome, by the way) had the page already pulled up and ready to go when it ticked over to 3pm.

At 3pm things were running slow. He said that the ordering process was about a seven step process, and we kept getting kicked back to step zero. Sometime around twenty minutes in, the server up and died. At 4pm, he gets the order to go through, all the way to the submit payment step!

And it crashes. Again. The order didn't finalize, and after that he couldn't even get back to the order page. Nothing worked. So he takes all my information so I can leave, because there really is no point in standing around (again, awesome employee is very awesome). I get home, and Lucina and Robyn are officially sold out.

I don't mean to complain but, how in the WORLD does one go from being the first person in a line to getting nothing they are after? Like... How... I don't...  It's beyond me. Gamestop was in no way prepared for this.

[Dainty]

So sad, im feeling really pessimistic about the yarn yoshi amiibos lol

[MilkyTaroMochi]

Wow, sorry to hear about what happened with your pre-ordering, Kitkumi.   Gamestop really didn't think this one through. They should have done in-store pre-orders so at least more people would have been able to get at least one amiibo they wanted.  It didn't help that it was a web to store order, so it was linking to the website itself (plus you had people at home trying to refresh the page in order to get the amiibos as well).


I was at my GameStop an hour before and no one was there. Even when 2pm hit, it was me, one other guy, and a mom trying to get amiibos for her son. A few more people showed up short afterwards.
I basically had to wait about an hour before the employee was able to order Lucina for me (and she was old out basically right after).  Also managed to do a seperate order for Inkling Girl about 20 minutes later.
Basically it was only me and the other guy that managed to get the amiibos we wanted at our store (he got both bundles).  I felt really bad for the guy who was fourth in line because he had only came for Lucina and Robin. The mom was only able to order Ness and Charizard for the smash amiibos.

So it took an hour and a half to get two amiibos. Dx


At least I am done with this wave, though. Not gonna bother with Greninja and Jigglypuff.

[shelvesofwhimsy]

So I was one of the people refreshing online for a chance at Charizard and Ness (for my bf). They never went live for me and the site crashed multiple times.

My boyfriend went to Gamestop and showed up right around 12 and was 10th in line, but yeah server crashed and finally an hour later there were only two people left. He got 2 ness's, and that's it. No charizard for me lol. And he also wanted Robin and Lucina and nothing.

Why are amiibos so frustrating? Can they really not just make enough to stock the shelves? This is getting ridiculous. I want all those yoshis, but don't want to pay amazon and ebay prices 

[BerylBreeze]

I couldn't get Ness or Charizard.

Their twitter yesterday announced Ness would be available in store and online at 2PM CST, so of course anyone would expect that to mean Ness would be available in store and online at 2PM CST. Nope - turns out it's in store only and Gamestop never corrected their statement. Because of their mistake, the website (and store servers) went down.
I called a close store and they said they still had some preorders available. Drive over there, and surprise - they're sold out of preorders and going wouldn't be any help because the corporate stopped all the orders.

Nintendo isn't doing as well as a business lately, they're seriously going to have more unhappy customers if they keep it up.
Just let customers be able to order in advance what they want so enough can be made so everything isn't turned into ebay exclusives. No surprises, no disappontments.

[Rainbowrific Renia]

So my fiance bought a Dedede for me today.  He wasn't going to tell me, he wanted to keep it a secret until my birthday on Saturday, but I was voicing my Amiibo frustrations and how I didn't even care about getting Dedede and Meta Knight anymore... and he told me.  He said he didn't like that I was so upset over it and had been trying for weeks to get me one, and he finally got a good deal. <--- my ugly happy cry

I'm still not bothering with this new wave. I'm also feeling pessimistic about the yarn Yoshis, Dainty. 

I'm not 100% sure I understand Nintendo's tactics with the Amiibos right now... like... they do realize they're losing out on money by not making these more widely available, right?  Just putting money in the hands of scalpers, that's what they're doing!

[CupidStrikes]

I'm not 100% sure I understand Nintendo's tactics with the Amiibos right now... like... they do realize they're losing out on money by not making these more widely available, right?  Just putting money in the hands of scalpers, that's what they're doing!

I'm convinced it's intentional - create artificial "rarity" by woefully understocking demand. Leave it a bit for them to rise in price on Ebay. Re-release a huge amount and watch as everyone who originally wanted one buys one, and maybe one to keep MIB because it's ~super rare~ and as would-be scalpers buy up loads to hope to sell online. Cha-ching.

I'm sure I read somewhere that they're already looking to re-release the older waves? Anyway, it's something I believe Funko do/have done by "retiring" certain POP figures. They suddenly shoot up in price because they're no longer being stocked and people begin to worry they won't be made again. Someone "magically" apparently found a crate of retired POPs in a warehouse and (supposedly) small numbers appeared in shops (apparently the codes on the boxes relate to when they were produced and show said figures were made recently. Hmm.), and people are buying them up to try and flip on Ebay. And as time has gone on, that one crate of figures sure is lasting a long time...

[Dainty]

I do hope that there will be rereleases.. and im hoping at least the yarn yoshis wont be an exclusive lol.

[Leave a Whisper]

We went to go pre-order amiibos, waited in line for like half an hour and by the time we got up there, all the wave fours were sold out. No Pacman.

Post Merge: April 02, 2015, 06:53:35 PM

So my fiance bought a Dedede for me today.  He wasn't going to tell me, he wanted to keep it a secret until my birthday on Saturday, but I was voicing my Amiibo frustrations and how I didn't even care about getting Dedede and Meta Knight anymore... and he told me.  He said he didn't like that I was so upset over it and had been trying for weeks to get me one, and he finally got a good deal. <--- my ugly happy cry

I'm still not bothering with this new wave. I'm also feeling pessimistic about the yarn Yoshis, Dainty. 

I'm not 100% sure I understand Nintendo's tactics with the Amiibos right now... like... they do realize they're losing out on money by not making these more widely available, right?  Just putting money in the hands of scalpers, that's what they're doing!

Aww that's so sweet

[kakenterprise]

I'm feeling your GameStop pain.  I asked my boss if I could go down to game stop to order my amiibos.  Little did I know I'd be in line for over an hour.  I was like do I stay leave ughhhh.  By the time they got it working 2 I wanted were sold out. Ugh.  So I guess I'm giving up my charzard as my boyfriend wanted one. I'll have an extra ness to trade.

[Kitkumi]

I'm not 100% sure I understand Nintendo's tactics with the Amiibos right now... like... they do realize they're losing out on money by not making these more widely available, right?  Just putting money in the hands of scalpers, that's what they're doing!

I'm convinced it's intentional - create artificial "rarity" by woefully understocking demand. Leave it a bit for them to rise in price on Ebay. Re-release a huge amount and watch as everyone who originally wanted one buys one, and maybe one to keep MIB because it's ~super rare~ and as would-be scalpers buy up loads to hope to sell online. Cha-ching.

I too believe that it is intentional. In my personal opinion, Nintendo doesn't care WHO buys them, as long as they sell (I think that the company is struggling more now than it ever has, and it stumbled in to an unbelievable, and accidental gold mine). I think its why North America was the last to get pre-orders and why there was absolutely no information about it; it whipped the people in to an absolute frenzy. This was the worst wave yet, with pre-orders across the board selling out in minutes. Even if scalpers make up the majority of the buyers, that is still money in Nintendo's pockets and numbers that they can throw out to the press. What happens to the amiibo after they sell it isn't there problem. It is also meaning people are going in to stores more frequently looking for these things, and are more likely to make a random purchase just because they are there and likely disappointed (I've seen it a couple of times now where people have gone in wanting a pre-order or an exclusive and have bought a random one off the shelf just because). If Nintendo does anything to make it look like more are coming, or that everyone who wants one can get one, that frenzy begins to eventually die down, and they will ultimately start moving less product. I think that in some way Nintendo is DEPENDING on the scalpers.

Likewise, I think that they are dangerously close to tipping too far the other way, irritating their fans to the point where they will begin to lose support and customer's trust in the company.

[Princess Lala]

So sad, im feeling really pessimistic about the yarn yoshi amiibos lol

Saaame. not enough to go around and too much demand= sad Lala.

[Leave a Whisper]

actually our gamestop finally implemented a 2 per person rule. the seller at the counter told one guy he didn't care and would sell him as many as he wanted. what a jerk

[Princess Lala]

I agree....Nintendo is aware of the situation and as long as THEY make their profit on retail sales they dont give a flip about scalpers, etc. In FACT im soooo surprised they didnt jump the price on amiibos yet! D= Lrts hope they dont do that...SHHHHH! LOL. For me, if I find one I want I will buy it but im not going outta my way to hunt for one. Blah In wave 4 I want to get Charizard for Cole and Pacman in memoir of my dad (Pacman was his FAVORITE thing EVER!)  and luckily those arent exclusives. Thank goodness I wprk at Walfart ir i wouldnt have a chance at finding any! My friend in electronics will usually tell me if we got ant in and save 1 for me just in case I want it.

I heard a LOT of crazy stuff happened at Gamestop today OMG. Some people tried to preorder right when they opened and got mad they had to wait in line until 3pm

[aluke]

I'm not 100% sure I understand Nintendo's tactics with the Amiibos right now... like... they do realize they're losing out on money by not making these more widely available, right?  Just putting money in the hands of scalpers, that's what they're doing!

I'm convinced it's intentional - create artificial "rarity" by woefully understocking demand. Leave it a bit for them to rise in price on Ebay. Re-release a huge amount and watch as everyone who originally wanted one buys one, and maybe one to keep MIB because it's ~super rare~ and as would-be scalpers buy up loads to hope to sell online. Cha-ching.

I too believe that it is intentional. In my personal opinion, Nintendo doesn't care WHO buys them, as long as they sell (I think that the company is struggling more now than it ever has, and it stumbled in to an unbelievable, and accidental gold mine). I think its why North America was the last to get pre-orders and why there was absolutely no information about it; it whipped the people in to an absolute frenzy. This was the worst wave yet, with pre-orders across the board selling out in minutes. Even if scalpers make up the majority of the buyers, that is still money in Nintendo's pockets and numbers that they can throw out to the press. What happens to the amiibo after they sell it isn't there problem. It is also meaning people are going in to stores more frequently looking for these things, and are more likely to make a random purchase just because they are there and likely disappointed (I've seen it a couple of times now where people have gone in wanting a pre-order or an exclusive and have bought a random one off the shelf just because). If Nintendo does anything to make it look like more are coming, or that everyone who wants one can get one, that frenzy begins to eventually die down, and they will ultimately start moving less product. I think that in some way Nintendo is DEPENDING on the scalpers.

Likewise, I think that they are dangerously close to tipping too far the other way, irritating their fans to the point where they will begin to lose support and customer's trust in the company.

I've heard so many cases of people who went from only wanting their favourites to the 'gotta catch em all' mentality because of the rarity. Plus, lots of impulse buying when people come across rares in a store even if they don't want/already have the character. If the artificial rarity wasn't a thing I highly doubt wave four would have had enough hype to crash Gamestops's servers yesterday. It's such a cruel system, but it's obviously working for Nintendo.

I totally agree that it's pushing the limits though. I know I've been questioning how important Amiibo are to me at this rate. I still haven't taken mine out of the box to use yet on the chance I want to return them and forget about their existence.