WotC and Buy.com

[DevoutlyApathetic]

*sighs, refreshes his amazon profile for the 4th time today*

Er...why?

We're still over a week away from the actual launch date and I don't see any reason Amazon would violate the streetdate.

 

[The_Fan]

I don't know if it's still the policy, but for the last year or more of 3.5 books, Amazon didn't ship until about 10 days after the street release.

You are a cruel, cruel man.

As for why...boredom? Rumors some people had already received it from Amazon?

 

[Primal]

I also heard that Scott Rouse hired Chuck Norris to roundhouse kick the responsible parties into the Sun, but Chuck said he'd actually do it for free.

And do you know why? Because all 4E class powers were actually modeled on Chuck's At-Will stunts (I heard The Rouse sent several programmed clones to learn them from him), and also because Chuck was so impressed with the pretty pictures in the Core Books.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

You are a cruel, cruel man.

I'm sorry, my intention is actually the opposite. I didn't want you or other people to worry if their books are later than expected.

Just in case it's not clear, I was being serious. Well over a year ago, supposedly at WotC's request to protect brick-and-mortar game stores, Amazon started delaying WotC 3.5 product release dates. They didn't even show as released on the site until 10 days to two weeks after the street release. I'd thought this was common knowledge ... I'd first read about it on EN World, definitely.

I don't know if this policy will hold true going forward -- for all I know it may, but with a specific exception for the 4E core books -- but it was true for 3.5 books.

As a point of reference, Amazon lists KotS as released on May 20th, and it's definitely shipping now and has been for a while. Does that jibe with street release dates?

Oh, and for the record, I have no jealous motive: I'm not switching to 4E, and so far as I know, nor are the other two DMs I play with. One of them may be buying it, but I'm not.

 

[ShadowyFigure]

According to my LFGS Buy.com have served a cease and desist

 

[Khaalis]

FYI - on the subject of Amazon... they are currently showing an expected "Ship Date" of June 10th. :Bleh:

 

[reiella]

FYI - on the subject of Amazon... they are currently showing an expected "Ship Date" of June 10th. :Bleh:

Hmm, mine still says ship date of the 6th, arrival on the 9th [which since the 6th is a friday makes sense].

 

[Khaalis]

Hmm, mine still says ship date of the 6th, arrival on the 9th [which since the 6th is a friday makes sense].

Lucky you. Mine has said the 10th since I pre-ordered them months ago.

 

[malraux]

Lucky you. Mine has said the 10th since I pre-ordered them months ago.

That's a function of Super Saver Shipping. The rumor is though that Amazon will still ship early, even for the cheap ones.

Actually, what makes sense if for them to fulfill orders based on shipping method then order date.

 

[Jer]

Also you should probably note that buy.com doesn't allow pre-orders to be canceled, at least according to the website. You may not be able to cancel your order at this point.

Were I a cynical man, I might think that buy.com was intentionally violating higher-profile street dates in minor ways just to create a buzz that you should put your high-profile geek-order in with them on the off chance that they might again "accidentally" "screw up" the order and send it out early. Wasn't buy.com the one that also "accidentally" shipped a few copies of the last Harry Potter book out before the street date hit? (Or am I thinking of someone else?) With a policy of not canceling pre-orders they could lock folks in to a slightly higher price than Amazon on the assumption that you might hit the lottery and get your "gotta-have-it-now" book a bit early.

I actually am that cynical, though I don't actually think that's the case here. I tend to go by the theory of "never attribute to malice something that can just as easily be explained by plain incompetence." And this just looks like plain incompetence.