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Certain games in Amazon requires Prime membership in order to purchase them

Z

ZarKryn7

Member
http://m.ign.com/articles/2016/04/22/amazon-is-making-buying-some-games-a-prime-exclusive-feature

Amazon has begun blocking those without Prime subscriptions from buying certain items directly from the retailer.
Reported by Videogamer, Prime membership is required to buy the likes of Grand Theft Auto V, Assassin's Creed Syndicate, FIFA 16 and other high-profile games, on both Amazon US and Amazon UK.
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Lock if old

Untitled-8.jpg
 
M

Mechazawa

Member
The fuck? GTA? I thought this was gonna be about old DS games or something.

Fuck are you doin' Amazon(and I say that as someone with Prime)?
 
W

Wagram

Member
I started buying stuff on Bestbuy. Amazon has been going way down hill unless you want to fork over that prime membership fee.
 
C

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
So are they just shifting toward a subscription-only model if people want to buy from them? Seems that way.

I don't buy games from Amazon regardless due to GCU.
 
S

SavoyPrime

Member
I shop at Amazon quite a bit, so being a Prime member works for me. But this business strategy is beyond ridiculous. The only thing they are doing is pushing non-Prime members away to their competitors. Can't believe somebody at Amazon actually gave that the green light.
 
D

Devilgunman

Member
Who the hell at Amazon think this is a good idea? With Bestbuy GCU becoming more and more popular, this feels like they shot themselves in the foot.
 
D

donny2112

Member
Amazon's been doing this with various items across different categories for several months now. Nothing new. Just more people becoming aware of it.
 
jediyoshi

jediyoshi

Member
Devilgunman said:
Who the hell at Amazon think this is a good idea? With Bestbuy GCU becoming more and more popular, this feels like they shot themselves in the foot.
Click to expand...

Except they've apparently gotten away with it seeing as this has already been a thing in the US for months now.
 
V

Vanille

Member
Yeah, they've been pulling this shit with blu-rays for a while.

Makes no sense. No one is going to look at this and think "hmm guess I should sign up for Prime then". They're just going to shop elsewhere.
 
jediyoshi

jediyoshi

Member
Vanille said:
Yeah, they've been pulling this shit with blu-rays for a while.

Makes no sense. No one is going to look at this and think "hmm guess I should sign up for Prime then". They're just going to shop elsewhere.
Click to expand...

Ideally it reiterates what people should already be doing in looking up their other sellers listings and using their Prime to better use.
 
V

vypek

Member
They'll drop it soon enough if it doesn't lead to more money. Or people need to badger them about it to make the change happen faster. I exchanged quite a few emails about 20% discount and going to Best Buy when buying games and I imagine others did as well. So maybe enough feedback will get this reversed.
 
A

aristotle

Member
I have a feeling this is largely taken out of context. I believe that they're only put on "prime only" when their stock is low. When they receive more stock, they revert back to everyone can buy them.

Just my inferred calculation though.
 
Paracelsus

Paracelsus

Member
Hello. Sign in
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[Sign In]
New Customer? Don't even fucking bother Starting Here if you ain't gonna get Prime
 
T

tenchir

Member
If they do this with stuff like Limited edition of 3DS, or FE Fate SE, or PSVR. I would be fine with it because it would cut down on scalpers.
 
V

Vibranium

Banned
This isn't happening with Amazon Canada, is it? We get no Prime streaming, so the least they could do is cut us a break.
 
S

sangreal

Member
NolbertoS said:
link to said rumour for US?? I only heard UK is being affected

Edit: I tried looking on amazon.com without prime and still see GTA V listed.
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11Fmac1.png


(the image in the op is from someone in the UK trying to order from amazon.com but I am definitely in the US)
 
G

Gren

Member
Glitchesarecool said:
So then what am I missing here, why the outrage?
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Affiliated sellers don't always match price with Amazon (right now it looks like all the US partnered sellers are selling PS4 GTA at $52 vs Amazon's $39).

I was fine with the changes to free shipping (quite frankly, I'm amazed they allowed it at such a low price for so long, especially to where I live), but gating things off like this is lame.
 
styl3s

styl3s

Member
Vanille said:
Yeah, they've been pulling this shit with blu-rays for a while.

Makes no sense. No one is going to look at this and think "hmm guess I should sign up for Prime then". They're just going to shop elsewhere.
Click to expand...
What Blu-Rays have been prime exclusive?
 
V

Vincent Grayson

Member
Gren said:
Affiliated sellers don't always match price with Amazon (right now it looks like all the US partnered sellers are selling PS4 GTA at $52 vs Amazon's $39).

I was fine with the changes to free shipping (quite frankly, I'm amazed they allowed it at such a low price for so long, especially to where I live), but gating things off like this is lame.
Click to expand...

That just makes it more like shopping at Costco. If you want their low prices, you pay the membership fee.
 
G

Gren

Member
Vincent Grayson said:
That just makes it more like shopping at Costco. If you want their low prices, you pay the membership fee.
Click to expand...

Maybe, but it could just be Amazon price matching another vendor (i.e Walmart currently has GTA for the same price) rather than setting a consistently lower price for prime members.

I don't track Amazon price changes so I honestly can't say which is the case here.

EDIT: And in retrospect, I wouldn't say it's much like Costco, where you approach it knowing full well that you can't even peruse the goods inside without a paid membership. It's more like shopping in grocery/drug stores & coming across an item that is discounted only for those enrolled in their card programs, except that 1) non-members can still buy the items directly at the regular price, and 2) said membership cards are free (AFAIK).
 
7

7DollarHagane

Banned
I don't really understand what this does for amazon. The sale price isn't so outrageously low or even lower than other retailers have offered it before that there would be a rush on purchases or anyone would actually consider getting prime to "save" $20 on GTA5 when it's been $40 elsewhere numerous times.

It just seems weird. I like amazon though because i'm getting same day delivery now on some things included with prime.
 
P

Pellegri Testament

Member
I'd maybe understand it if they did this with LEs, but one of the easiest to find games in existence like GTA 5? Is that supposed to be some kind of selling point for Prime when you can find the game in literally any other store or online site?
 
N

Noisepurge

Member
Pellegri Testament said:
I'd maybe understand it if they did this with LEs, but one of the easiest to find games in existence like GTA 5? Is that supposed to be some kind of selling point for Prime when you can find the game in literally any other store or online site?
Click to expand...

i understood that only the discounted price is for Prime members. which might be cheaper than elsewhere.
 
EYEL1NER

EYEL1NER

Member
Yeah, it's been going on for a couple months. When I saw the UK thread I thought "Oh, they are just now starting this over there?" I've seen quite a few "WTF, why can't I buy this game/movie/whatever" threads on the Amazon forums.
I haven't bought any 'Exclusive to Prime' items and do not plan to buy any of them from Amazon. Not sure what they gain from it, since they still allow other sellers to list the items. I haven't seen anything yet that made me think 'This being exclusive adds a lot of value to Prime.'
 
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