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Amazon blocks non-Prime members from buying certain video games

videogamer.com

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Re: Amazon blocks non-Prime members from buying certain video games

#11

Post by awinter-py »

knd775 wrote: post #9
awinter-py wrote: post #7

Weird but not surprising -- not that different from HBO / netflix negotiating exclusive streaming rights to content. Spotify and youtube's 'deal' departments are more important (and more controversial) than their coders / PMs. If you don't like this, steer clear of strings-attached content platforms.

These games aren't exclusive in any way. They can be bought from a large from a large number of other retailers for a comparable price.

well, they're exclusive in 1 way -- amzn seems to be enforcing the party line that these are 'exclusive items'. If you're a shopper with limited attention, the headline matters more than the comparison shopping outcome.

Re: Amazon blocks non-Prime members from buying certain video games

#13

Post by gdulli »

Ever since there started being discounts for Prime-only members I knew it was the beginning of the end of my using Amazon.

My last online order was with Walgreens. I never tried them before but I googled for the product I had in my Amazon cart, it was cheaper at Walgreens, I added a few things to get up to $35 for free shipping, those things were also cheaper than on Amazon. I got the delivery faster than my last few free standard shipping orders with Amazon.

For a long time Amazon was the "default" in my mind for shopping online and I see now there's no reason it should be that way anymore.

Re: Amazon blocks non-Prime members from buying certain video games

#14

Post by alttab »

spo81rty wrote: post #12

Maybe they are doing this on some very low margin products? Are brand new video games low margin?

My guess is they are moving loss leaders towards customers that have a higher life-time value, and want to minimize sales to unloyal customers that cost them on a transaction basis.

Re: Amazon blocks non-Prime members from buying certain video games

#15

Post by mikeash »

Amazon put a lot of effort over the years into establishing themselves as the best place to buy nearly everything online. Now they seem bound and determined to throw that title away. Between rising prices, add-on items, confusing marketplace sellers, a refusal to sell certain products that compete with Amazon branded products, and now this ridiculous Prime tie-in, I find it more and more difficult to find a reason to buy stuff from them.

Re: Amazon blocks non-Prime members from buying certain video games

#16

Post by mikeash »

raverbashing wrote: post #5

To be honest people shouldn't be complaining they can't get it from Amazon, but getting it from someone else It's that simple

Why not both? Complaining is useful to the target of the complaint (if they care to pay attention) and often gets results.

I don't understand why so many people seem to think that complaining is somehow not a legitimate reaction to this sort of thing.

Re: Amazon blocks non-Prime members from buying certain video games

#17

Post by aluhut »

jerf wrote: post #4

I don't get it. As an incentive to sign up for Prime it makes no sense; Prime needs to offer me things I can't get elsewhere (or at least not for the same price), not return to me things that I can easily get elsewhere. I just spot-checked Amazon US's price for GTA 5, 39.88 [1], and it's the exact same price at Wal-Mart [2], so it's not an exclusive deal or something. (Nor did I spend several minutes hunting for a co…

I guess they try to hit people like me. I have only one online shopping account connected to my real name. It's on Amazon. Back then I got it to buy books in english. It worked pretty well for some time with other products too.

However. Seeing this, I would rather pirate the game then allow them to force me into Prime.

Thanks to the messed up DHL delivery guys here I already started to discover shops in my area again. Especially for electronics and other fragile products.

Re: Amazon blocks non-Prime members from buying certain video games

#18

Post by takno »

alttab wrote: post #14
spo81rty wrote: post #12

Maybe they are doing this on some very low margin products? Are brand new video games low margin?

My guess is they are moving loss leaders towards customers that have a higher life-time value, and want to minimize sales to unloyal customers that cost them on a transaction basis.

They lost me from Prime when they started doing ads before the programmes and messing up every other delivery. If they want to lose the hundreds of pounds of orders I continue to make, and the hundreds more pounds of AWS spend, they have certainly managed to find an approach to achieve that

Re: Amazon blocks non-Prime members from buying certain video games

#19

Post by jeebow »

potatolicious wrote: post #8

This seems oddly customer-hostile, which is something I've grown to expect from tech companies but not Amazon in specific. One can't help but wonder if the damage this does to the brand outweighs the strategic gains through Prime subscriptions. After all, selection and availability is a huge part of Amazon's secret sauce to success, more so than customer service, shipping speed, or any other concern. If customers los…

It echoes their decision to not carry the AppleTV, and to direct searches for AppleTVs to the FireTV. It's arrogant and customer-hostile. And ultimately, the result in my case was that I had a perfectly pleasant buying experience with Apple.

Re: Amazon blocks non-Prime members from buying certain video games

#20

Post by Fennhella »

potatolicious wrote: post #8

This seems oddly customer-hostile, which is something I've grown to expect from tech companies but not Amazon in specific. One can't help but wonder if the damage this does to the brand outweighs the strategic gains through Prime subscriptions. After all, selection and availability is a huge part of Amazon's secret sauce to success, more so than customer service, shipping speed, or any other concern. If customers los…

Seems like a test to see how the practice goes.

Really don't know what the hypothesis or plan is that would lead to good conclusions though.

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