Video Games Sales are Tops at Amazon.com

[Doctor Setebos]

Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aX3nf10.JYvg&refer=top_world_news) brings word that online retailer Amazon.com (http://amazon.com) has christened videogames and iPods as their most popular selling items in their busiest holiday season ever.

"People bought more than last year,'' said Heather Dougherty, an analyst at New York-based Nielsen//Netratings. "You see the categories not changing very much from years past. We all expected a heavy gadget-type of Christmas.''
It's worth noting that Amazon.com was originally created purely as an online bookstore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com)--that almost tanked. It's great to see it become the great bastion of online consumerism that it is.

[Kefkataran]

Pretty good news for the industry, I'd imagine. Me, I still use Amazon for books mostly. Call me old-fashioned. :p

[Cool AN]

It's worth noting that Amazon.com was originally created purely as an online bookstore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com)--that almost tanked. It's great to see it become the great bastion of online consumerism that it is.

I don't really like Amazon because, they say they ship out side of the USA, but when you try to order any thing, it just gives a list of things they don't ship. Which is pretty much every thing.

Any way, this is rather strange if video game sales were, supposely, lower then last year then how come Amazon, one of the largest internet stores, had such large sales of them?

[Heretic Machine]

It's great to see it become the great bastion of online consumerism that it is.

Obviously you haven't heard of what I've gone through (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7035&highlight=Amazon) with Amazon.com

EDIT: Oh, and after the Kameo disaster, I pre-orderd Mario Kart DS a couple of days before it's release. Think I got it on time? Nope, it was OVER a week late, and I only got it when I did because I called them several times a day. They wouldn't even acknowledge that it had been released!

[bKangy]

Amazon.co.uk seems very different to Amazon.com. I only ever had one order go bad, which was my copy of WoW, which was probably the fault of Royal Mail than Amazon, knowing their track record for that crap. They sent me a new copy without any real hassle though, which was pretty good, and didn't even bother to try and get me to wait or anything.

[mister_slim]

And Mario Party 7 was one of their top selling games.

Signs of the Apocalypse everywhere. Soon it'll be cats and dogs living together (I'm sure Nintendo is working on this).

[Captain Awesome]

I <3 Amazon.com

[Kelegacy]

I love Amazon. In the past month I've saved nearly 200 bucks shopping there. They were cheapest on the Tungsten E2 I bought and also a cell phone...I actually MADE money buy going through them instead of T-Mobile directly. Weird.

[Com_Gaunt]

EDIT: Oh, and after the Kameo disaster, I pre-orderd Mario Kart DS a couple of days before it's release. Think I got it on time? Nope, it was OVER a week late, and I only got it when I did because I called them several times a day. They wouldn't even acknowledge that it had been released!

So what would be a good place to preorder games? I want Oblivion the day it comes out.

[Heretic Machine]

Gamestop has never failed me as far as pre-orders go...

[Kelegacy]

Kelegacy hate preorders. Kelegacy admires patience. Kelegacy don't need game on same exact day. Kelegacy remembers something about EB taking money for 360s many, many moons ago and people still dont have system. Sad news.

[Heretic Machine]

Well, some things I can't wait for. Most games can wait, hell I don't usually pick things up until they are bargain-binned, but some things NEED to be in my house the day they are released. Games like Oblivion, and Kameo...

[Maskatron]

Amazon has gotten better with me recently. For some reason orders arrive a bit quicker, and I love having free shipping on stuff (over $25). I used to buy all my DVDs at Deep Discount DVD, but Amazon has been really competitive with their pricing lately, so I mostly use them now.

[Kefkataran]

I use Amazon a lot, but really only for ordering used stuff. At least 90% of the time.

[Kelegacy]

I'd rather use Amazon for used stuff than ebay any day of the week. Ebay used to be good...until everyone and their mothers starting using it. Now I have to wade through pages of shit every time I type in a search.

[Rirath]

I'd rather use Amazon for used stuff than ebay any day of the week. Ebay used to be good...until everyone and their mothers starting using it. Now I have to wade through pages of shit every time I type in a search.

Exactly, not to mention /everyone/ on Ebay now tries to make a fortune through insane shipping fees. Ebay is dead to me now. I've had very good experiences ordering used items through Amazon, however.

I'm not one of the types who's afraid to Froogle for the best deal and register with some smaller shop in order to find a cheaper price / rarer item, but I always check Amazon.com first. The free shipping is the real hook, as well as the prices. They're the online Wal-Mart, as far as I'm concerned. (not an insult)

...And I still mainly order books.

[Kelegacy]

Exactly, not to mention /everyone/ on Ebay now tries to make a fortune through insane shipping fees. Ebay is dead to me now. I've had very good experiences ordering used items through Amazon, however.

I'm not one of the types who's afraid to Froogle for the best deal and register with some smaller shop in order to find a cheaper price / rarer item, but I always check Amazon.com first. The free shipping is the real hook, as well as the prices. They're the online Wal-Mart, as far as I'm concerned. (not an insult)

...And I still mainly order books.
When I shop online, shipping is the first thing I look at before i even consider making an online purchase. Charging you 10 bucks to ship a Playstation game on Ebay is robbery. I usually charge whatever the cost to me is plus 50 cents when selling something online, though I haven't done that in ages.

[Syl]

I like amazon mainly for that book section that they originally started as.

If a book exists, amazon has a way to get it - its quite useful.

Espicially if this book happens to be the Complete Far Side Collection for $45 and free shipping. (Compared to the original $160 retail cost.)

Anyway, i've never had trouble with amazon myself. I've seen them take a little bit longer to ship things compared too.. Newegg, or something, but considering I generally get the free shipping on amazon - it works out very well.

[TrackZero]

Heh, I'm amazed noone put two and two together to realize MANY of those Amazon holidays sales were generated through Childsplay (http://www.childsplaycharity.org/). I know they got a purchase out of me due to it.

[Kefkataran]

If a book exists, amazon has a way to get it - its quite useful.

I've had a couple problems getting things, but only some reallllly lesser-known stuff. :)

[ElectricMonk]

i've ordered hundreds of dollars worth of stuff off of amazon... but i do wish they were cheaper. most of the stuff they have you can find for 50% less at retail if you cared to look, not including s&h charges.

edit: i've never had any problems with amazon, always get stuff before i expect it.

[ElectricMonk]

When I shop online, shipping is the first thing I look at before i even consider making an online purchase. Charging you 10 bucks to ship a Playstation game on Ebay is robbery. I usually charge whatever the cost to me is plus 50 cents when selling something online, though I haven't done that in ages.

I used to sell stuff on ebay (for about 2 months) and it was surprising how expensive shipping could actually be. it's not an insane markup sometimes, it's just a rough estimate to make sure you're not losing money, and if you make money then that's a bonus. sometimes you're making 8$ out of that $10 but sometimes you make nothing.

[automaton]

I bought my DS through Amazon right before Xmas. They were selling the Mario Kart bundle with a free copy of Ultimate Spiderman and a free starter kit (carrying case, car charger, ear buds, screen protector). I saved like 80 bucks on that deal - enough to buy 2 more games. I've never had a problem ordering with them, but I'm never in a great hurry to get stuff in. You would be amazed at the difference in your shopping experience if you don't place stringent conditions on your purchase (must have on launch day, purchase 3 days before xmas with overnight shipping, etc...)

[dr_wily]

I <3 Amazon.com

Yes i agree that you have a tiny penis which is somehow related to amazon.

I love Amazon. In the past month I've saved nearly 200 bucks shopping there. They were cheapest on the Tungsten E2 I bought and also a cell phone...I actually MADE money buy going through them instead of T-Mobile directly. Weird.

I get all my cell stuff from the zon, best deals period. I did however go through a horrible debacle of getting my cell number changed over through ATT/cingular due to this. I'm sure it wouldve taken less than the 6 MONTHS if I had upgraded through ATT.

Now I'm just going to rotate my cell phone # every 2 years and get a new phone/plan through the zon.. done it twice.

Also don't forget, triple points on amazon CC purchases! I've gotten a lot of 25$ GCs for doing basically nothing but charging everything to it.

[Balthasar]

Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aX3nf10.JYvg&refer=top_world_news) brings word that online retailer Amazon.com (http://amazon.com) has christened videogames and iPods as their most popular selling items in their busiest holiday season ever.
Wait, I just read that whole article and didn't see anything that indicated that videogames or ipods were the top-selling items. I did see that they were the top selling electronic items, which is certainly not saying the same thing.

It's worth noting that Amazon.com was originally created purely as an online bookstore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com)--that almost tanked. It's great to see it become the great bastion of online consumerism that it is.

Hmmm, your link to Wikipedia about Amazon, much like the Bloomberg article, does not seem to support your claims. The wiki article says they enjoyed steady growth throughout the 90s. How did they almost tank?

[Balthasar]

i've ordered hundreds of dollars worth of stuff off of amazon... but i do wish they were cheaper. most of the stuff they have you can find for 50% less at retail if you cared to look, not including s&h charges.

edit: i've never had any problems with amazon, always get stuff before i expect it.

For me it's the other way around: they often have stuff like books and dvds cheaper than the prices I might find at Virgin or even Barnes and Noble.