Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon blocks non-Prime members from buying certain video games

videogamer.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 145 posts

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

#101

Post by vinceguidry »

If Amazon decided to go the Costco / Sam's Club route and charge just for access to their store, I'd probably just shrug and pony it up. I mean, I already pay for it now, and I'm not doing any analysis to find out how much I'm using it and what it's saving me vs. other options.

There are essentially two different kinds of experiences I have when buying goods and services online. Amazon-tier and everything else. I prize the experience of using Amazon so much that they'd have to double the cost of Prime before I'd even start to consider switching.

Amazon has become part of the infrastructure of my life, like Google and my local coffee shop. The switching costs simply and utterly dwarf the cost of doing business with them.

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

#102

Post by sokoloff »

goldenkey wrote: post #90
eva1984 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still can buy from 3rd party though, but no free delivery from Amazon.

Amazon charges vendors up to 40 percent rake just to be fulfilled by Amazon. They are swindling the living crap out of 3rd party sellers while also maintaining their position as lowest price on most products within their own sham site. Very often these days Walmart or another online vendor will have cheaper prices than Amazon. The way Amazon treats its employees and the underhanded business tactics toward customers a…

Interesting that Amazon is "swindling" third-party sellers.

How much do Home Depot, Walmart, Sears, Costco, and others charge the (zero) third party sellers that they allow onto their platform?

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

#103

Post by foone »

post_break wrote: post #60
morganvachon wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...my orders with free shipping due to price threshold tend to be significantly slower than Prime, often taking weeks for items of all Prime eligible items. I've had the opposite experience (and posted about it here before). Since I joined Prime last year, I've had issues with the guaranteed 2 day shipping taking 3-4 days or sometimes a week. I don't live in the backwoods either; I'm well within the Atlanta metro a…

I've had the opposite. Shipments supposed to be delivered on monday delivered on saturday or sunday. And promptly lost because I ship to a business address that is closed on the weekend. Infuriating watching it state delivered on a sunday at 3pm when I know it's going to be lost.

I swear I've had amazon ask me if it was alright to deliver to a new address on weekends. Maybe that's a recent feature?

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

#104

Post by ac29 »

brwnll wrote: post #85
zodPod wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Previous to buying Prime, I ordered things that would be in a "Preparing to Ship" status for a week before actually shipping out. Upon contacting Amazon they informed me that they literally will not ship for a period of time if you got the over $35 free shipping deal. I complained and told them that was bullcrap and I didn't know that and I needed the things the next day and they overnighted them to me but still I wa…

This is likely true, but for a less nefarious reasons. It's very unlikely they received your order and were sitting around twirling their thumbs until the last possible moment. Instead Amazon has algos that know exactly when they need to get an item in the mail to make it before the deadline. Every time an order comes in, the pickers list is updated. Meaning that every time a customers order comes in with a tighter d…

I'm pretty sure it is for nefarious reasons. For the last year or two (maybe more), Amazon has never failed to deliver my free shipping (non-prime) orders in 1-2 days from when they ship. Since this would be a disincentive to subscribe to Prime if they shipped it within a day or so of receiving the order, they just do nothing for 4 or 5 days so that it arrives in the 5-8 day quoted window.

Its clearly in their best interest to push people to subscribe to Prime to recover their costs, their order fulfillment is so streamlined that a standard free shipment and a prime shipment probably cost the same in 95% of cases.

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

#105

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

anexprogrammer wrote: post #87
newjersey wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every unit Amazon ships probably arrives in a "Prime" amount of time anyway, giving away expedited shipping for free Just to add a note that this isn't always true. Sometimes they withhold shipping even though they have the item in stock at the nearby distribution center.

If you use free delivery, they seem do this more often than not lately. For years free delivery would often be as fast as other methods, sometimes next day, even if ordered late in the day. Now they will usually sit on the order for a suspiciously consistent 48hrs before it goes to picking status. I don't mind, it's very rare I really need something next day.

I have an open order right now they've been sitting on for 5 days. It's fine with me. I don't need the instant gratification and don't make enough orders to justify Prime. Just pretend you're living in the era of Sears & Roebuck ca. 1916 and you get your order turned around in the phenomenal time frame of 10 days with doorstep delivery rather than waiting a couple months and having to make the voyage out to the train depot to pick up your stuff.

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

#106

Post by jocoinwestmo »

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…

Because amazon wants subscription revenue because subscription revenue is valued by analysts. So they do whatever they can to get people on prime.

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

#107

Post by startling »

__david__ wrote: post #2

This is a weird move. I think if I didn't already have prime, I'd just go somewhere else rather than be motivated to subscribe. Hopefully this is just an experiment—I suspect this is ultimately going to be self defeating.

One explanation: * People who buy video games on amazon and don't have prime aren't likely to get prime. * They're losing money on the free shipping offer (given video games tend to be >$35, may have thinner margins than other products).

I'm not saying this is their reasoning, I'm just saying it could make sense.

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

#108

Post by gozur88 »

mikeash wrote: post #15

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…

Whether or not Amazon is the best place to buy something depends on your sensitivity to price. You can almost always find a better price somewhere else, and that's been true for many years. Amazon's selling points are convenience and selection.

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

#109

Post by goldenkey »

sokoloff wrote: post #102
goldenkey wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon charges vendors up to 40 percent rake just to be fulfilled by Amazon. They are swindling the living crap out of 3rd party sellers while also maintaining their position as lowest price on most products within their own sham site. Very often these days Walmart or another online vendor will have cheaper prices than Amazon. The way Amazon treats its employees and the underhanded business tactics toward customers a…

Interesting that Amazon is "swindling" third-party sellers. How much do Home Depot, Walmart, Sears, Costco, and others charge the (zero) third party sellers that they allow onto their platform?

Most of the "oldbiz" buy the goods and sell them from their own corporation -- this is because they have actual retail stores. Amazon does not. I do not know how much their rake is for 3rd party online goods though -- I see "Sold by Pharmapacks", etc.. often on Walmart and the price is usually not competitive at all compared to "Sold by Walmart.com" items. Mostly has to do with the shipping price.

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

#110

Post by gozur88 »

mindslight wrote: post #40
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…

Amazon is the only place I have seen blatant user-targeted dark patterns. "Order within the next hour to ship today". Four hours later: "order within the next 2 hours to ship today". Never mind the lowest-bid delivery acting like this is the first package they've ever handled (a phone call, really?), or email spam from checking a price. I believe a short time after a company acquires a reputation, customers develop a…

>Amazon is the only place I have seen blatant user-targeted dark patterns. "Order within the next hour to ship today". Four hours later: "order within the next 2 hours to ship today".

That could be a reaction to facts on the ground. To give you a guaranteed shipping window, they need to estimate sales. If sales come up lower than expected, the cutoff moves a few hours.

You see this kind of thing all the time in airline seat pricing.

Post reply on HN