EinCB

I read that works only for items that are in stock, and not for pre-orders.

ultimaton

I literally don't think I've ever gotten notification from either Amazon or Best Buy using their system for anything -- hot ticket item or not. The fact that Amazon's (maybe) went up under a weird, separate listing certainly doesn't help.

fumanstan

I mentioned it earlier, but in stock notifications are basically useless for big ticket items like this.

slop101

Great point by Sterling that in the videogame industry there's pre-orders for all this shit that you absolutely do not need a pre-order for in order to buy the day it comes out, but when it comes to a product you NEED a pre-order for, you can't even pre-order it. Pure bullocks!

Mike86

To be fair though a lot of consoles have the issue of being hard to find initially. This also happens to be a limited release item so it makes it even harder to get.

slop101

I'm not talking about "hard to find initially", but about not even being able to pre-order the fucker, when you can damn well pre-order a console pretty easily months before launch. Also, given the price-point, this thing falls somewhere between a console and a game, and also a bit of a novelty item as well.

Mike86

Right, but considering that this is a limited item obviously the quantity is harder to keep in stock. Normal consoles are produced with the idea of selling as many as possible. Also again I think people are flipping out over what happened day one. Nintendo already acknowledged a while back that they were going to release batches throughout the remainder of the year.

slop101

Then why even have a pre-order at all? Or why not keep it limited to one copy, for one CC and one address?

Mike86

The second part is probably more of a retailer policy thing and not up to Nintendo. Trust me I hate scalpers as much as the next person but retailers should get on the ball more with limits to things like this. As for why they put up a pre-order maybe they hoped to combat the same incident as last year. The problem is once people find out the various websites get flooded and it's a total crap shoot. Factor in regular people trying to buy plus scalpers/auto buyers and it turns into a shit show. I don't like it either but I don't think Nintendo is totally to blame this time.

Jay G.

Nintendo could place quantity limitations as part of their pre-order terms. There did seem to be a date restriction on when pre-orders could go up, which is why Walmart's initial "jump the gun" preorders all had to be cancelled.

fujishig

B&M retailers also want to keep stock for in store purchases to lure people into the store.

How much do they make on these anyway? I didn't think retailers made much on consoles anyway, and this one doesn't even have an abundance of accessories to sell along with it.

Mike86

I don't really know how that all works. I assumed that once a retailer gets their stock allocated it's up to store policy for any restrictions on how it's distributed. If it were Nintendo themselves selling this directly I think it'd be different but I don't think they can tell a retailer what to do with their stock beyond selling it. As far as the early pre-orders that were cancelled I think that's different as it's kind of like breaking street date if Nintendo says it can't go up until this date.

pinata242

As a loss-leader. If you're at the store, they're hoping you'll pick anything else up.

Obi-Wanma

It's not a very effective loss leader if it never actually makes it to a shelf.

If it's anything like last year, these will all be sold from the customer service counter to people waiting in line at opening time.

pinata242

I don't disagree, but that was his point.

Adam Tyner

I really doubt that the margins are razor-thin on this like they are for a traditional console.

Deadman31

I really don't understand how anyone is supposed to get one of these. Preorders go up in middle of the night. Each store gets like 5 of these for purchase if you want to stand in line for 12 hours. It really sucks.

fujishig

I do think B&ms will get people coming in to see if they're there, then buying something else so as to not waste the trip. I mean obviously that doesn't work if it's like the nes last year, but if it's like the Switch which trickled in...

DVDTalker76

I think the first-day shipments will be substantially more than 5 per store - question is, how many will be in line that day..?

pinata242

I got my NES Classic because blogs said GS would have them "today or tomorrow". I went today and they said "tomorrow at ~X:00." I went at "(X-1):00" and they said "not yet". I waited outside until UPS showed up, I went inside, I got 1/6.

Jay G.

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé told the Financial Times that the company has "dramatically increased" production of the Super NES Classic to try to satisfy demand. "I would strongly urge you not to over-bid on an SNES Classic on any of the auction sites," Fils-Aimé told the paper. "You shouldn't [have to] pay more than $79.99."

Linking to the Ars Techinca story about this, because the Financial Times article is behind a paywall:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/...lly-increased/

DVDTalker76

We'll see how it actually turns out. They've earned zero credibility until they finally get one of these situations right.

It's also taken over two weeks to comment on this entirely predictable situation.

DJariya

I'll believe it when I see it.

Deftones

Don't overpay but we won't fulfill demand still. Fuck you Nintendo.

slop101

Yeah, they're usually fully of shit on these kinds of statements. Less than a month before it was officially discontinued, they had said there would be plenty more NES Classics available for everyone who wanted one.