Pathfinder 2E Release Day Second Edition Amazon Sales Rank

[teitan]

Repost. Stupid phone.

 

[BryonD]

@BryonD yea, people losing their jobs and an uncertain economy looming. But also I think sales of OTHER books spiked. And continue to sell better than they normally would outside of the pandemic. That alone ‘could’ explain the suppression of the sales rank.

But I do think some slack in sales is part of the answer.

To get a better idea someone needs to look at ‘those’ other books and dig up some historical sales rank on them and compare it to now. I think someone in this thread started to or at least already mentioned noticing something about other books spiking.

Yes, this also makes sense and would fit in.

 

[darjr]

It just hit me that here we are in the middle of a disaster of epic proportions and the PHB is at a sales rank of 199 on Amazon.

WTH?!?!

I had to take a step back and think. Dare I say it? Maybe essential to the sanity of many of us? It is to me.

 

[teitan]

It just hit me that here we are in the middle of a disaster of epic proportions and the PHB is at a sales rank of 199 on Amazon.

WTH?!?!

I had to take a step back and think. Dare I say it? Maybe essential to the sanity of many of us? It is to me.

Nah. I bought a set of 3.0 books and MMII and an FRCS because of nostalgia and other rpg products. I usually just buy D&D 5e and Starfinder but I’ve gotten Some Vampire and Numenera, Cthulhu, Warhammer. Swords & Wizardry. I feel like I may have overreached lol

 

[Hussar]

I'm just spitballing here. This is not meant as a shot or anything like that.

Could it be that the sales of PF 1 appeared so good because, in comparison to 4e, they were doing very well. However, 5e sales are so much greater than 4e's (or, let's be honest, any other E's for decades) that PF 2 doesn't look as spectacular as PF 1's did at the time?

IOW, could it be that PF 2 is selling about the same as PF 1 did, but, because the bar is so different now, it gives a completely different sense this time around?

 

[teitan]

I'm just spitballing here. This is not meant as a shot or anything like that.

Could it be that the sales of PF 1 appeared so good because, in comparison to 4e, they were doing very well. However, 5e sales are so much greater than 4e's (or, let's be honest, any other E's for decades) that PF 2 doesn't look as spectacular as PF 1's did at the time?

IOW, could it be that PF 2 is selling about the same as PF 1 did, but, because the bar is so different now, it gives a completely different sense this time around?

Well we know Paizo’s website & subscription service as well as Diamond distribution are a big part of their pie so Amazon is not the whole picture. With Diamond, who does distribute a lot of rpg product, Pathfinder 2e is a big seller.

 

[dave2008]

Fair enough and no offense intended toward you. But others are saying I should accept the rankings issue to be settled based on your input.

That is not what I was suggesting either. I was simply responding to this comment by you: "I doubt it is that. It is tied to purchase events, not shipping dates. " Which was made in response to Teitan telling you it is tied to shipping dates (after also saying he works at Amazon). What I wanted you to accept as a possibilty is that it is related to shipping dates, not purchase dates. However, with that information, items being delayed do covid-19 does have an impact on the sales ranking. We just don't know how much.

 

[dave2008]

Ok, same question. Do you think this is materially changing the rankings?

I have no idea and that is not what I as responding too. However, if this is correct, it does have an effect on the rankings. We just don't know how much and I don't really have any interest in speculating without more information.

 

[teitan]

As the insider, do you have any actual data regarding the number of unfulfilled PF2E orders in the past month?

No I do not, that's above my paygrade. It's considered privileged information aside from that.

 

[teitan]

Unless Amazon is completely refusing to ship the book at all (and your post while I type suggests otherwise) then the delay theory doesn't track with reality.

Amazon is prioritizing essentials and working on moving unessential items out in order to make space for more essential items like hygiene and medical supplies. This has been on the news. This would impact the current rankings by several percentage points but as a result of the volume of other things we are sending out it is making the optics look worse than the situation actually is. Would P2 be higher? Yeah but I don't have privileged data because it's above my paygrade and would be an ethical violation anyway. I can't say either way.

So what I am saying is with limited supply coming in, limited sales (long wait times) go out as we focus on TP, deodorant, face masks, nebulizors, text books for home schooling, children's books and games etc.