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PS3 Pre-Orders Break Amazon Japan

On October 16th, at approximately 7:10 pm Amazon Japan began taking pre-orders on both 20GB and 60GB PS3 consoles. Sorry, Japan residents only! Customers (like myself) who had previously signed up for email updates on availability, were notified 3 days earlier, giving us the heads up on the “Browser Refresh-O-Rama” that was scheduled to take place on Monday evening. Much like the GameStop and EB Games pre-orders in the USA, Amazon Japan guarantees nothing, but at least I don’t have to line up or hand over $100.

Remembering that Mrs. CheapyD had told me that online shopping is not nearly as popular in Japan as in the USA, and that Japan is only receiving 100,000 PS3s at launch, I figured this was my best chance to score a PS3 in 2006. It was also the method that required the least amount of effort.

Intimately familiar with Amazon’s USA site, I understood their “1-Click” shopping system would be my secret weapon against my uneducated Japanese online shopping foes. As you might guess, “1-Click” allows the properly prepared shopper to place an order with a single click, which would be a crucial advantage in a situation like an online PS3 pre-order brawl. An hour before “go time”, I placed a “1-Click” test order on Amazon Japan, pre-ordering both Resistance: Fall of Man and Genji for ￥ 5,083 each (about $43 US including tax and free shipping). With a successful real-time test under my belt, I was ready to deal massive damage to my credit card.

With several CAGs (Radjago, FriskyTanuki, Wii-A-Holic, et al.) watching and listening to the drama unfold in the CAG Chat Room, 7pm had arrived. Using my trusty Firefox browser, I opened up two tabbed windows on Amazon Japan’s 60GB PS3 page, and had a single tab for the less desirable 20GB unit. As the clock ticked away, the website was loading slower and slower, but there was nary a pre-order button in sight. After 10 minutes of fairly consistent cursing at my invisible enemies, the Holy Grail appeared before my eyes:

Never has a giant bald white man crushed down so hard on an Amazon Japan “1-Click” order button as I did on this day. As the website struggled to hold up under the added strain of its otaku customers, I waited for the confirmation screen to load. 30 seconds later, it slowly spilled on to my monitor and I was filled with a great sense of accomplishment. I had pre-ordered a 60GB PS3 for ￥ 62,980 ($529 US, including tax and free shipping). I shouted aloud so that my fellow CAGs watching and listening in the chat room could share in my victory. A few minutes later, the PS3 consoles were no longer available for pre-order.

At this point, the only thing left to do was to check my order history to confirm that everything was as it should be. As I clicked through to my account page, I was greeted with this not so promising screen:

I could get Mrs. Cheapy to translate, but the Babelfish translation has got to be far more amusing:

There is no excuse. There was error inside the system. Problem already with the record being completed, is the schedule which in the future advances investigation. We applying annoyance, there is no excuse.

“Well, that’s not very comforting”, I said to myself and my fellow CAG onlookers. I checked my shopping cart to see if there were any loose ends and received the same error message. For the next 20 minutes or so, I alternated between placing other items in my shopping cart and checking my order status and still got the same error. Sony’s PS3 had quite literally crippled Amazon Japan’s order processing. Finally, around 7:38pm, the Amazon techies had patched up the problem and I was able to confirm my order history and the online retailer was back in business.

Of course, this in no way guarantees I will actually receive a PS3 anytime in the near future, but at least I worked as hard as I could without leaving my chair. Tune in on November 11th to see if Amazon delivers!

Digg this story!

First, congrats, and wish I coulda been there.

Second, get those JPGs out of the damn Media Player!

Originally Posted by CheapyD It was also the method that required the least amount of effort.

You can take the man out of America, but you can never take the American out of the man.

Originally Posted by jalu6 You can take the man out of America, but you can never take the American out of the man.

Good luck Cheapy, I assume you'll be flipping it on Ebay like everyone else.

I CRUSH AMAZON!

Congrats, Cheapy. Here's hoping something turns out of this (and that "region-free" is a phrase with no strings attached, so you can play and watch what you want.

That's a great story, loved it!

However, I'm not so sure it was PS3 that did this - the same issues were happening on the US servers last Wednesday and Thursday.

indeed!

Nice. Hope you linked through CAG to buy that

Nice one hope it all works out.. Everyone should digg this !!!!

Congrats! So are you going to keep it or sell it to pay for the Wii and another PS3 sometime in March? That's my plan...

If it's truly region free, it's the best of both worlds. Have fun !

Good luck cheapy!

Originally Posted by javeryh Congrats! So are you going to keep it or sell it to pay for the Wii and another PS3 sometime in March? That's my plan...

You are a bastard!

Tried the same thing with Amazon, but got an error from the start. By the time I could check my cart without getting the "so sorry" error message, it was too late. A lot of people missed out, but a lot of Japanese on the forums were saying "Hey, it was kind of like a festival, so I had fun, even though I missed out!" Only in Japan!

CheapyD,
Did you have this shipped to an address in the US? Normally Amazon Japan won't export games outside of Japan. I've never tried using 1-Click (or pre-ordering an item), but going through the standard checkout process on an in-stock item usually leads to a screen telling you the item cannot be shipped outside of Japan. Even on the PS3 page, if you click "see this page in English" (right above the blue box where the 'add to cart' button would be), the first line of the product details says: "Shipping: We're sorry; this item can not be shipped outside Japan."


I don't know if you found a loophole because it's a preorder item, but if you're actually having this shipped to the US, keep us pposted =)

Originally Posted by humbleish CheapyD, Did you have this shipped to an address in the US? Normally Amazon Japan won't export games outside of Japan. I've never tried using 1-Click (or pre-ordering an item), but going through the standard checkout process on an in-stock item usually leads to a screen telling you the item cannot be shipped outside of Japan. Even on the PS3 page, if you click "see this page in English" (right above the blue box where the 'add to cart' button would be), the first line of the product details says: "Shipping: We're sorry; this item can not be shipped outside Japan." I don't know if you found a loophole because it's a preorder item, but if you're actually having this shipped to the US, keep us pposted =)

Cheapy lives in Japan so I doubt it.

Crush Amazon's Server With The Force By Clicking The One Click Pre-order Button!

"Cheapy lives in Japan so I doubt it."

Ah, sorry, I missed the "Location: Tokyo" in his profile.

They are right, there is no excuse. Shame on you Amazon Japan!