I prefer it this way and to be honest, pre-ordering to receive the code and then cancelling the order (abusing the admittedly stupid practice) was always going to fuck it up.
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Amazon now charging on order, not dispatch, for pre-orders across Europe (UP: policy appears to have been reverted)
- Thread starter Winstano
- Start date
Dumb change considering I've pre ordered numerous items from Amazon that never got fulfilled. You can't tell me something is sold out if it was pre ordered months in advance
The silver lining of this policy is that long ahead preorders of limited editions were often at risk due to credit cards being changed/replaced in the time period between order and dispatch. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had a limited edition preorder endangered due to a credit card change in the interim.
My prime ends on june 1st, I'm not renewing now thanks to seeing this. I'm sure this crap will come to Canada at some point so might as well just get rid of it now.
It's super easy to update your credit card info. First thing I always do when a card is expired or replaced is update all my recurring billing things and any open amazon orders. One thing amazon is really good at it letting you do that where as walmart and bestbuy are horrible about it.
You know I'm actually surprised they are finally going to stop it. Seems crazy that you could still do that today.
Um, you realize Best Buy does this as well?
Best Buy said:
Best Buy places an authorization hold on your card when you place an order, and places random holds up until release. if at any point before the item releases, your card fails the authorization check, the order will be cancelled. The result is the same, you need to have the funds on your card. Best Buy pre-orders aren't free.
I sent them an email to complain and they say they're reviewing this problem. Might be worth shooting them an email to complain.
That sucks with the number of betas hidden behind pre-orders. I only buy my games off of PSN, but I would pre-order for a beta code.
Best Buy, at least in the US, though does not actually charge until an item ships. The authorization goes away in a few weeks and is never a real charge that actually shows up on your bill.
What I read earlier in the thread made it sound like this was a real charge well in advance of actually shipping the pre-order, not just an authorization?
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Is the Amazon CC not an option? I get 5% Amazon credit while using it. There's no reason not to use it
Wow this sucks big time for me, since I make 100% of my physical gaming purchases on Amazon, and my credit card is in a different currency so my bank charges a 3% currency conversion fee for any transaction (including refunds)... So now if I make a pre-order then later decide to cancel it, I'm going to lose 6% of the order value in fees... Yikes, this is going to make me much less likely to preorder anything unless I'm 100% sure I'm keeping it.
Why can't we keep having nice things?
Why can't we keep having nice things?
Terrible users abuse system, it gets changed, people blame company.
If you're on about some people pre-ordering and cancelling for beta keys or whatever... You do realise you can still do that under this new system lol?
This change has nothing to do with that.
This would be really awful for me if it hits the US. I'm on a fixed income and I plan around being charged when a game is out.
I'll just straight up stop using Amazon and go back to pre-ordering from GameStop where I only have to put $5 down in person if this goes away.
I'll just straight up stop using Amazon and go back to pre-ordering from GameStop where I only have to put $5 down in person if this goes away.
That's not a real reason as they could just do it for specific items like CE's etc if they wanted to.
Damn that's a terrible change. Zero reason to pre-order anything now. It will save me some headache though as I often pre order and either forget about it completely or can't decide and just keep it. There will be zero chance I pre order the Rage 2 type games as I have in the past. This will have a sizable negative effect on Amazon game sales imo.
Damn that's a terrible change. Zero reason to pre-order anything now. It will save me some headache though as I often pre order and either forget about it completely or can't decide and just keep it. There will be zero chance I pre order the Rage 2 type games as I have in the past. This will have a sizable negative effect on Amazon game sales imo.
Yeah. The best part about it is pre-ordering a console and paying it off with gift cards, birthday money etc.
Paying for something before it releases has always been a stupid idea IMO. You shouldn't be charged for anything until it comes out.
Yup. Or in my case, just putting up backup pre-orders alongside other outlets that I can cancel a week or so out.
Mind you, I'm alright with authorization charges. If that's what this is, then I'd be okay (but still stick with Best Buy at that's point because... what is there to gain?). But if it's actually paying, then yeah. Nope.
A better way to avoid people abusing pre orders and scalpers is what Amazon Japan does, "this pre order cannot be cancelled", or GAME charging a small amount for the pre order. I'm not going to pay for something months in advance, goodbye Amazon.
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Honestly I would prefer it this way.
Because sometimes when I have some expendable cash and I want to preorder a game or something on amazon I don't want to constantly buy a giftcard for the exact amount so that they can charge it when it ships. Because I just want to one click order it with my usual debit card and forget it. Because I never know when I will be in a bind later and would need the cash down the line, so I would rather they charge me then when I actually have the money available for it.
Its very stupid of someone to order something when they can't actually afford it at the time and hope they have the money when the time comes. Which I assume is what some people do.
Because sometimes when I have some expendable cash and I want to preorder a game or something on amazon I don't want to constantly buy a giftcard for the exact amount so that they can charge it when it ships. Because I just want to one click order it with my usual debit card and forget it. Because I never know when I will be in a bind later and would need the cash down the line, so I would rather they charge me then when I actually have the money available for it.
Its very stupid of someone to order something when they can't actually afford it at the time and hope they have the money when the time comes. Which I assume is what some people do.
Makes no difference to me.
I have a bunch of things preordered now only because they were grandfathered into the 20% discount but I don't see the point of preordering so far in advance unless you are after collectors editions... in which case, they should charge people to keep scalping to a minimum.
I have a bunch of things preordered now only because they were grandfathered into the 20% discount but I don't see the point of preordering so far in advance unless you are after collectors editions... in which case, they should charge people to keep scalping to a minimum.
I really miss ~2010-era Amazon. .99 release day shipping, 20% off pre-orders/new releases with no Prime requirement, and as good as their customer service in the US is now, it was 10x better back then. I understand why they really couldn't keep that going for the long term, but I still miss it.
Oh well, no more pre-ordering anything on Amazon for me anymore.
Oh well, no more pre-ordering anything on Amazon for me anymore.
My problem with this is that Ultimate Alliance 3 is £59.99 at the moment. Come launch, that'll drop about £20 (Fire Emblem/Mario Maker 2 price), so they'll refund that money after they dispatch the game as per their policy. But they've had my extra £20 sitting in their bank account working for them until release.
I'll probably only pre-order from them going forward when the price is very cheap.
I'll probably only pre-order from them going forward when the price is very cheap.
You're gonna need 50 quid in the bank to get these codes and betas, before you could have a fiver in savings and still score the bonuses and cancel.
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Nah, cos they charge five days after you order. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I'm aware they usually sent the codes within 48 hours after ordering. Consequently this does nothing to stop people abusing that system lol. They'd charge straight away, not in five days, if they were trying to tackle that.
Wouldn't publishers have a major problem with this? You'd think this would have to have a sizeable impact on preorder numbers.
Let's say that a bunch of items go up for pre-order at the same time, but their releases are spread out. Before you could order them all but would only have to pay when they each shipped, now you need to pony up the cash all at once.
Even if you're not ordering multiple items, if pre-orders suddenly open for something limited, you need to have the cash now rather than planning your spending in advance.
On what planet is this change good for consumers?
Yeah, that's what I'd think too. I'd think they'd have a big problem with this messing with early preorder numbers and indications.
Hopefully it's not coming over.
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Forces scalpers to have to front the money for multiple orders.
For a regular person, you have 30 days grace period anyway on a credit card. Plus we know most people suck at money management, and this helps ensure people only buy stuff they can actually pay for.
Sounds like it's time for you guys to get credit cards. I'm pretty stunned that there's outrage over this.
This is likely to combat pre-order bonus abuse.
This is likely to combat pre-order bonus abuse.
Some places don't do release day shipping if you don't pre order. If pre ordering is all it takes for me not to have to drive half an hour round trip and wait in line for a game after work, I'll choose pre ordering in a heartbeat.
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Can we please ban images of this shitbag? Makes my blood boil.
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Bit fishy how Amazon, Simplygames and Shopto all changed their pre-order process so close together. Wouldn't be surprised with physical numbers being down that the main distributors want more precise and guaranteed numbers.
But speaking solely on Amazon, maybe an accountant looked at the books and saw that they had £xxx million on pre-orders that were more than 3 months out and thought why not take the cash upfront from now on and make a few quid from the interest.
But speaking solely on Amazon, maybe an accountant looked at the books and saw that they had £xxx million on pre-orders that were more than 3 months out and thought why not take the cash upfront from now on and make a few quid from the interest.
yes, pretty much the people defending the change don't understand this.
I think everyone gets this. Actually having to hand over cash would still be a barrier to it, if nothing else. Wouldn't stop people abusing it but is very likely to reduce it.