ECA Update: Amazon discount gone "for the time being"; in process of self-destruction

Oh boo hoo!

Look - it's the internet. Everyone tries to abuse everyone. That's just how it is.

Amazon got tired of seeing their games and accessories being horribly discounted. That's their money that they're losing. And no, they obviously didn't benefit from it. There are peopel who THINK they know how business works and think that if you sell the lowest price you'll get more customers and that its better for your business.

Wrong! Amazon would have probably liked this if it wasn't stackable. Amazon would have probably allowed this if customers bought additional items along with this, or bought prime memberships to get exclusive codes from Amazon (not getting codes for signing up for FREE at some other website)

What did Amazon really gain? Nothing! What did they lose? Money. Everyone already knows the margins for selling retail games are already low. This isn't like selling a fridge or jewelry. Only so much money you can really make and let's be honest - Amazon already has low prices with free shipping and no taxes in most states. Taking 5+ dollars off in addition and then trying to get MORE discounts on top of those discounts is just exploitation that was just ended.
 
[quote name='SimaYi']I'm hoping for some sort of Gamers Club program direct from Amazon. Instead of dealing with promo codes they could just subtract 10% off the current price via log in (if thats possible).

[/QUOTE]

It's certainly possible. They've previously done it with a year-long discount promo on Blu Rays/HD DVDs which started in the fall of '06.
 
Lol, remember when they limited codes to 24 hours in a dire attempt to stop hoarding? That took all of a day before people figured out you could delete the cookie and generate a new code infinitely again.
 
This had to be an issue of last-straw for Amazon. I'm sure they gave ECA codes in good faith, then the free membership caused ECA to ask Amazon for exponentially more codes. I assume the stacking was when Amazon said, "Oh HELLL NO!" and pulled the plug permanently.

ECA wanted more members, and they overloaded the golden goose to get them. I'm sure they're hoping we forget about our memberships or hold out for other discounts so they can brag about their membership numbers and hope for re-subscription fees in the next year.

What's ECA to a big company like Amazon? It's a mosquito they got tired of sucking on them, so they swatted it. Can't say I wouldn't have done the same. I'll still shop at Amazon, but probably won't deal with ECA again. I think I made my membership cost up from the discounts, otherwise I'd be more pissed.
 
Why can't amazon just figure out who stacked these coupons and just charge them? They should be able to do that and just get the 10% discount back. I signed up for the eca just for this and I didn't get to use it once!
 
Ehhh... I paid for a membership when they first became available. I got my moneys worth. The ECA was dumb for handing out free memberships. Pretty piss poor management, and these are the people fighting for our gaming rights. They would have been better off offering a discount or something. It was only a $15/$20 membership as it is. The ECA had nothing to gain from giving out memberships.


To the above poster. Amazon doesn't want to piss people off by canceling their orders. Thats why they haven't and won't cancel them. And how would that get the codes back? They don't want to get screwed over again so they may come up with a solution of their own, independent from the ECA.
 
@ViolentLee:
You got it exactly right. If they don't get a deal struck with Amazon by Christmas I'm done with the service. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll have something by Black Friday... YEAH RIGHT!
 
[quote name='Neo-Nut']Why can't amazon just figure out who stacked these coupons and just charge them? They should be able to do that and just get the 10% discount back. I signed up for the eca just for this and I didn't get to use it once![/QUOTE]

It's not worth the hassle to them.
 
If everybody just bought Amazon stock while you were waiting for the ECA codes to come back you could have paid for discounts for quite a while. Up over 25% in the last few days. They don't need ECA discounts maybe, or maybe their great 3Q numbers had something to do with ECA?
 
[quote name='Neo-Nut']Why can't amazon just figure out who stacked these coupons and just charge them? They should be able to do that and just get the 10% discount back. I signed up for the eca just for this and I didn't get to use it once![/QUOTE]


If you "signed up" for it and never used it once, I take it you didn't pay the original $20 membership. If that's the case, what are you complaining about?
 
Sad to see it go, but I understand why Amazon pulled it. Had a good run with the discount but I don't see any point staying with ECA, especially since I paid for my subscription way back when, without that particular carrot on a stick available.
 
Quite disappointed that I never got to take advantage of the codes because people had to stack them. The only good discount for being a member was Amazon. With Amazon gone, well I have no use for their organization now and I won't renew.
 
I really don't buy the blame-the-stackers argument. Stacking was an issue, but it's unclear to me why it ever had to be. Couldn't they have either not "expired" the codes and not had different batches, which seems to me would fix it, or actually *expired* the codes?!!! If the codes were expired, why was anyone able to use them? They hadn't really expired anything. It just seems like they have a really dopey system in place. That's where the blame should lay.
 
I hope that Amazon does something like what Circuit City did when they were in business. Circuit City had a video game program that if you signed up (for a fee), you get 10% off all video games and accessories.
 
Sucks, but it was a good run for me. I easily made my $15 back (heck, I got that back just off of the Tekken 6 bundle that shipped today) and I still have 15+ preorders w/ the coupon applied, stretching well into next year (and possibly the year after that).

And another deal will come along soon enough, from somewhere - it always does. ;)
 
[quote name='slickkill77']No matter what you say, people will always blame someone else.[/QUOTE]There, fixed that for you. ;)
 
[quote name='chuckywang']I hope that Amazon does something like what Circuit City did when they were in business. Circuit City had a video game program that if you signed up (for a fee), you get 10% off all video games and accessories.[/QUOTE]
Yup, and that worked out pretty well for them.

...Oh wait.
 
In a sense, I think its better knowing we're not going to get the discount back anytime soon, if at all. Now i can just pre-order without worrying about this. Oh well, back to ebay bux and bing cashback.
 
[quote name='fatpug']Don't worry... Gypsyfly said the code will be back after the holiday. :)[/QUOTE]
She also said the codes would be back the following week 2 weeks ago :roll:
 
I guess I'm thinking that they don't want to bring them back till next year... why give even bigger discounts than they are probably planning for black friday/etc...

I'm betting we see the video game lightning deals come back as we get closer to Christmas and I'm sure that they know that the code comes off the original price and not the lightning deal one. So I can fully understand why they wouldn't want them during the holidays.
 
[quote name='eau']She also said the codes would be back the following week 2 weeks ago :roll:[/QUOTE]

She strikes me as a volunteer. I don't think she's onto anything at all. We seem to be ahead of her every time.
 
I'm bummed that they got rid of it completely for now but I can't cry about it really, I ordered enough to make back my initial membership fee and a heck of a lot more, so thems the breaks.
 
[quote name='Renaissance 2K']Yup, and that worked out pretty well for them.

...Oh wait.[/QUOTE]

Are you really saying the Circuit City video game club was the reason they went out of business?
 
thanks to all the people who abused the system and stacked it multiple times. hope it was worth it.
 
[quote name='fatpug']Don't worry... Gypsyfly said the code will be back after the holiday. :)[/QUOTE]
I laughed at this, so I'm hoping it was a joke.
 
[quote name='John Hyperion']Weak. I paid for a membership, never stacked and didn't manage to make the membership "pay for itself."[/QUOTE]

See if you can get a refund. If they dont refund you, call your CC company and file a chargeback.
 
[quote name='dizee']thanks to all the people who abused the system and stacked it multiple times. hope it was worth it.[/QUOTE]

Saved me $30 on MW2 PE, so yes it was.
 
[quote name='confoosious']golden goose killed.

thanks all you stackers![/QUOTE]
Confoosious I believe you were one of those so-called stackers. Right?
I guess you could say I told you so.

Thanks a lot stacking fools :booty:
 
I think it's safe to say that emailing / calling Amazon and alerting them to stacking by ASKING THEM TO DO IT trumped this.....way to ruin a great thing.

The net effect of a 10% off for many years would have far out weighed the abused short term gain.

I don't blame them one bit...not one bit.
 
I still don't understand why Amazon used an amateurish third party in the first place, they should just have their own edge card like gamestop.
 
[quote name='Porksta']Saved me $30 on MW2 PE, so yes it was.[/QUOTE]
Hey Porksta, I know you aren't the smartest person. In fact, I'm pretty sure your a complete dumbass and a real slacker. Sometimes I'm wrong, but not this time.

You saved $30 one time for something and now the deal is likely to be gone forever. When instead you could've saved $15 by being legit about it and not stacking. So now the codes are gone for good and your left with your one time stack instead of 10% off for many times to come.

Worth it to a dumbass, slacker like yourself, it probably was. You dumb shit.


-SMITTYBLAZE
 
[quote name='caltab']I still don't understand why Amazon used an amateurish third party in the first play, they should just have there own edge card like gamestop.[/QUOTE]


I think after this fiasco and the amount of traffic this garnered...this is a real possibility.

I'd pay $20 to Amazon for 10% off game purchases indefinitely. Hell, make it $40 for the ability to receive games on release day.

Surely their in-house team would lock it down tenfold.
 
[quote name='SMITTYBLAZE']Hey Porksta, I know you aren't the smartest person. In fact, I'm pretty sure your a complete dumbass and a real slacker. Sometimes I'm wrong, but not this time.

You saved $30 one time for something and now the deal is likely to be gone forever. When instead you could've saved $15 by being legit about it and not stacking. So now the codes are gone for good and your left with your one time stack instead of 10% off for many times to come.

Worth it to a dumbass, slacker like yourself, it probably was. You dumb shit.


-SMITTYBLAZE[/QUOTE]

Thank you sir!

That just made my day if not week!
 
well once the ECA did that free subscription gimmick it was pretty obvious this was gonna happen eventually

how exactly do we disable auto-renew with the ECA? I made up my member fee and then some so I'm not pissed or anything but I have no plans to pay again especially after their recent behavior about everything
 
[quote name='buckythekat']how exactly do we disable auto-renew with the ECA? I made up my member fee and then some so I'm not pissed or anything but I have no plans to pay again especially after their recent behavior about everything[/QUOTE]

Log in.

On the left side of the main page, inside the section "Member Login," click your user name.

Click the tab, "View."

Under "Recurring Fees" and under "Operations," there is an option to "Cancel."
 
[quote name='buckythekat']well once the ECA did that free subscription gimmick it was pretty obvious this was gonna happen eventually[/QUOTE]

Are you oblivious, or just choose to disown reality???

Twice now ECA has stated that the codes were pulled because of STACKING...they have also publicly stated it WAS NOT DUE TO FREE MEMBERS...people had the ability to stack because they were using codes that were only available BEFORE the free membership.
 
I paid the full $20 even though I was a student because I could never get the confirmation e-mail sent to my .edu account. I've gotten my money's worth, but like a lot of people mentioned, with ECA, I didn't feel too bad about impulse purchases & preorders with an extra 10%.

But yeah, not unexpected. What should have been a members-only organization for those who paid the $15-20 fee suddenly turned into a free-for-all. I just wish they would have said from the beginning of October the benefit was being terminated instead of "oh, it's definitely coming back."

Oh, and an Amazon gamers club would be awesome. Along with a blu-ray club.
 
[quote name='Muthafodder']Twice now ECA has stated that the codes were pulled because of STACKING...they have also publicly stated it WAS NOT DUE TO FREE MEMBERS...people stacking with codes that were only available BEFORE the free membership.[/QUOTE]

do you seriously believe if it did have something to do with the massive influx of free new members (which in turn definitely helped lead to the new series of codes being generated that ended up being stackable) the ECA would honestly tell you oops sorry we fucked up? :roll:

if so I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn, it has a really nice scenic view too

[quote name='kilm']Log in.

On the left side of the main page, inside the section "Member Login," click your user name.

Click the tab, "View."

Under "Recurring Fees" and under "Operations," there is an option to "Cancel."[/QUOTE]

ah thanks, that doesn't cancel your membership right away though right?

in their forums they make it sound like it does
 
[quote name='kilm']Log in.

On the left side of the main page, inside the section "Member Login," click your user name.

Click the tab, "View."

Under "Recurring Fees" and under "Operations," there is an option to "Cancel."[/QUOTE]

You can't simply disable auto-renewal. Going through these steps will also cancel your current membership. I'm emailing myself in the future a week before my renewal date, reminding myself to cancel then.

http://www.futureme.org/
 
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