Amazon blocks non-Prime members from buying certain video games • Hacker News Board

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

#21

Post by tehwebguy » Fri, Apr 22, 2016, 5:09 PM UTC

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…

My guess:

- They cost more than the free shipping threshold, giving shipping away free

- New games are low profit to begin with

- Amazon sells enough of these that they are already in every distribution center

- Every unit Amazon ships probably arrives in a "Prime" amount of time anyway, giving away expedited shipping for free

This is just bringing some video game sales into alignment with what Amazon wanted Prime to do all along.

Amazon makes very good money on a sale that they don't control. If the costs of making that sale (or supporting returns, etc) is too high they benefit significantly by letting marketplace sellers take all the risk.

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

#22

Post by gdulli » Fri, Apr 22, 2016, 5:10 PM UTC

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…

I never got Prime before because the cost would amortize to an expensive shipping rate for me based on how many orders I make. And I didn't need the other Prime benefits.

But their hard selling it to the point of hostility to non-Prime customers (higher prices) has added an element of stubbornness to my objection to it. Both Prime and ordering on Amazon in general.

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

#23

Post by CM30 » Fri, Apr 22, 2016, 5:11 PM UTC

Wait, what? This is ridiculous. Amazon is a shop first and foremost, and this is exactly the sort of thing that I'll drive me to other alternatives.

It's especially silly for games, where the console manufacturers offer their own stores (both for digital and physical copies of the games). Heck, if you're buying them digital, it's about as little friction as using Amazon, since they have your payment details from other online services you use through the system (like Xbox Live).

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

#24

Post by dragonwriter » Fri, Apr 22, 2016, 5:12 PM UTC

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…

Amazon believes it has enough brand stickiness that enough people don't even consider non-Amazon options that this will be an effective way to incentivize upgrades compared.to the cost in shoppers that do consider non-Amazon options. If there marginsnon the items are low enough this isn't that unlikely to be true, even if a large percentage of customers do consider other options.

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

#25

Post by tantalor » Fri, Apr 22, 2016, 5:13 PM UTC

spo81rty wrote: post #12

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

Except Far Cry Primal, those aren't new games.

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

#26

Post by joesmo » Fri, Apr 22, 2016, 5:16 PM UTC

Still not as bad as when they stole my Prime membership money.

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

#27

Post by mkhalil » Fri, Apr 22, 2016, 5:20 PM UTC

My assumption is if they had enough Prime members buying these exclusive titles they could probably just sell at cost from day 1, therefore driving more traffic to their website. This would obviously hurt local game stores considering they could never do that without a "membership". Although, some stores like BestBuy already do this sort of thing.

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

#28

Post by zzleeper » Fri, Apr 22, 2016, 5:23 PM UTC

Is there a reason for non-console players to even buy in DVD form anymore, instead of Steam or similar markets?

I mean, I get that if you live in Canada or Australia your bandwidth sucks and you have caps, but for most cases download speeds are way faster than DVD shipping speeds.

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

#29

Post by giaour » Fri, Apr 22, 2016, 5:24 PM UTC

CM30 wrote: post #23

Wait, what? This is ridiculous. Amazon is a shop first and foremost, and this is exactly the sort of thing that I'll drive me to other alternatives. It's especially silly for games, where the console manufacturers offer their own stores (both for digital and physical copies of the games). Heck, if you're buying them digital, it's about as little friction as using Amazon, since they have your payment details from othe…

You can still buy these games on the same catalog page if you're not a prime member from a third-party seller.

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

#30

Post by cbhl » Fri, Apr 22, 2016, 5:24 PM UTC

gdulli wrote: post #22

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…

I never got Prime before because the cost would amortize to an expensive shipping rate for me based on how many orders I make. And I didn't need the other Prime benefits. But their hard selling it to the point of hostility to non-Prime customers (higher prices) has added an element of stubbornness to my objection to it. Both Prime and ordering on Amazon in general.

Once a user has Prime, they tend to order more from Amazon.