-
The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Amazon out of Gift Set!
- Thread starter Sitara
- Start date
I am happy that I pre-ordered mine through my local hobby shop, got them without a fuss, even though it was at normal price.
Zogmo
First Post
WotC announces to retailers the availability of 4e books.
Amazon orders X amount of individual books and x amount of gift boxes.
Pre-orders are larger than expected and Amazon has to order more of both the individual books and gift boxes.
More pre-orders cause Amazon to order even more gift boxes. But since they have VERY VERY limited warehouse space mostly full of individual books they stick to their business plan and order the maximum they have space for.
WotC gives Amazon an "ESTIMATE" of when they think their latest order might be sent. In the meantime WotC tries to see what stock is left in various places that they can shift over to Amazon since it's warehouse is empty.
More books don't show up at Amazon's warehouse.
WotC announces in a public statement that they are sold out and have to go to a second printing. Amazon hears about no more books being available for the first time just like everyone else.
WotC tells Amazon that more will be sent ASAP but can't promise exactly when but gives them an "ESTIMATE" of when they will shipped to them.
Amazon says thank you and lets the pre-orders continue because if it's not available yet then it's always going to be a pre-order option.
Release day comes, Amazon ships everything it was given but is still short for all the orders. On it's website it changes the books from "Pre-Order" to "Available".
Amazon has very small warehouses and depends on a number of things not in their power to happen in order for them to do business. They cannot keep tons of stock. They have to try to be quick with orders and hope and pray WotC responds in time and then hopes and prays the company shipping them will not have any delays and hopes and prays that when the shipment arrives it's not been damaged during shipping.
Having worked on both sides of the supply and demand teeter totter I can tell you that Amazon was most likely MORE frustrated than any of us by this outcome. Amazon only orders these things just like you and it's not a game to them. It's how they keep their jobs and feed their families.
WotC is totally responsible. It's responsible because it's made the game so popular and good that even though it initially preprinted more for this edition than any before it still didn't expect such an amazing turn out.
I say perhaps we here (EnWorld collective) are partly responsible. If WotC listens to its customers at all, and we know for a fact they do, then how much were they listening with all of the pre 4e bashing and critisisms and polls talking about the ruination of the game and how badly it will OBVIOUSLY FAIL?!
They listen and they heard. What they preprinted was most likely the inventory they expected to sell by the end of the first quarter. Not before it even went live.
It's their fault for making this game so damned desirable. And anyone who was screaming about what a horrible ad campagin they had...well you can eat your hat now. Since it sold out so fast the only message they are getting is to ignore the naysayers here and kiss their advertising department on their collective lips.
Zogmo out.
Amazon orders X amount of individual books and x amount of gift boxes.
Pre-orders are larger than expected and Amazon has to order more of both the individual books and gift boxes.
More pre-orders cause Amazon to order even more gift boxes. But since they have VERY VERY limited warehouse space mostly full of individual books they stick to their business plan and order the maximum they have space for.
WotC gives Amazon an "ESTIMATE" of when they think their latest order might be sent. In the meantime WotC tries to see what stock is left in various places that they can shift over to Amazon since it's warehouse is empty.
More books don't show up at Amazon's warehouse.
WotC announces in a public statement that they are sold out and have to go to a second printing. Amazon hears about no more books being available for the first time just like everyone else.
WotC tells Amazon that more will be sent ASAP but can't promise exactly when but gives them an "ESTIMATE" of when they will shipped to them.
Amazon says thank you and lets the pre-orders continue because if it's not available yet then it's always going to be a pre-order option.
Release day comes, Amazon ships everything it was given but is still short for all the orders. On it's website it changes the books from "Pre-Order" to "Available".
Amazon has very small warehouses and depends on a number of things not in their power to happen in order for them to do business. They cannot keep tons of stock. They have to try to be quick with orders and hope and pray WotC responds in time and then hopes and prays the company shipping them will not have any delays and hopes and prays that when the shipment arrives it's not been damaged during shipping.
Having worked on both sides of the supply and demand teeter totter I can tell you that Amazon was most likely MORE frustrated than any of us by this outcome. Amazon only orders these things just like you and it's not a game to them. It's how they keep their jobs and feed their families.
WotC is totally responsible. It's responsible because it's made the game so popular and good that even though it initially preprinted more for this edition than any before it still didn't expect such an amazing turn out.
I say perhaps we here (EnWorld collective) are partly responsible. If WotC listens to its customers at all, and we know for a fact they do, then how much were they listening with all of the pre 4e bashing and critisisms and polls talking about the ruination of the game and how badly it will OBVIOUSLY FAIL?!
They listen and they heard. What they preprinted was most likely the inventory they expected to sell by the end of the first quarter. Not before it even went live.
It's their fault for making this game so damned desirable. And anyone who was screaming about what a horrible ad campagin they had...well you can eat your hat now. Since it sold out so fast the only message they are getting is to ignore the naysayers here and kiss their advertising department on their collective lips.
Zogmo out.
keterys
First Post
Yeah, this hit 2 of the players in my game...
Frankly, unless Amazon failed to get the # they expected from WotC (which may well be the case), they flat out screwed the pooch and I only wish they paid some penalty or at least issued a real apology. They do have a way to limit the # of sales and note when they need to wait on some to come in. They're stealing sales from other businesses with their crazy prices then not delivering? Even with however many people supposedly cancelled their amazon orders to switch to buy.com? These people ordered right after D&D XP back in Feb/Mar.
The one that gets me the most is I have friends in Canada, UK, and Australia who all got theirs _early_.
Edit: Stupid warehouses.
Frankly, unless Amazon failed to get the # they expected from WotC (which may well be the case), they flat out screwed the pooch and I only wish they paid some penalty or at least issued a real apology. They do have a way to limit the # of sales and note when they need to wait on some to come in. They're stealing sales from other businesses with their crazy prices then not delivering? Even with however many people supposedly cancelled their amazon orders to switch to buy.com? These people ordered right after D&D XP back in Feb/Mar.
The one that gets me the most is I have friends in Canada, UK, and Australia who all got theirs _early_.
Edit: Stupid warehouses.
Zogmo
First Post
keterys said:
Small warehouse's and quick turn around is the only way the internet economy works. Barnes and Noble might be buying Border's Books and they both are losing a large percentage of sales yearly. They are the #1 and #2 brick and mortar book retailers in the country and they are having trouble. Amazon is #1 over all.
People complained about the local mom and pop independent book shops disappearing years ago in place of the "Superstores" like BN and Borders.
Now even they are being displaced in the new paradigm of the internet. The retail business world is changing so fast business models need to be redone yearly instead of every decade or more. Tradition used to be what everyone wanted but now it's change and they want it NOW NOW NOW CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP!
Wherever people decide to spend their money, those areas will be successful and it's obviously the internet retailers that will be the rulers of the future. Support your local game shop if you really want it to be around later. Seriously.
Diamondfist
Explorer
I pre-ordered my Core Book Gift Set March 5th, and got the delay e-mail. So I just went to my FLGS, picked up the Core Gift Set and cancelled my Amazon order (with a polite message). I would have gone to Borders if I had known they had it, though.
Last edited:
I'm getting mine monday and I still ...
have issues with the way that this works.
First the release date was the 6th. There is no reason that they couldn't have shipped the day before (6/5). Even with overnight shipping people receive their books the next day no harm no foul.
Second it isn't fair that I pay a crap load of money for next day and receive them on the same schedules someone that paid nothing for shipping.
Third, like with any good business the customer is important. If you treat them poorly they will take their business elsewhere. If I walk into a store and buy a product and they tell me that I'll have to come back tomorrow to pick it up and find out that 10 minutes before I get there the next day that they sold it to someone else that walked in that day I have the right to be angry. Whether or not they have pulled the money from a credit card yet or not. They took information and I entered into a contract to purchase in good faith. I feel wrong that are people that preordered before me and are going to be without their books.
Bad amazon! Barnes and Noble next time for me.
have issues with the way that this works.
First the release date was the 6th. There is no reason that they couldn't have shipped the day before (6/5). Even with overnight shipping people receive their books the next day no harm no foul.
Second it isn't fair that I pay a crap load of money for next day and receive them on the same schedules someone that paid nothing for shipping.
Third, like with any good business the customer is important. If you treat them poorly they will take their business elsewhere. If I walk into a store and buy a product and they tell me that I'll have to come back tomorrow to pick it up and find out that 10 minutes before I get there the next day that they sold it to someone else that walked in that day I have the right to be angry. Whether or not they have pulled the money from a credit card yet or not. They took information and I entered into a contract to purchase in good faith. I feel wrong that are people that preordered before me and are going to be without their books.
Bad amazon! Barnes and Noble next time for me.
I reckon the best advertising was the PDF leaks of each of the books. I've read all three now and I am very ready to play. But I had already preordered so that doesn't hurt Wizards. My estimated delivery is out to mid July now.
But 2 of my friends who were complaining about the idea of the new edition coming so soon after 3.5 have also read the PDF's and have now said they will get the Player's Handbook because it looks like a lot of fun.
So there's 2 more book sales BECAUSE of the leaks, rather than despite them.
It has been the internet equivalent of standing in Borders for 8 hours reading the book cover to cover, then deciding to buy it! Giving a full, unlimited preview of a book before sale has worked for book retailers - it is now working for Wizards.
But 2 of my friends who were complaining about the idea of the new edition coming so soon after 3.5 have also read the PDF's and have now said they will get the Player's Handbook because it looks like a lot of fun.
So there's 2 more book sales BECAUSE of the leaks, rather than despite them.
It has been the internet equivalent of standing in Borders for 8 hours reading the book cover to cover, then deciding to buy it! Giving a full, unlimited preview of a book before sale has worked for book retailers - it is now working for Wizards.
Vanuslux
Explorer
I only preordered mine the last week of May and according to Amazon mine are already enroute...though I won't get them until the 10th. Part of me is glad that I'm not one of the people who isn't getting their books on time, since they're pretty much a birthday present to myself, but I do feel bad for everyone who is going to have to wait an extra week or two...especially if they paid for faster shipping...those people got screwed.
