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Originally Posted by confoosious Quick question: ballpark, how much do you think a video game costs? Also, you realize that retailers often do sell items at a loss, right?

They would have cost me $40, and I know for a fact that amazon gets a much better discount than my store did.

Originally Posted by confoosious Honestly I have no idea. I think maybe because stupidity bothers me. It's a "developmental need", as they say in the year end review meetings. I just don't understand how someone can get upset at Amazon cause they didn't get in on a deal. It just confuses and perplexes me. When I miss a deal, I blame myself for being slow or wishywashy. I don't blame Amazon/Newegg/Gohastings/walmart. Also, there are a bunch of people on CAG who (it seems to me) are in the industry (and not the "next in line please" role), if you take the time to listen to them, you can learn a thing or two about how these things work. To me, that's helpful in getting deals. For example, if you understand that things "on sale" are limited in time or units (although really, i just that was common sense), you would be quick to snatch up the Epic Mickey, DKCR, or Kirby combo and you would be instead of and .

If this is referring to me, as I suspect it is, I stated I wasn't mad. I wouldn't buy Epic Mickey, because no review I looked at or person I know said it was a good game, and I already have Kirby. I said it'd be nice if it was a lightning deal. Instead of having a relevant comment on what I've actually said, you offer ridiculous, unrelated arguments, all the while calling other people stupid. You get shot down, yet you continue.

Originally Posted by Zurcamos Find one place where anybody said that, "Amazon should keep selling at a certain price until they have literally no more stock." When will you brilliant kids figure out that putting words in people's mouths isn't having a debate with them? It's talking to yourself. allyourblood said he/she has never worked for a company that did this. Only an idiot would argue that they know someone else's experiences better than the person involved. Did you personally see items in Best Buy's backroom on sales day? If not, you are speculating, and speculation is NOT fact.

I know for a fact that retailers limit quantities on sale all the time. Best Buy, Walmart and many others only set aside a designated number of units for advertised sales. Once those are gone, the items are still available for sale, only they are at full price. For example, at Walmart this year, they had a Blu Ray player at a very low price. They sold the 20 units they set aside for my sale at my local store and wouldn't sell any more. Later that day I went back and the same exact unit was on sale, however, it was at full price again. Are you telling me the postal service magically delivered another pile of them in the four hours between opening and when I went back? Of course not, they intentionally limited the quantity.

Originally Posted by Zurcamos They would have cost me $40, and I know for a fact that amazon gets a much better discount than my store did. If this is referring to me, as I suspect it is, I stated I wasn't mad. I wouldn't buy Epic Mickey, because no review I looked at or person I know said it was a good game, and I already have Kirby. I said it'd be nice if it was a lightning deal. Instead of having a relevant comment on what I've actually said, you offer ridiculous, unrelated arguments, all the while calling other people stupid. You get shot down, yet you continue.

What store did you work at? I have negotiated several distribution and publishing agreements on behalf of developers and publishers with Tommo, Jack of All Games and several other distributors and the best margins in the business are around 30% and those are only received by Walmart, Best Buy, Amazon, Target and Gamestop. Small retailers and independent game shops are lucky to get 15% and sometimes it's as low as 10% depending on the retailer and the quantitiy they purchase. Of course, at certain times of year and for certain titles, retailers can get a nice little distributor credit bump paid for by the publisher which increases their margin somewhat, but there is absolutely no way a small retailer is regularly getting $60 MSRP games at $40 wholesale. I know that for a fact.

Just curious, does TRU also get the best margin rate like BestBuy?

And why do we have several pages of bickering over store costs for games in this thread? Lucky there are no good deals left to be had with this promotion, or mods might care.

Originally Posted by scottman Just curious, does TRU also get the best margin rate like BestBuy? And why do we have several pages of bickering over store costs for games in this thread? Lucky there are no good deals left to be had with this promotion, or mods might care.

They do get a good margin, although, they frankly don't do the volume of the other stores given that they are down to less than 600 locations (although they add another 600 or so express stores for the holidays). Like other retailers, they can get marketing money from publishers and credits from distributors which is how they do their B2G1 sales every year and how Kmart is doing the coupons.

In any event, you're correct about this going way off topic. Unfortunately, this fool newbie is posting stuff that is completely inaccurate and complaining about Amazon's practices which are not new in any way. Even if he is correct in his claim that other retailers don't limit quantities, Amazon does and always has for sales of this type, so his arguments make no sense.

Originally Posted by bojay1997 What store did you work at? I have negotiated several distribution and publishing agreements on behalf of developers and publishers with Tommo, Jack of All Games and several other distributors and the best margins in the business are around 30% and those are only received by Walmart, Best Buy, Amazon, Target and Gamestop. Small retailers and independent game shops are lucky to get 15% and sometimes it's as low as 10% depending on the retailer and the quantitiy they purchase. Of course, at certain times of year and for certain titles, retailers can get a nice little distributor credit bump paid for by the publisher which increases their margin somewhat, but there is absolutely no way a small retailer is regularly getting $60 MSRP games at $40 wholesale. I know that for a fact.

Good thing Wii games are $50 SRP, huh? As usual, you know what you're talking about.

Originally Posted by bojay1997 In any event, you're correct about this going way off topic. Unfortunately, this fool newbie is posting stuff that is completely inaccurate and complaining about Amazon's practices which are not new in any way. Even if he is correct in his claim that other retailers don't limit quantities, Amazon does and always has for sales of this type, so his arguments make no sense.

Again, you can't read. I said something would be nice. I said I am not mad at amazon, and I said I make no demands. You and your buddy continue to tell me what I'm saying and argue with yourselves. You have all this "knowledge" and "common sense" when other users tell you that you are wrong, but keep calling everyone else stupid. Keep it going, and we'll believe you. Really.

For the record, I received the credit this morning, without having to call Amazon, or anything. The games arrived today as well.

Originally Posted by Serious McMopy For the record, I received the credit this morning, without having to call Amazon, or anything. The games arrived today as well.

oh, you wanna discuss stuff on topic?

I got my promo too. Did anyone get their mastercard promo yet?

Originally Posted by confoosious oh, you wanna discuss stuff on topic? I got my promo too. Did anyone get their mastercard promo yet?

I never got my mastercard promo from buying NBA2k11, etc on BF weekend.

I just got my $20 credit. I was pleasantly surprised to see it doesn't expire until 12/31/2011, so no need to rush in using it like I've had to do with some of the credits in the past.

Originally Posted by slowdive21 I never got my mastercard promo from buying NBA2k11, etc on BF weekend.

Dammit, I'm totally gonna forget about it.

Originally Posted by jkanownik I just got my $20 credit. I was pleasantly surprised to see it doesn't expire until 12/31/2011, so no need to rush in using it like I've had to do with some of the credits in the past.

My credit won't last the week. I think it's any amazon purchase, not just video games.

For those interested, Sonic Colors is available again.

Originally Posted by bigdaddybruce44 For those interested, Sonic Colors is available again.

Thanks! I keep checking for Donkey Kong to come back. I need to get it for my Mom for Christmas and I want Epic Mickey for myself!

Originally Posted by bojay1997 So you're claiming on Black Friday, if I go to Best Buy they will have to give me a $200 laptop or whatever other underpriced item they list in the ad that it clearly states is "minimum 5 per store" or whatever it is? Retailers do this all the time or simply don't offer rain checks and say "while supplies last".

I'm saying that on Black Friday, when Best Buy sells their cheapy, not-too-great-spec'd laptop for $250, they're selling every one of that sku that they have in stock and at that price. Yes, every last one. They're not selling five of them and then keeping 20 in the back until next week. "While supplies last" in this case refers to their entire stock on-hand and when it is depleted during the sales promotion period, then it can no longer be purchased at that price, or in some cases, ever again at all.

In fact, Best Buy in particular often receives one-time skus that are intended to be sold for a short amount of time and then are never received again, and this is precisely what they do every single Black Friday with so-called "loss leader" items like cheap laptops and some TVs.

Again, I have no idea how this relates to what those two were arguing about, but that's how it goes. I'm only referring to particular B&M chains; I've never worked for an online outfit, so I can't say for sure what they do in these situations, nor has that been my intention.