Amazon Orders

[techno]

I know that some people are saying that their walmart.com order has shipped, but mine certainly has not. I ordered on 3/28 and my status is still "processing." Makes me wonder how many orders really are shipping from Walmart.

 

[Coik]

Um, ok.

Heh.

Well, I'm referring more to past sales as an example. The initial books sold very well and while this isn't a huge release like Harry Potter, past sales should have been an example.

Well, that really depends on a few factors and how Amazon does business. I dunno what their policy is for order new books in a "series" like this. They could look at the sales of the 3e core books, and make policy based on that...or they could look at the sales of every D&D book for the last three years (or even ever!), which would of course drive the average number of sales down...

Originally posted by TalonComics
However, if Wal-Mart has actually shipped the books (does anyone have tracking numbers confirming?) come Monday I plan on being on the phone with my distributor letting them know that Wal-Mart has broken the street date.

Out of curosity, has WotC ever had a street date that's been respected? I can't think of one. One would think they would have learned their lesson by now...

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Update:

I ordered from Amazon on June 9th, and I've had the same problems with shipping date(which was apprarently last week, and the books were supposed to arrive two days ago). Well, I messaged Customer Service, and though I haven't gotten a response yet...my books have changed from "Processed" to "Preparing items to ship, billing, etc cannot be changed".

 

[TalonComics]

Out of curosity, has WotC ever had a street date that's been respected? I can't think of one. One would think they would have learned their lesson by now...

Honestly, over all, no, they haven't. But when it comes to my distributor and other distributors I've seen them have to sit on thousands of books until street dates while other places sell the books freely.

WotC/Hasbro has what I call a "punishment policy" where if you buy directly through them you get a better discount and usually no street date (supposedly the revised core books were an exception). If you buy from a distributor, WotC has a flat discount and you're saddled with a street date everytime a product is released. If the distributor, not the retailer, breaks the street date then they can be punished by WotC with them withholding product with the next release.

Now, imagine this same scenario with the Harry Potter book or a new DVD or a music release. Imagine how pissed off you'd be if you were a retailer who not only had to deal with places selling Harry Potter at massive discount levels but also got to sell it a week before you were able to. Imagine what the media would do if they found out Wal-Mart had a deal to sell the Harry Potter book a week before everyone else.

See why I call it a "punishment policy?"

~D

 

[Valiantheart]

I switched to Wal-Mart yesterday. I got tired of waiting on Amazon. Guess I'll just have to wait and see now.

 

[sircaren]

Mine has an arrival date of april 2004.

 

[sithramir]

Oo. My 3 walmart books were withing 50 miles of me as of 8:30 friday! Ooo so close. Pretty much guaranteed to get it on monday.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

At amazon.com they said it's available now - ships in 2-3 days. (Not from CSR or email!) Amazon.ca said they don't have it yet.

 

[billbo]

>>I ordered from Amazon on June 9th, and I've had the same problems with shipping date(which was apprarently last week, and the books were supposed to arrive two days ago). Well, I messaged Customer Service, and though I haven't gotten a response yet...my books have changed from "Processed" to "Preparing items to ship, billing, etc cannot be changed".


Ankh:

That's EXACTLY what's happened to me, down to your order date. June 9 here, too. And they only seemed to have changed the status to "Preparing to ship" after I wrote an email to them.

They didn't really respond to the email (they did send me a form letter offering me $5.00 off on my next purpose, but they didn't answer my questions about "When?").

So I don't know if my books are really getting prepped to ship or (big finger quote marks) getting "prepped" to "ship." I have this sneaking suspicion they just thought, "Oh, this guy's complaining, let's claim we're 'prepping' his books to 'ship' to shut him up."

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

That's EXACTLY what's happened to me, down to your order date. June 9 here, too. And they only seemed to have changed the status to "Preparing to ship" after I wrote an email to them.

They didn't really respond to the email (they did send me a form letter offering me $5.00 off on my next purpose, but they didn't answer my questions about "When?").

So I don't know if my books are really getting prepped to ship or (big finger quote marks) getting "prepped" to "ship." I have this sneaking suspicion they just thought, "Oh, this guy's complaining, let's claim we're 'prepping' his books to 'ship' to shut him up."

You're being overly paranoid. I order lots of things from Amazon, and they just don't do things like that. Besides, I got a response this morning and I got the $5 thing too, and I've used it already at that. Simply managed to catch them at the perfect time, and instead of getting the comments the others were getting, we got the new one since they're now definatly in. Amazon doesn't usually ship on weekends, so its going to be mid next week by the time I get them. And if you need proof they aren't just messing with you, Psi is right. They are now listed as "In Stock" and shipping in 2-3 days on the PHB page.