Official Amazon Quick Picks FAQ - READ 1st POST

Alright, I've been rummaging through the thread and haven't seen something that answers my question yet. Should you or should you not rate items you want? I would assume not, but I haven't seen anything that says one way or the other.

Also, this FAQ is freaking wonderful, and I've been referring to it often on my quest to cheaper games. ;D
 
Shrike, the # of your daily quick picks seems completely random and isn't tied to what is in your recs. Better to get 2/2 than 0/7 though =P

And as far cat tango, don't rate items you want. I would assume it's in his first post somewhere. You want to rate/fake pre-order/"I own" items LINKED with what you want. So when the page shows three games as "pre-order together", one being the game you're looking at, and then below that "other customers bought with this item", those are the things you should be focusing on to get the original game you wanted.
 
[quote name='cat_tango']Alright, I've been rummaging through the thread and haven't seen something that answers my question yet. Should you or should you not rate items you want? I would assume not, but I haven't seen anything that says one way or the other.[/QUOTE]
Per the FAQ: "Marking a game 'not interested/owned/rated' will also disqualify it, but for multi-platform titles it will not exclude it for any other console(s)."
 
So today was apparently my lucky day, got 7 choices off of my recommendation list, but something interesting I noticed: the majority of the games are 5% off, but for two of them, one is marked 18% off, the other 10%. Can the Quick Picks discount vary, or is it static on a per game basis?
 
[quote name='FeralWraith']So today was apparently my lucky day, got 7 choices off of my recommendation list, but something interesting I noticed: the majority of the games are 5% off, but for two of them, one is marked 18% off, the other 10%. Can the Quick Picks discount vary, or is it static on a per game basis?[/QUOTE]

If they were already discounted from MSRP (as many Amazon games are) then the Gold Box discount just stacks on top of that.

Ex. Amazon sells Heavy Rain for $56.99, $3 off MSRP, so it's already 5% off. Whenever it appears in your Quick Picks, it takes 5% off the $56.99 (or $2.85) so Amazon's usual discount + Gold Box discount = 10% off. The flipside is a game like The Last Guardian. Amazon sells it at MSRP, so the Quick Pick will just show 5% off.

As for your second question, Quick Pick discounts can vary, but only by type. Video games and their accessories will always be 5% off.
 
It's kind of ironic, but Amazon can't do math. They claim that the discount is 10% off (when combining 5% off with the gold box discount), when in reality they're only taking 9.75% off. If you were truly getting 10%, it would take off $6 and not just $5.85. I guess they round their percentages off, but it's still misleading.
 
Since my quick picks updated last night at work(5-11) I couldn't tell when it was, and it was 1 am(est) a day before that. I just woke up from a little nap, heh, and they've updated again. What's with this schedule. Oh, and what's this? Uncharted 2? Thank you very much amazon!

Ooh and a chainsaw? Tempting!
 
[quote name='Vortextk']Since my quick picks updated last night at work(5-11) I couldn't tell when it was, and it was 1 am(est) a day before that. I just woke up from a little nap, heh, and they've updated again. What's with this schedule. Oh, and what's this? Uncharted 2? Thank you very much amazon!

Ooh and a chainsaw? Tempting![/QUOTE]
fuck Uncharted, go with the chainsaw! Glad you finally got it! :D
 
I've gotten that bug zapper like 10 times now, no joke. The last when the recs screwed up the other day, it appeared. I hate that thing.
 
I had that one yesterday too. It kept going in and out of my quick picks all day, OOS part of the day maybe? Popular =P

You can turn your browsing history off so randomly looking at items won't affect you.

Recommendations link at the top of any page, browsing history, and on the left side it'll let you turn it off. Make sure you then confirm when it loads another page, I tried like twice and would instantly switch pages and always wondered why it didn't work. When I actually READ the page, I clicked to turn it off again, and voila.
 
The last few days i've gotten just complete garbage. For the past month or so since i've really been attempting to tailor my quickpicks i've had alot of success, and end up with 50%+ of my quickpicks being desirable videogames, with the rest being DVD's or books i'm interested in.

All of a sudden two days ago I started getting just off the wall stuff. Today, for example, I have:

Toro 51500 Universal Leaf Collector with 8-Foot Hose
Charcoal Companion Amazing Bug Zapper
Belkin BZ103050vTVL Mini Surge Protector/Dual USB...
Rockwell RK5102K Sonicrafter Deluxe 72-Piece Kit
Tweezerman Skin Care Tool

Stuff I have never viewed, and things that are not even CLOSE to anything i've positively rated or purchased. When I open up my reccomendations list all I see amongst the pages are, like, 80% video games, 15% DVD's, and 5% books, and i can't find any of the above on my list, or anything even related.

So confused, I really would like to get some more games on my quickpicks before the holiday release dates.
 
[quote name='Vortextk']I had that one yesterday too. It kept going in and out of my quick picks all day, OOS part of the day maybe? Popular =P

You can turn your browsing history off so randomly looking at items won't affect you.

Recommendations link at the top of any page, browsing history, and on the left side it'll let you turn it off. Make sure you then confirm when it loads another page, I tried like twice and would instantly switch pages and always wondered why it didn't work. When I actually READ the page, I clicked to turn it off again, and voila.[/QUOTE]

I'll try the browsing history thing and see what happens. Probably nothing in tomorrow's quick picks, since none of my games seem to be the ones that show up.
 
Thanks OP! I spent about 45 minutes yesterday going through items on Amazon and whatnot to get some better Gold Box deals and today I already had Halo: Reach in there for $3 off. With double ECA that's $15 off.
 
Got Metroid Other M in my Picks today. Spirit Tracks, too...though I think I'm going to pass on that.

Quick question. Is the discount for a particular item the *same* for everyone? That is, if somebody else gets Metroid Other M in their list, do they get the same % off as I do? (I'm getting only 5% off of it.)
 
Short answer: yes. Quick Picks takes a certain percentage off the price of the item depending on its category. Video games and accessories will always take 5% off of Amazon's price (which may already be lower than MSRP to begin with, hence why it'll display a number higher than 5% on the Quick Picks page)
 
99% sure quick picks for any item is 5% off. Easy to find out, just click any item in your quick picks, the actual picture, and see how much it is on the regular page. Mine aren't showing a discount anymore since I bought uncharted 2 yesterday, I would need to get my daily refresh.
 
Ended up with new items in my Gold Box, after adjusting some of my recommendations with "Not Interested"

New SMB (Wii)
FF XIII VS (PS)
Polarium (DS)
Henry Hatsworth And The Puzzling Adventure (DS)
Master Of The Monster Lair (DS)
Rondo Of Swords (DS)

New SMB was a no-brainer pickup.

One side note. If you've bought any of the Naruto games on any platform or mark that you own one, you'll start having it recommend Naruto DVD's and manga. Just a FYI.
 
You guys and browsing history are silly. It can not and will not affect anything towards your quick picks. I leave mine on just as a tool to figure out what to pre-order after viewing what I want.

I had ODST in my picks for the second time, which is the first time I've had something show up despite having been purchased. Wish they'd start rolling out new quick picks, because I need some new games to chase!
 
You know, the worst thing about going through my not interested list when I DO want to look for one of the games, is that the next button isn't on the top of the page.

Damn...I can't find crackdown 2 anywhere. It's not rated, so I think it's in my not interested list. Still looking..

Aha! # 423, geez.

Going to try for Last Rebellion and Crack down 2.
 
I got bored again and canceled my GOW III, Heavy Rain, and TLG gold box orders lol. When I placed them, I stupidly didn't tie up my remaining credit elsewhere first so it would be April of next year before it was used up. This was also before I learned how those $30 promo coupons worked, as I didn't realize they would be placed over the entire order rather than a first come, first serve.

Let's see if I can't work my magic and make them all appear tomorrow. ;)
 
[quote name='Jodou']This was also before I learned how those $30 promo coupons worked, as I didn't realize they would be placed over the entire order rather than a first come, first serve.
[/QUOTE]

:cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

My one and only 30$ promo won't be completely used up till FF versus/castlevania lords of shadow hits. ARghghghghghgh

Even then, only like half of it is going to be used in the next 4-5 months anyway.
 
[quote name='klopas']Anybody get Demon's Souls lately? I've gotten Uncharted 2 and GoW3 so far.[/QUOTE]
I think it's safe to say we will never see Demon's Souls on the list again.
 
I think your method may be bunk. I used to only get videogames toys and books in my quick picks. I used your method to get rid of some of the books yesterday and today in my gold box i got:

Tidy Cats Breeze Cats Litter Pellet, 3.5-Pound Units...
Bergan Turbo Scratcher Cat Toy (Colors May Vary)
AccuSharp 001 Knife Sharpener


BTW I hate cats and would never buy or sell anything cat related. The only things on my wish list are games and the only things I have ever bought on amazon are videogames and subscriptions to PSM.
 
The method that we all use you mean?

Here's a couple quotes you may want to pay extra attention to:

What disqualifies an item for Quick Picks?
[..] Additionally, Amazon has to have the item flagged for eligibility to show up (there is no way of seeing this).
Click to expand...

Maintenance

Lastly, I can tell you from experience that like day old bread -- your recommendations begin to stagnate. If you notice a lull in getting games or the wrong games are appearing, it's because Amazon has no recent activity to go by. Cancel and re-order games that you were using to target stuff with or try pre-ordering other games that you think will get what you're after. Even if you do this daily, you can still get junk mixed in with games. If you still get nothing but junk daily, it's because either what you want isn't eligible to show up or you haven't picked the right combination of games to pre-order/own/rate.
Click to expand...
 
^^^I guess what I don't understand is how i can get games, blurays, and books for a month (only 2-3 items). Then I mark five the books as not interested and now my gold box picks are jacked up.

I am on item 300 of my recommendations and I have not seen anything non media related. Should I see these cat items in 'recommended for you' section?


Edit: I went through 500 recommendations and now they keep repeating. I think the cat stuff is on someone's "listmania" that also bought "tru blood". That is the only connection I could find.
 
You will get junk, period. No, you probably won't see those items in you recommendations, but considering you're already at 300 I can't say you won't at all. Even with just like 7 games in my recommendations, stuff will be added every now and then by amazon and some of the things aren't very related to gaming at all. Quick picks are not 100% dedicated to your recommendations list and then, as I quoted:

1: Some items can not show up at all.

2: Items showing in your recommendations simply based off of ratings, not purchases, have a very low chance to actually come up. I have a second amazon account with about 40 games in the recommendations, just to see if anythings pops up, and I've only seen a handful of games in my quick picks over like 2 months, whereas my main account(with pre-orders aplenty) get games in there constantly.

3: I'd narrow down your list anyway because I'm going to say that out of 300+ items, you aren't going to buy all of them just because they get a 5% price cut by being in your quick picks.

4: Refresh some ratings/pre-orders, something. Maintenance.


*Edit*
And dammnnnnn my quick picks are updating fast. 3 days ago 1 am, 2 days ago sometime between 6-11pm, yesterday between 3-6pm, and today at 12pm just now.

Got Crackdown 2, no last rebellion. WRONG! I forgot it doesn't have box art, I did get both in my quickpicks. Score!
 
[quote name='Vortextk']*Edit*
And dammnnnnn my quick picks are updating fast. 3 days ago 1 am, 2 days ago sometime between 6-11pm, yesterday between 3-6pm, and today at 12pm just now.

Got Crackdown 2, no last rebellion. WRONG! I forgot it doesn't have box art, I did get both in my quickpicks. Score![/QUOTE]
Stop fucking cheating LOL! I want hyperdrive quick picks. :(

I see what you mean; they just ninja added a few things to my recommendations. Cleaned them up for tomorrow, since my picks are still the same.
 
What can I say, when you're good you're good ;) (or lucky...or a glitch...you know)

Maybe it's compensation for my 30$ promo code that will be getting slowly used up until 2011.
 
I think it's safe for me to say that Agent and Dante's Inferno are ineligible now, unless someone miraculously finds out what the secret ingredient is.

It's somewhat of a sad day for me. I can't think of any games left that I even want to pre-order aside from the ones Amazon won't let you pre-order (Castlevania/MGS on PS3, White Knight Chronicles) I guess I could start playing the games I have now, but that doesn't seem nearly as fun.

I just arranged it so that a few so-so games are in my recommendations: BioShock 2, Borderlands, and a very pessimistic appearance by Dead Rising 2. I mainly just want to see that I don't have some type of curse, since I've barely gotten anything game related in over a week, despite my best efforts. Perhaps I just had so few targets that they happened to be ineligible (since I've been trying for Agent and Dante's Inferno for about a week now)

And damn Vortex, share some of the awesome Quick Pick updates this way! Also, out of curiosity, was there any special combination of games you got to get Uncharted 2 in there? I know it's been pretty sporadic, but I just noticed that my copy of U2 does not have a Gold Box discount applied to it. (Edit: So I guess I DO have one game to go after :D)
 
I already have a few ps3 games orderd, FFXIII, Versus, Heavy rain, Demon's souls deluxe and resonance of fate(more like several versus few, ack). To give it an extra push I pre-ordered the new ratchet and clank, GoW collection, ACII on ps3 and that gave me uncharted like 2 days later. I'd focus on those 3 and heavy rain, and you should get it. That takes care of both the

"Frequently Bought Together"
And
"Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought"

Oh and yeah I'm kind of in the same boat. Spent all this time ordering and fixing and getting as many discounts as I can and now it's like...meh, what do I want to play. I'm so hyped up for all these releases it's hard for me to play anything older right now, haha. Luckily I started Lost Odyssey the other day and am having a lot of fun with it.
 
Thanks. I've actually already got Heavy Rain and AC2 ordered, so that helps those. Gonna go work on the others.

And I hope Amazon never looks at my record of cancelling pre-order history :p. I can see it now: "This idiot pre-ordered Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time 4 times. Can he not make up his mind?"

And really, if developers didn't ALL try for that Christmas push in sales, I'd probably have 5 or 6 more games to shoot for. I want to pick up Beatles Rock Band (I know it's out but I still want it in my Quick Picks) Borderlands, and Dragon Age: Origins, but there are just too many games and too little time/money. Not to mention how Q1 2010 is going to be one of my most jam packed first quarters...well, ever.
 
Lol I made a list of all the games I'm getting. It makes me want to puke, god so much money for my little paychecks. But since I'm nearly done buying used games and I'm not making any other big purchases(say, a ps3/5.1 speakers/1080p 40'' tv like I just did early this year), I'm really just down to paying bills right now.

My early year isn't that packed compared to october though, jesus. It's like every week I added a new game so now I have 5 of them shipping to me in october, but only ACII in november and nothing in december or january so I'll have time =) Then yeah a few more titles in the first months next year, then another handful don't even have release dates yet.

Good luck on uncharted, I had it a couple times in my quick picks a month ago when I was on the fence and just again when I ordered, so it's not a tough one to get.

I'm really wondering what is amazons stance on all the discounts flying around. The goldbox pretty easy to manipulate, and it's stayed that way. The 2x eca codes obviously, which I don't think is as big a problem as people are making it out to be since some are getting 2-4x refunds on the 9 dollar halo odst price drop. A few even pointed it out to amazon and they said keep it. Oh well!
 
[quote name='Jodou']I think it's safe to say we will never see Demon's Souls on the list again.[/QUOTE]


That makes me sad. It's really the only game I'm looking forward to till the end of the year.
 
[quote name='Vortextk']To give it an extra push I pre-ordered the new ratchet and clank, GoW collection, ACII on ps3 and that gave me uncharted like 2 days later.[/QUOTE]
I used Demon's Souls as well and got U2 twice now the very next day. I think I've had more fun just canceling shit and trying to get it again lol.
 
I've been working for weeks to get God of War 3 in my quick picks and finally got it today for some reason... I have already pre-ordered it. My question is though, since I lucked out, my prior GOW3 order has 3 other games in the order with two stacked ECA coupons. Will the two ECA codes reappear in my cart for a future order if I cancel only the GOW3 portion of this order, or does the entire need to be canceled for this to work?
 
[quote name='hiromano']I've been working for weeks to get God of War 3 in my quick picks and finally got it today for some reason... I have already pre-ordered it. My question is though, since I lucked out, my prior GOW3 order has 3 other games in the order with two stacked ECA coupons. Will the two ECA codes reappear in my cart for a future order if I cancel only the GOW3 portion of this order, or does the entire need to be canceled for this to work?[/QUOTE]
Cancel the entire thing, so long as nothing from that order has shipped. Then re-order your quick pick with the other two games. Easy as pie.
 
[quote name='Jodou']Cancel the entire thing, so long as nothing from that order has shipped. Then re-order your quick pick with the other two games. Easy as pie.[/QUOTE]

Got it. Thanks.
 
I got R&C today for 53.67, but I don't want to pay that much for it even with two 10% off codes.

Has anyone been able to use the codes on a blu-ray DVD?
 
And now 10 am, just woke up, already updated again. Just added a few things to my recs yesterday but nothing I actually care to get, I really do think I'm done. 1 set of stacked codes left, think I'll just let it sit for awhile.

Anyway! I got both brink and way of the samurai 3 in my quick picks, both ps3(if they're multi-plat, I don't know). Wow and ratchet and clank/gow collection on my second account, I don't even try on this one anymore.

Also have 360 FFXIII, Alan Wake, 360 Bayonetta and ps3 rogue warrior in my recommendations. The first three have been in there for a long time and I've never seen them pop up, going to imagine they're ineligible or just very hard to get.
 
Super Mario Galaxy 2 showed up in my quick picks, though I think I'm going to pass on it. Since it doesn't come out until the fall, and if it's like when SMG released previously, there's going to be a lot of promotions for it.
 
Can always just throw an eca code ontop of the quick pick just to see if that'll be the best deal you can get though, what a year later. You don't have to worry about getting it back in there incase you ever feel like it.
 
[quote name='Vortextk']Anyway! I got both brink and way of the samurai 3 in my quick picks, both ps3(if they're multi-plat, I don't know). Wow and ratchet and clank/gow collection on my second account, I don't even try on this one anymore.[/QUOTE]
I knew it! Both Brink and WotS3 were ninja added to my recs yesterday and I had a feeling they were going to show up soon. Unfortunately, I only had FFXIII Versus show up today and I'm not wasting good codes on just that. Tomorrow's another day!
 
Heh, mine weren't ninja'd though. Just finding out what's still possible for the faq I guess. Man I'm so pumped for october. There are soooo many games coming out, I made a list of everything I didn't have ordered and kind of rated them for how interested I was the other day. Lucky for my wallet pretty much everything fell under "not very". Really looking forward to all the action games, GoW, Bayonetta, Dante's Inferno and a few others but I don't feel like buying them for some reason.
 
I've been getting nothing but crap lately, but I think it's mainly because I've already preordered almost everything I want that qualifies. Apparently, Fallout 3 GOTY & Saboteur aren't eligible. :whistle2:(
 
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