ECA Membership - Currently Free - Amazon Code Status: Gone for good

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jacknicklson

jacknicklson

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Mods' edit:
No begging for codes. Beggars will be permabanned on the spot.

Current Status:

This promotion is no longer available
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Get 10% off all your Amazon gaming purchases for a year and receive other special benefits by joining the ECA, a non-profit advocacy organization which is dedicated to defending and advancing the interests of gamers.

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Join the ECA $14.99 (college students & military), others $19.99

Free memberships available - Use coupon code GIMAG to receive a full 1 year membership to the ECA

 After you enter your CC number and the coupon, the page after lets you check everything before you submit your order. That way you know that the coupon worked and you won't be charged.
Check your spam filters for the confirmation link, if you signed up for the newsletter you will get 2 emails, one for the newsletter and one for the membership. For some reason the newsletter one showed up in my inbox and the membership was in my junk mail folder, so keep an eye out.
Click to expand...

Thanks to dallascowboys for the coupon code and Linkin Prime for the tidbit about your junk mail folder!

Complete list of discounts/benefits:
Discounted games sales/rental offerings from:

  • Amazon.com - America's largest online retailer is exclusively offering ECA members 10% off all computer and video game purchases at Amazon.com (software and some accessories/peripherals).
  • Astro Gaming Promo Code - Astro Gaming creates premium video gaming equipment for pro gamers, leagues and their lifestyles.
  • BringIt.com Promo Code -BringIt.com allows gamers from across the world to compete in 1v1, team challenges, as well as NCAA bracket style tournaments and win REAL CASH and Prizes. Promo code will give you 25% of your deposit matched.
  • Buy.com - $5 off of your purchase of $75(one time use)
  • Dawdle - Reduced commissions on sold items, 10.99% down from 11.99%
  • Direct2Drive.com - Download your code from the ECA's exclusive member benefits section to use at Direct2Drive.com towards 10% off your game purchases. Direct2Drive's easy and secure system lets you download full pc games, arcade games, anime, game guides, and comics from home instead of dealing with waiting time and inventory stock-outs. Check out thier site for the best way to buy!
  • GameFly - ECA members will receive a 30-day free trial to their video game rental service.
  • GameHQ - 10% off of all pre-played games with free shipping.
  • Good Old Games - A leading destination for download-to-own DRM-free classic PC games, is offering members 20% off of new game purchases.
  • MAINGEAR - Manufacturer of high end PCs. 5% discount on phone orders.
  • Maxmodz.com - Receive 12% off of your order. Expires 12/31/2009.
  • Newegg/Patriot Gaming - Get $10 off when you buy select memory sticks.
  • ThinkGeek.com Promo Code - Promo code will give you $5 off of orders between $25 and $50, and $10 off of orders of more than $50. Expires 12/31/2009.
Discounted admission/access offerings from:

  • America's Video Game Expo 2009 - 10% discount
  • GameX - 3$ off of a day pass, $9 off of a 3-day pass.
  • Infinite Bits Convention - 10% discount. Convention is 10/23 through 10/25.
  • NYComiCon - is offering members a discount on the price of admission. Coming soon!
Discounted/Free Trial offerings from:

  • GameJobs - ECA members receive free resume uploads at GameJobs.com, the leading job board and career site serving the games business.
  • Hyatt Hotels - members receive a 5-10% discount on room rates at Hyatt Hotels throughout the US and Canada.
  • Prima Publishing - get 10% off of over 500 hint book and strategy guides.
  • Warcry - ECA members are invited to take advantage of a 30-day free trial membership in the Warcry Network's "Choice" program.


 ECA/Amazon FAQ

1. I can't get into the member's area/can't find out where to pay. Help!

After the initial registration email, you should receive a second email linking you to a payment page. You can request that this email be resent if need be. Make sure to check your junk/spam folders as well.

2. Will this work on consoles?

No. Games and most accessories only. Physical point cards are also eligible, but not digital point codes.

3. Do these work on Quick Picks/Deals of the Day/Trade-in Coupons?

Yes, Yes, and Yes!

4. How do I get my Quick Picks to show games?

Quick Picks FAQ

5. Does this work on Pre-orders?

Yes, it does. The price will also automatically take off 10% of whatever the final selling point is due to the Pre-Price Guarantee that Amazon offers.

6. I have heard that these offers have expired/been removed, is this true?

There have been a few instances where codes expired or they ran out but The ECA and Amazon have usually rectified the situation within a week or so. Also, the Terms of Service state that any membership benefits can change or be canceled without any notice so keep that in mind when signing up.

7. Double and Triple stacking

This is no longer possible. Don't bother trying. Originally when the ECA would run out of codes and switch to a new batch members were able to stack codes. A glitch in Amazon's system would keep older codes in your account, and it was possible to add codes from the newer batches to obtain more than 10% off. Amazon found out about this, hence the reason the codes are currently down/ being worked on. Modifying these orders is at your own risk, don't bother asking about them because no one has a definite answer for you.

8. Begging/Asking for codes

This is not allowed. If you beg/ask for a code you will be permabanned. No questions asked.

9. Selling codes

Definitely a big no no. If you do this, you will get reported to the ECA and your account will be shut down.

10. If I make a pre-order with a code a cancel it, will the code still work?

Yes. Codes should remain in your account but again they will no longer stack. It is one code per order. Amazon and the ECA are working on codes tied into our accounts but this option is not yet available. There have been recent reports of these codes not auto-applying after cancelling an order so do this AT YOUR OWN RISK. Also, if any part of your order has been fulfilled(i.e. shipped) the code will not be added back to your account after cancelling the remaining items in your order.

11. If I already have a pre-order made, can I add a 10% off code to it?

You cannot add anything to an order once it is made except a gift card. You can try emailing Amazon customer support and ask them to add it. Generally they have no issue doing this for you but it's a crap shoot.

12. What if I already have a pre-order with the old codes applied? Should I be worried?

We don't know definitively, but chances are good that Amazon will not touch the pre orders we have already made.

13. How do I cancel my recurring subscription to the ECA to avoid future charges?

Visit the Entertainment Consumers Association
Sign in and click on your username
Select the View tab
Towards the bottom of the page, you will see a Recurring Fees table
Click cancel
Ignore the warning and click confirm

13. I can't find the codes, please help?!?!?!?!

Visit the Entertainment Consumers Association
Click on "Visit Members Area"
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Credit to slickkill77 for assistance with this FAQ!
 
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[quote name='Wolfpup']So is this just officially dead now? It's been basically the whole month, right?[/QUOTE]
If it is, I wonder if the ECA will be giving pro-rated refunds on the 12-month membership fee. Personally I've saved back my $20 at least twice over, so I'm not too concerned, but it is a burn for people who paid the fee and only got to buy one or two things.
 
Yeah, this is kind of really bad publicity for them, since so many people were getting it just for the discount. I saved quite a bit, and want to support them anyway, but still.
 
[quote name='Wolfpup']So is this just officially dead now? It's been basically the whole month, right?

They need to TELL US, because I've been sitting not ordering stuff since LAST MONTH (and some of it I've bought from Toys R Us instead). I'd go ahead and order or not if I knew they were really gone forever.

The ECA's been completely silent on this for weeks now, right? Just a claim that "They'll be back Friday or Monday!" two weeks ago?[/QUOTE]

Been dead since the 5th and they have posted updates as recent as 10/20(noted in the OP). Even though the updates were useless, they haven't been silent.

And no way will they refund anything to paying members since they don't have to.
 
[quote name='jacknicklson']And no way will they refund anything to paying members since they don't have to.[/QUOTE]
No, they don't have to, but companies often do things they don't have to do if it will help them avoid a PR black eye.

You could debate whether it would be justified or not, but if this falls through and no one gets refunds, the ECA will earn themselves a reputation as crooks in a lot of gamers' eyes.
 
I really wish Amazon or Cheapy would just create their own gamer's club program. I'm happy to pay $20 or $25 a year for 10% off games at Amazon. I would love to have ECA completely out of the equation.
 
I like all the worthless comments in this thread of who's to blame. CMN.

What shocks me is the one year free trialLoL is still available. There's a lot happening with Net Neutrality right now, but I've not heard ECA mentioned even once in the articles published. In fact, there's one right now on the front page of Drudge. What a worthless disorganization.
 
Keep in mind the ECA isn't a 'company'. It's a non-profit membership organization. So before you go crying for your refund back, remember what you paid for. You paid to join an organization that happened to offer a discount with no promise of that discount being permanent.

I paid the $14.99 a few days before it became free. I never stacked a code. I got fucked as hard as anyone, but I knew what I was signing up for. Grow up and look at what the ECA does with your money and maybe you'll appreciate your membership dues as more than just a 10% discount.
 
I don't care about a refund or anything like that. I may well keep supporting them without any discount. I just want to know it's not coming back so I can start making purchases again :whistle2:/
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']You could debate whether it would be justified or not, but if this falls through and no one gets refunds, the ECA will earn themselves a reputation as crooks in a lot of gamers' eyes.[/QUOTE]

If that turned out to be the case, they wouldn't be the crooks. We would be. If the codes were truly brought down because of the stacking, which certainly seems to be the case, it's on the CAGs and anyone else who exploited it and no one else. If there had been a bug, but people hadn't been gleefully exploiting it wholesale AND bragging about it, we probably wouldn't be where we are right now. And it's not just a few bad apples either, there were plenty of people here doing it and those of us who expressed an issue with it at the time were largely shouted down.

I know this sounds preachy, but when you cross the line from being cheap and thrifty into knowingly gaming the system (and I challenge ANYONE to honestly defend what they were doing as anything but unethical), you have no one to blame but yourself when you lose the benefit you were exploiting. It's a shame for those of us who had the option of cheating and didn't, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I'm certainly not going to blame Amazon or the ECA when there is plenty of it to go around in our own house.
 
I'll admit that I took advantage of the stacking. My feeling is, Amazon is completely within their rights to cancel those orders, and if they do, I will not complain. But they haven't. So if it's all right with them, it's all right with me.
 
[quote name='Jodou']I like all the worthless comments in this thread of who's to blame. CMN.

What shocks me is the one year free trialLoL is still available. There's a lot happening with Net Neutrality right now, but I've not heard ECA mentioned even once in the articles published. In fact, there's one right now on the front page of Drudge. What a worthless disorganization.[/QUOTE]
Lol they need the free trial to keep some members, I know I'm shameless enough to say I joined only for the 10% amazon discount, albeit a paying member. But no discount for amazon, no membership for me and I bet my sentiment is shared by thousands of others who don't really care about the Eca in general. Its actually a bit ironic because if the codes never come back, they've all but destroyed themselves due to the free membership offer which only served to multiply the code situation to the extreme.
 
[quote name='bvharris']If that turned out to be the case, they wouldn't be the crooks. We would be. If the codes were truly brought down because of the stacking, which certainly seems to be the case, it's on the CAGs and anyone else who exploited it and no one else. If there had been a bug, but people hadn't been gleefully exploiting it wholesale AND bragging about it, we probably wouldn't be where we are right now. And it's not just a few bad apples either, there were plenty of people here doing it and those of us who expressed an issue with it at the time were largely shouted down.

I know this sounds preachy, but when you cross the line from being cheap and thrifty into knowingly gaming the system (and I challenge ANYONE to honestly defend what they were doing as anything but unethical), you have no one to blame but yourself when you lose the benefit you were exploiting. It's a shame for those of us who had the option of cheating and didn't, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I'm certainly not going to blame Amazon or the ECA when there is plenty of it to go around in our own house.[/QUOTE]

Oh don't you worry, bv. I'm sure there are some people who TRIPLE stacked the coupons who will justify it as ethical. They will simply say "hey, it's not my fault Amazon screwed up. I just took advantage of a loophole..."

I understand if someone double stacks inadvertently (cancel and order and have it show up twice on the next one) but people repeatedly and knowingly triple stacked them. (You know who you are.) That's just greedy.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']I'll admit that I took advantage of the stacking. My feeling is, Amazon is completely within their rights to cancel those orders, and if they do, I will not complain. But they haven't. So if it's all right with them, it's all right with me.[/QUOTE]

Seriously?
I'm glad that you want them to raise prices to pay for the employees they have to hire to make sure that people like you don't steal from them.

Great idea, way to screw everyone

As far as I'm concerned you've just lost your right to talk about anything in this thread. You're one of the ones whole stole and now everyone is getting screwed

Bravo
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']I'll admit that I took advantage of the stacking. My feeling is, Amazon is completely within their rights to cancel those orders, and if they do, I will not complain. But they haven't. So if it's all right with them, it's all right with me.[/QUOTE]

Obviously its not alright with them since they pulled the deal.

No offense to you or anyone else, but I really wish they would cancel the order of every stacker because they managed to ruin a great deal for a lot of people.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']I'll admit that I took advantage of the stacking. My feeling is, Amazon is completely within their rights to cancel those orders, and if they do, I will not complain. But they haven't. So if it's all right with them, it's all right with me.[/QUOTE]

OoGMYnQcWn_i-am-not-a-crook-1.jpg
 
I'm really disappointed that the Amazon codes haven't come back up. It really sucks to get something nice taken away because a number of douche bags exploited a flaw in their system. So to all of you stingy motherfuckers who took advantage of Amazon (as if their deals weren't already good enough): thanks a lot!
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']I'll admit that I took advantage of the stacking. My feeling is, Amazon is completely within their rights to cancel those orders, and if they do, I will not complain. But they haven't. So if it's all right with them, it's all right with me.[/QUOTE]

Saying "I'm fine with getting punished" doesn't excuse the crime. You and the other people who did it obviously aren't the only ones affected by it. Even if they canceled your orders, that doesn't bring the codes back for honest consumers to use them.

And while we're on the topic, I hope that this will at least serve as a reminder in the future that exploiting things can have consequences. I'm sure every single cheat who stacked would gladly do so again, since most are very willing to blame everyone but themselves. But I hope at least that next time the mods will step in and put a stop to it before it gets this far.
 
This is kinda off topic but isn't this the just the American way. Big banks and corpoations exploit every loophole can find and "call it good." They screw every penny out of customers with seemingly misleading practices (banks) but say they played with in the laws of the land (of course their paid lobbist influence how laws are worded). They game the government and get bailouts when they fail.

Personally I have way less of a problem "gaming" big corporations (not individual persons) through loopholes because its exactly what they do. Amazon itself has dropped sellers in states that tried to impose a sales tax on transactions. They out compete other retailers by getting out of charging taxes...an unfair advantage that cheats all of us as tax payers. They don't do what's "right", only what is good their wallets and stock portfolio. If Amazon could triple stack the governmet they would. That's what they have lawers for.

Don't get me wrong, no taxes are great and there are always consequences for taking advantage of situations...but that's just life.

Sorry for the RANT..I'm old!
 
[quote name='Toss']This is kinda off topic but isn't this the just the American way. Big banks and corperations exploit every loophole can find and "call it good." They screw every penny out of customers with seemingly misleading practices (banks) but say they played with in the laws of the land (of course their paid lobbist influence how laws are worded). They game the government and get bailouts when they fail. Personally I have way less of a problem "gaming" big corporations (not individual persons) through loopholes because its exactly what they do. Amazon itself has dropped sellers in states that tried to impose a sales tax on transactions. They out compete other retailers by getting out of charging taxes...an unfair advantage that cheats all of us as tax payers. They don't do what's "right", only what is good for their wallets and stock portfolio. If Amazon could triple stack the governmet they would. That's what they have layers for. Sorry for the RANT..I'm old![/QUOTE]

they "get out of charging taxes" under United States law...I don't see how that's an unfair advantage or how it cheats the taxpayers. If you really have a problem with it, you should contact the government.
Also, Newegg, Tigerdirect, and a bunch of online-only retailers that don't charge tax to most states say "Hi!"
 
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CrimeLoL! Next time on CSI: Amazon. . .

How do you ignore a thread? This one is wasting my bandwidth and since this is not a deal anymore should be locked.
 
[quote name='bvharris']Saying "I'm fine with getting punished" doesn't excuse the crime. You and the other people who did it obviously aren't the only ones affected by it. Even if they canceled your orders, that doesn't bring the codes back for honest consumers to use them.

And while we're on the topic, I hope that this will at least serve as a reminder in the future that exploiting things can have consequences. I'm sure every single cheat who stacked would gladly do so again, since most are very willing to blame everyone but themselves. But I hope at least that next time the mods will step in and put a stop to it before it gets this far.[/QUOTE]

You sound like a politician - a pro regulation democrat. LOL that's ok I sorta agree with you on your evaluation. Stacking was just as bad as the fake jack in a box coupons and that thread was pulled.
 
I didn't want to add to this whine-festival, but felt compelled to address those complaining about people who stacked coupons: did you really expect people who had double and triple codes stacked on their orders to refrain from making any purchases from amazon? Or even to contact their customer service to properly charge them a higher amount? Amazon's customer service routinely grants its members additional and unexpected discounts, such as the recent Halo 3 ODST $9 pre-order price guarantee that was given out twice, and $5 mp3 credit turning into $5 regular credit. That shows that amazon values long-term customers over one-time discounts and credits. I am guessing that this 10% discount is an acceptable loss in profit short term in order to preserve long term customer loyalty.

I paid the $20 to ECA only for the amazon 10%, and yeah, I'm disappointed about the GI free membership. But I blame the ECA, which advertises this promotion without any description of its perpetuity or guarantee that it will last even through the customer's ECA membership. Amazon is not obliged to honor the 10% discount unless there was some contract in place between it and ECA, but considering amazon's past history and customer service, I anticipate at least some discount as a gesture of good will towards its most loyal customers. But the ECA took money from its members and has failed to provide the benefits it promised. This fiasco has only made me think that ECA is an amateur and farcical organization. I only joined because of the 10% amazon discount, and if that goes away, then I will surely NOT renew.
 
[quote name='Jodou']CrimeLoL! Next time on CSI: Amazon. . .

How do you ignore a thread? This one is wasting my bandwidth and since this is not a deal anymore should be locked.[/QUOTE]

I think that's a bit premature. Yeah, it's down currently, but if this thread didn't exist can you imagine how many posts would pop up asking about the discount?

Best to keep the thread open and highly visible to keep people up to date without polluting the forums.
 
[quote name='jeffpm']they "get out of charging taxes" under United States law...I don't see how that's an unfair advantage or how it cheats the taxpayers. If you really have a problem with it, you should contact the government.
Also, Newegg, Tigerdirect, and a bunch of online-only retailers that don't charge tax to most states say "Hi!"[/QUOTE]

No problem with it ... just saying they operate within the system that exists (the laws). Stacking was allowable under the existing system (orders were accepted by amazon).
 
[quote name='thisisapen']I didn't want to add to this whine-festival, but felt compelled to address those complaining about people who stacked coupons: did you really expect people who had double and triple codes stacked on their orders to refrain from making any purchases from amazon? Or even to contact their customer service to properly charge them a higher amount? Amazon's customer service routinely grants its members additional and unexpected discounts, such as the recent Halo 3 ODST $9 pre-order price guarantee that was given out twice, and $5 mp3 credit turning into $5 regular credit. That shows that amazon values long-term customers over one-time discounts and credits. I am guessing that this 10% discount is an acceptable loss in profit short term in order to preserve long term customer loyalty.

I paid the $20 to ECA only for the amazon 10%, and yeah, I'm disappointed about the GI free membership. But I blame the ECA, which advertises this promotion without any description of its perpetuity or guarantee that it will last even through the customer's ECA membership. Amazon is not obliged to honor the 10% discount unless there was some contract in place between it and ECA, but considering amazon's past history and customer service, I anticipate at least some discount as a gesture of good will towards its most loyal customers. But the ECA took money from its members and has failed to provide the benefits it promised. This fiasco has only made me think that ECA is an amateur and farcical organization. I only joined because of the 10% amazon discount, and if that goes away, then I will surely NOT renew.[/QUOTE]

Plain and simple, they say offers may end at any time. It may suck, but they say so in the terms.

It is not Amazon's fault nor the ECA's, it is the people that abuse the system, please quit trying to deflect blame to anyone other than the people that essentially ripped a company off.
 
[quote name='Toss']You sound like a politician - a pro regulation democrat. LOL that's ok I sorta agree with you on your evaluation. Stacking was just as bad as the fake jack in a box coupons and that thread was pulled.[/QUOTE]

Good eyes. I am in fact a pro regulation democrat with a political science degree. :D Not that that's a bad thing.

My point is that mods have stepped in before to curtail gaming of the system, as you pointed out. I'm sure they knew what was going on, obviously they couldn't have stopped it but it probably should have at least been mentioned that this was probably not such a great idea, as it was by many members here at the time, myself included.
 
[quote name='bvharris']Saying "I'm fine with getting punished" doesn't excuse the crime. You and the other people who did it obviously aren't the only ones affected by it. Even if they canceled your orders, that doesn't bring the codes back for honest consumers to use them.

And while we're on the topic, I hope that this will at least serve as a reminder in the future that exploiting things can have consequences. I'm sure every single cheat who stacked would gladly do so again, since most are very willing to blame everyone but themselves. But I hope at least that next time the mods will step in and put a stop to it before it gets this far.[/QUOTE]

If you want to be mad at everyone here who stacked (myself included), then so be it. But this is cheapassgamer, and we're all here for the same reason, to get good deals.

I can understand people getting mad about the whole situation, but its just going overboard. I get it, the codes are down, and it sucks for everyone…but even if the CAGs didn’t take advantage of the deal, the codes would have still been taken down. There are tons of deal sites (slickdeals) that caused far more damage than CAG did.

Am I going to lose sleep over stacking? No. Did I do anything wrong? No. You can view things otherwise, and say what you want, but it isn’t going to change anything.

How many deals posted on this site are known glitches? Best Buy posts a $500 TV for $50, and everyone on this site jumps on it like a hawk. No one is yelling out that people are ruining anything, running up their costs, nothing. ToysRUs has a coupon that takes off X% off certain items, but we see that it works for console. How many people used it? Did anyone cry foul to that? No.

Just another example: Say you’re just about to run to the store to pick up a new console that you have been saving up for at $200. Just before you are about to leave, you check CAG to see that an ad has been posted, showing the console is going to drop in price to $150. You decide to wait, saving yourself $50. Did you just steal $50 for X store you were about to run to? By the definition from many of you, yes, you have. You used knowledge posted on this site that you shouldn’t have access to, to save money, in return causing a store to lose $50. I would consider this kind of thing just as unethical as stacking myself, which I don’t feel is unethical at all…not in the least bit.

The only reason you guys are crying foul is because you feel like you got something stolen from you because of others, when it was going to happen regardless. Why don’t I see you guys crying foul for every other deal that is posted with a known glitch?…because it didn’t affect you. Face it, you guys may be trying to sound all righteous and that you care about Amazon so much, but no one would be crying if you didn’t lose something. Amazon messed up their coding, that’s not my fault, not your fault, or anyone else’s fault here.
[FONT=&quot]
I’m sorry I personally shut down this entire deal for everyone. If it wasn’t for me, you would still have codes :p Honestly though, I can’t see how anyone here who disagrees with the stacking can justify staying at this site with all the immoral things we are doing here. ::end sarcasm::[/FONT]
 
[quote name='GaveUpTomorrow']If you want to be mad at everyone here who stacked (myself included), then so be it. But this is cheapassgamer, and we're all here for the same reason, to get good deals.[/QUOTE]

Good deals, not how to brag about ripping companies off which is what it was. There is no way around that.

[quote name='GaveUpTomorrow'] I can understand people getting mad about the whole situation, but its just going overboard. I get it, the codes are down, and it sucks for everyone…but even if the CAGs didn’t take advantage of the deal, the codes would have still been taken down. There are tons of deal sites (slickdeals) that caused far more damage than CAG did.
[/QUOTE]

Part of the problem regardless.

[quote name='GaveUpTomorrow']
Am I going to lose sleep over stacking? No. Did I do anything wrong? No. You can view things otherwise, and say what you want, but it isn’t going to change anything.
[/QUOTE]

Yes, yes you did do something wrong. I'm sure people who do worse immoral things can sleep well at night too. You being able to sleep is not a guideline for right and wrong :p


[quote name='GaveUpTomorrow']
Just before you are about to leave, you check CAG to see that an ad has been posted, showing the console is going to drop in price to $150. You decide to wait, saving yourself $50. Did you just steal $50 for X store you were about to run to? By the definition from many of you, yes, you have. You used knowledge posted on this site that you shouldn’t have access to, to save money, in return causing a store to lose $50. I would consider this kind of thing just as unethical as stacking myself, which I don’t feel is unethical at all…not in the least bit.
[/QUOTE]

One is a matter of waiting. The other is a matter of actively hoarding codes (which made codes go down from burning them all) or canceling an order and using multiple codes together knowing you're not supposed to regardless. Its more along the lines of putting another price label on a console and trying to buy it for that price.

[quote name='GaveUpTomorrow']
The only reason you guys are crying foul is because you feel like you got something stolen from you because of others, when it was going to happen regardless.
[/QUOTE]

So paraphrasing "If it wasn't myself being a dirtbag, somebody else would've been a dirtbag, so it's okay if I'm a dirtbag"

[quote name='GaveUpTomorrow']
Amazon messed up their coding, that’s not my fault, not your fault, or anyone else’s fault here.
[/QUOTE]

No but taking advantage of them is your fault and anyone else who's done it, plain and simple.
 
Wow that message was longer than I expected... Sorry about that. I just like picking apart poor arguments. He'll still sleep at night either way so no harm right? :)
 
[quote name='GaveUpTomorrow']If you want to be mad at everyone here who stacked (myself included), then so be it. But this is cheapassgamer, and we're all here for the same reason, to get good deals.

I can understand people getting mad about the whole situation, but its just going overboard. I get it, the codes are down, and it sucks for everyone…but even if the CAGs didn’t take advantage of the deal, the codes would have still been taken down. There are tons of deal sites (slickdeals) that caused far more damage than CAG did.

Am I going to lose sleep over stacking? No. Did I do anything wrong? No. You can view things otherwise, and say what you want, but it isn’t going to change anything.

How many deals posted on this site are known glitches? Best Buy posts a $500 TV for $50, and everyone on this site jumps on it like a hawk. No one is yelling out that people are ruining anything, running up their costs, nothing. ToysRUs has a coupon that takes off X% off certain items, but we see that it works for console. How many people used it? Did anyone cry foul to that? No.

Just another example: Say you’re just about to run to the store to pick up a new console that you have been saving up for at $200. Just before you are about to leave, you check CAG to see that an ad has been posted, showing the console is going to drop in price to $150. You decide to wait, saving yourself $50. Did you just steal $50 for X store you were about to run to? By the definition from many of you, yes, you have. You used knowledge posted on this site that you shouldn’t have access to, to save money, in return causing a store to lose $50. I would consider this kind of thing just as unethical as stacking myself, which I don’t feel is unethical at all…not in the least bit.

The only reason you guys are crying foul is because you feel like you got something stolen from you because of others, when it was going to happen regardless. Why don’t I see you guys crying foul for every other deal that is posted with a known glitch?…because it didn’t affect you. Face it, you guys may be trying to sound all righteous and that you care about Amazon so much, but no one would be crying if you didn’t lose something. Amazon messed up their coding, that’s not my fault, not your fault, or anyone else’s fault here.
[FONT=&quot]
I’m sorry I personally shut down this entire deal for everyone. If it wasn’t for me, you would still have codes :p Honestly though, I can’t see how anyone here who disagrees with the stacking can justify staying at this site with all the immoral things we are doing here. ::end sarcasm::[/FONT][/QUOTE]

For my own part, I've had the opportunity to benefit from many glitches here and have chosen not to. So I'm just fine on my high horse, thanks.

You can justify it however you want. You knew you were exploiting a glitch, you knew you were using the codes in a way that could potentially get them removed, and you chose to do so anyway. No one is arguing that you be banned or reprimanded for it, it was certainly your own personal choice to do so. But don't go getting all sanctimonious and defensive. HELL YES I'm upset that you and others who exploited a good thing ruined it for the rest of us. Why wouldn't I be? Oh, and the "everyone was doing it" defense sort of speaks for itself. You're certainly not obliged to feel a sense of guilt, but that doesn't remove it from you - even if you were just one of many who was doing it.

Do I ultimately care that much? Not really. For a political science geek like me it's actually an interesting small-scale example of the tragedy of the commons where individuals who act in their own (usually rational) self-interest destroy a common benefit through overuse, ultimately harming everyone. By contrast, if no one had gamed the system, cheaters and non-cheaters alike would probably still be enjoying the common benefit. So really, no one wins.
 
[quote name='GaveUpTomorrow'][FONT=&quot] I’m sorry I personally shut down this entire deal for everyone. If it wasn’t for me, you would still have codes :p Honestly though, I can’t see how anyone here who disagrees with the stacking can justify staying at this site with all the immoral things we are doing here. ::end sarcasm::[/FONT][/QUOTE]

Lol that last bit about sums up my feelings on the codes.



He'll still sleep at night either way so no harm right?
Click to expand...
I know I will.

Oh wait, maybe not, got a lot of games to play :roll:
 
[quote name='Vortextk']Lol that last bit about sums up my feelings on the codes.[/QUOTE]

He'll still sleep at night either way so no harm right?
Click to expand...

I know I will.

Oh wait, maybe not, got a lot of games to play :roll:
 
[quote name='bvharris']For my own part, I've had the opportunity to benefit from many glitches here and have chosen not to. So I'm just fine on my high horse, thanks.

You can justify it however you want. You knew you were exploiting a glitch, you knew you were using the codes in a way that could potentially get them removed, and you chose to do so anyway. No one is arguing that you be banned or reprimanded for it, it was certainly your own personal choice to do so. But don't go getting all sanctimonious and defensive. HELL YES I'm upset that you and others who exploited a good thing ruined it for the rest of us. Why wouldn't I be? Oh, and the "everyone was doing it" defense sort of speaks for itself. You're certainly not obliged to feel a sense of guilt, but that doesn't remove it from you - even if you were just one of many who was doing it.

Do I ultimately care that much? Not really. For a political science geek like me it's actually an interesting small-scale example of the tragedy of the commons where individuals who act in their own (usually rational) self-interest destroy a common benefit through overuse, ultimately harming everyone. By contrast, if no one had gamed the system, cheaters and non-cheaters alike would probably still be enjoying the common benefit. So really, no one wins.[/QUOTE]

Actually the people that win are the stackers, because they redeemed codes every day, and now are still using their 10% off. Where as people like you and me, got fucked in the ass and now no more codes and I never fathomed saving codes.
 
[quote name='Jodou']CrimeLoL! Next time on CSI: Amazon. . .

How do you ignore a thread? This one is wasting my bandwidth and since this is not a deal anymore should be locked.[/QUOTE]

I dunno but i sure know how to put you on ignore.

You've consistently shown yourself to be a selfish, greedy, all out for number 1 ... "person".

You're a disgrace.
 
[quote name='mikeja72']Its more along the lines of putting another price label on a console and trying to buy it for that price.[/QUOTE]

I'm sorry, but :roll:. The two are in no way, shape, or form analogous to one another.
 
the only question i have to all those ragging on people who stacked codes is: do you really think Amazon would have never figured out that their codes could be exploited? There would still be a considerable amount of people who accidentally got stacked codes on their orders, and since so many people here claim to be so honest, they would have to contact Amazon to fix this mistake (even though the people who did this previously were just told to keep the savings anyway), and Amazon would have done the same thing they did now. They would still have to take down the codes and find a way to make it so it couldn't be exploited (intentionally or not).

The only argument that I see that can be made is that people stacking codes made Amazon act faster then it would have otherwise.
 
[quote name='Oceaniax']I'm sorry, but :roll:. The two are in no way, shape, or form analogous to one another.[/QUOTE]

You're right, but that doesn't mean what he's trying to say is wrong. This isn't a perfect analogy, but I think of it like going to the store and paying for an item with a 10 and getting back change for a 20. It wasn't really your mistake, and you might keep the change anyway even though you probably know it's not the right thing to do. Most people would justify it by saying that since the cashier screwed up its not really on them. That's shady, but whatever for the first person. But when he steps outside and yells "hey everyone, that idiot in there can't tell a 20 from a 10!" and people start getting in line, it becomes a bigger problem. Again, not a perfect analogy, but just because the problem isn't "your fault" doesn't excuse exploiting it.

[quote name='y2jasper']the only question i have to all those ragging on people who stacked codes is: do you really think Amazon would have never figured out that their codes could be exploited? There would still be a considerable amount of people who accidentally got stacked codes on their orders, and since so many people here claim to be so honest, they would have to contact Amazon to fix this mistake (even though the people who did this previously were just told to keep the savings anyway), and Amazon would have done the same thing they did now. They would still have to take down the codes and find a way to make it so it couldn't be exploited (intentionally or not).

The only argument that I see that can be made is that people stacking codes made Amazon act faster then it would have otherwise.[/QUOTE]

You're right, but until the codes come back the possibility remains that they won't at all. If I leave a candy bowl out at halloween and some shithead kid takes the whole thing, I feel bad for the other kids but I'm not necessarily going out to buy more candy.

I'm full of analogies today, haha
 
[quote name='Oceaniax']I'm sorry, but :roll:. The two are in no way, shape, or form analogous to one another.[/QUOTE]

First off it's more of a proper analogy than waiting for a price drop.

Second one involved physically placing a discount you're not due,
and it slipping past a cashier that doesn't know better.

The other involved physically placing a discount you're not due...
and it slipping past the code that acts as a cashier and doesn't know any better (because it's a machine that wasnt coded correctly).

Am I missing something? It's a somewhat loose comparison, but I believe it relatively accurate.
 
Some of you guys are lucky you weren't here for the Target $10 Xbox 360 coupon, you would have had heart attacks by how this community acted.
 
[quote name='bvharris']You're right, but that doesn't mean what he's trying to say is wrong. This isn't a perfect analogy, but I think of it like going to the store and paying for an item with a 10 and getting back change for a 20. It wasn't really your mistake, and you might keep the change anyway even though you probably know it's not the right thing to do. Most people would justify it by saying that since the cashier screwed up its not really on them. That's shady, but whatever for the first person. But when he steps outside and yells "hey everyone, that idiot in there can't tell a 20 from a 10!" and people start getting in line, it becomes a bigger problem. Again, not a perfect analogy, but just because the problem isn't "your fault" doesn't excuse exploiting it.
[/QUOTE]

Actually I think to make it even more accurate, it would be like being given $20 back as change instead of $10, telling the cashier that you only need $10, and the cashier doesn't let you give it back. You talk to the manager (amazon cs) and they tell you just keep it. You then go tell your friends this and they go to buy something, but then find out the cashier has been fired and replaced by a new more competent cashier.

I just want to see more analogies!
 
[quote name='Vortextk']Oh wait, maybe not, got a lot of games to play :roll:[/QUOTE]Yeah, enjoy your 30% off games, ya DICK! Lulz!

[quote name='confoosious']I dunno but i sure know how to put you on ignore.

You've consistently shown yourself to be a selfish, greedy, all out for number 1 ... "person".

You're a disgrace.[/QUOTE]
Flattery will get you nowhere.
 
Well bvharris, we obviously disagree about the stacking situation but I did want to thank you for your civil and well written posts. It's been an interesting conversation to say the least.
 
[quote name='y2jasper']Actually I think to make it even more accurate, it would be like being given $20 back as change instead of $10, telling the cashier that you only need $10, and the cashier doesn't let you give it back. You talk to the manager (amazon cs) and they tell you just keep it. You then go tell your friends this and they go to buy something, but then find out the cashier has been fired and replaced by a new more competent cashier.

I just want to see more analogies![/QUOTE]

I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of those who exploited the glitch did not go hat-in-hand to Amazon CS saying "oh, golly gee, you seem to have given me more discount than I was entitled to, please do take this back!" Instead, it was more gloating, boasting, and an excessive rush to exploit it as much as possible (the "OMGZ TRIPLE ECA CODES!!!" effect) There was no reason for Amazon to really slap the cheaters on the wrist, it's probably still a profit for them. As Bill Lumbergh would say, they just "fixed the glitch" so it will work itself out.

I've yet to see a single justification for knowing something is wrong and doing it anyway other than pure self-interested greed. And greed is just a fact of life, and ultimately a personal choice. People who exploited it aren't bad people, they just acted in their own self-interest, and most probably didn't foresee this happening.
 
[quote name='bvharris']I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of those who exploited the glitch did not go hat-in-hand to Amazon CS saying "oh, golly gee, you seem to have given me more discount than I was entitled to, please do take this back!" Instead, it was more gloating, boasting, and an excessive rush to exploit it as much as possible (the "OMGZ TRIPLE ECA CODES!!!" effect) There was no reason for Amazon to really slap the cheaters on the wrist, it's probably still a profit for them. As Bill Lumbergh would say, they just "fixed the glitch" so it will work itself out.

I've yet to see a single justification for knowing something is wrong and doing it anyway other than pure self-interested greed. And greed is just a fact of life, and ultimately a personal choice. People who exploited it aren't bad people, they just acted in their own self-interest, and most probably didn't foresee this happening.[/QUOTE]

well i will give you that greed is the reason for doing alot of it. my argument is just that amazon would have taken the codes down to fix the exploit regardless, it just happened sooner rather then later because of people taking advantage.
 
[quote name='y2jasper']well i will give you that greed is the reason for doing alot of it. my argument is just that amazon would have taken the codes down to fix the exploit regardless, it just happened sooner rather then later because of people taking advantage.[/QUOTE]

That's a fine argument, and I don't disagree. But it's a difference between an "oh, oops, look at the silly thing we did" and "people were eagerly rushing to exploit this, and cost us X dollars". In the first scenario, I'm very confident they'd bring the codes back once they fixed it. In the second, they might.. We'll see.
 
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