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

[quote name='Muthafodder']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.[/QUOTE]
Stop the presses! We should believe everything ECA tells us!
 
Good job stacking, guys. I hope the extra $5 or $10 you saved on a game was worth it. Thanks for ruining it for everyone.

And I love that the stackers keep pointing at the free subs as the reason this went away. The free sub offer was available for awhile before Amazon pulled the codes. Stop making excuses. You blew it for everyone.
 
I just saw this... needless to say, I'm not too happy since about it since I made a lot of purchases simply because I got the 10% off. I'm not sure what other merchants they're working with but it's unlikely that I'll use ECA anymore.

Amazon's prices are almost always the lowest... the 10% extra just sweetened the deal so I ended up ordering stuff I normally wouldn't. I can't think of any other retailer where 10% off would be worth it... that would only bring their prices on the same level as Amazon's so it's kinda pointless.

And I actually paid for my subscription, so I'm extra peeved about that. I did save a ton of money, more than enough to make up the $15 I paid but it still seems unfair that those of us who didn't abuse the codes are being screwed over.
 
[quote name='Muthafodder']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.[/QUOTE]

ECA said a lot of things... I still believe giving free memberships killed the program. Why should Amazon offer 10% off to everyone that reads internet deal sites.
 
[quote name='chakan']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/[/QUOTE]
Then why does it say in bold letters 'Recurring Fee Has Been Canceled' once you click cancel? I mean, you could be 100% correct and if they try to charge me next year, I'll simply do a chargeback and possibly pursue legal action.

This is all, of course, entertaining the thought they will even be around in a year.
 
[quote name='Jodou']Stop the presses! We should believe everything ECA tells us![/QUOTE]


Well, for starters, I have no reason to disbelieve them.

Did they take away your candy and turn you into a distrustful twit?
 
[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]

i read this and just had to point out CC didn't do this right either (worked their for 4 years). they sent you a membership card you were supposed to use when making a purchase...but the barcode on the cards never worked. so we taped working barcodes next to the registers (atleast in my store) and scanned those anytime someone had their card...or anytime any of us or our friends wanted to buy a game as well.
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']Good job stacking, guys. I hope the extra $5 or $10 you saved on a game was worth it. Thanks for ruining it for everyone.

And I love that the stackers keep pointing at the free subs as the reason this went away. The free sub offer was available for awhile before Amazon pulled the codes. Stop making excuses. You blew it for everyone.[/QUOTE]

available for a while? it was maybe 2-3 weeks before the codes went away altogether and even before that they ran out at least twice after the free subs started which was dramatically quicker than they had ever run out before the free subs started

oh and I like how you just accuse everyone who blames the free subs as being stackers

the only times I had stacked was when Amazon made me given they stacked codes to your account if you had canceled and older order, I never applied another code to an existing order that already had a 10% applied but why let facts get in the way?

edit:
[quote name='Muthafodder']Well, for starters, I have no reason to disbelieve them.

Did they take away your candy and turn you into a distrustful twit?[/QUOTE]

maybe having grown up in D.C. made me cynical but I take most everything an organization/government/business/etc. says "officially" with a grain of salt
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']Good job stacking, guys. I hope the extra $5 or $10 you saved on a game was worth it. Thanks for ruining it for everyone.

And I love that the stackers keep pointing at the free subs as the reason this went away. The free sub offer was available for awhile before Amazon pulled the codes. Stop making excuses. You blew it for everyone.[/QUOTE]
A) some of us saved hundreds, not some measly $5 rofl.
B) Amazon's slow reaction time is not a valid argument.
 
[quote name='Muthafodder']Well, for starters, I have no reason to disbelieve them.

Did they take away your candy and turn you into a distrustful twit?[/QUOTE]
And the evidence for your claim? None.

Until Amazon publicly states the reasoning, we have nothing to go on other than word of mouth and speculation. No, it's not that I don't trust them, it's that they've not proven otherwise.
 
[quote name='y2jasper']...or anytime any of us or our friends wanted to buy a game as well.[/QUOTE]
Oh, that's quite devious; will you be my friend? :twisted:
 
[quote name='bigdaddybruce44']Good job stacking, guys. I hope the extra $5 or $10 you saved on a game was worth it. Thanks for ruining it for everyone.

And I love that the stackers keep pointing at the free subs as the reason this went away. The free sub offer was available for awhile before Amazon pulled the codes. Stop making excuses. You blew it for everyone.[/QUOTE]
What is ironic about the whole thing is that the stackers will have saved themselves some money now but will end up paying more in the long run because codes aren't available anymore. Hope it was worth it!
 
[quote name='Jodou'] Until Amazon publicly states the reasoning, we have nothing to go on other than word of mouth and speculation. No, it's not that I don't trust them, it's that they've not proven otherwise.[/QUOTE]

Amazon doesn't need to extol or justify their stance.

My rationalization as well as other sane individuals would lead to the assumption that an organization that wants to be partners with a large online store-front wouldn't really throw Amazon under the bus so-to-speak.

They publicly stated they were in conference calls with Amazon to resolve the 'stacking' issue. I don't think it would have been wise to bring light to the stacking issue if it weren't true. How would you react if you were the said large online company and an organization were blaming you for an IT glitch. ECA would've been ignorant to have done so...they didn't...

The inference is crystal clear.

Trying to reason with unreasonable strangers on the internet is a battle in futility. I have to constantly remind myself that children and challenged adults also have access to the internet.
 
[quote name='Muthafodder']Amazon doesn't need to extol or justify their stance.

My rationalization as well as other sane individuals would lead to the assumption that an organization that wants to be partners with a large online store-front wouldn't really throw Amazon under the bus so-to-speak.

They publicly stated they were in conference calls with Amazon to resolve the 'stacking' issue. I don't think it would have been wise to bring light to the stacking issue if it weren't true. How would you react if you were the said large online company and an organization were blaming you for an IT glitch. ECA would've been ignorant to have done so...they didn't...

The inference is crystal clear.

Trying to reason with unreasonable strangers on the internet is a battle in futility. I have to constantly remind myself that children and challenged adults also have access to the internet.[/QUOTE]Nobody said Amazon has to nor that you couldn't speculate. I do draw the line when opinions are pushed as fact, though.
 
[quote name='bojay1997']You're right, people abusing the system to get 30% off already discounted games was not a profitable model. 10% off games is and was a profitable model, however. In fact, Amazon had the biggest quarter in their history, so your theories about 10% off games damaging their bottom line has been pretty conclusively shown to be bogus.[/QUOTE]
Because "bojay1997" said so? You have a serious problem with logical fallacies. Because A happened does not mean B caused it if it's convenient for your argument. If you even read Amazon's press release, videogames wasn't even mentioned when they did some simplistic segment breakdown. Not saying it's not one of Amazon's main segments, but I very doubt that was the cause for the 3Q results. And honestly, how many people do you really think had the foresight to have all 3 codes during the week or so it was available for stacking? Inconsequential number. Even 2 stacks I think was not that relevant. An extra couple...tens of thousands, maybe hundred of thousands of new members signing up just to get their free 10% for no reason? I don't think neither the ECA nor Amazon anticipated how viral the internet was in spreading free stuff information. If Amazon wanted to give everyone in the world 10% off on their videogames inventory, they would just do that and not originally through a somewhat more restrictive ECA membership.
 
Thanks so much to all the stackers! People being too fucking greedy buying way more shit than they need, probably won't even play most of it or even before they can get it cheaper anyways. Had to ruin it for everyone as fucking usual. And they continue to go around and joke about how they stacked trying to rub it in the faces of anyone upset with them and acting like they did nothing wrong.
 
[quote name='J7.']Thanks so much to all the stackers! People being too fucking greedy buying way more shit than they need, probably won't even play most of it or even before they can get it cheaper anyways. Had to ruin it for everyone as fucking usual. And they continue to go around and joke about how they stacked trying to rub it in the faces of anyone upset with them and acting like they did nothing wrong.[/QUOTE]

are we posting in two different threads? :???:
 
[quote name='Muthafodder']Amazon doesn't need to extol or justify their stance.

My rationalization as well as other sane individuals would lead to the assumption that an organization that wants to be partners with a large online store-front wouldn't really throw Amazon under the bus so-to-speak.

They publicly stated they were in conference calls with Amazon to resolve the 'stacking' issue. I don't think it would have been wise to bring light to the stacking issue if it weren't true. How would you react if you were the said large online company and an organization were blaming you for an IT glitch. ECA would've been ignorant to have done so...they didn't...

The inference is crystal clear.

Trying to reason with unreasonable strangers on the internet is a battle in futility. I have to constantly remind myself that children and challenged adults also have access to the internet.[/QUOTE]

Will you be happier if we all just admit that you're the smartest person on the entire internet? You seem to be putting forth a lot of effort to make sure we all know your opinion is the one true fact.
 
[quote name='Justin42'](I know this probably isn't the best place/way to post this but I don't know how many people check deal discussions/graveyard/etc-- maybe this should be a closed sticky for a week or two?) Please don't turn this into a flame war...

Latest update, direct from the ECA:
Amazon has decided to suspend their discount offering for the time being. The exploit in the coupons was/is too large a detractor until a new solution can be determined.

Separately, several new merchant partners will be coming online this and next week with discounts and special promotions that they'd like to offer members.[/QUOTE]


ummmm called this weeks ago when the discounts first disappeared.... Amazon probally wants nothing to do with ECA after the entire GI free account (no company is going to give all of these people 10% free on games) .... ECA will make up a story and blame it all on amazon (what they did ) amazon will never come back to ECA


Months ago ECA probally went to amazon and amazon goes how many people you have... ECA goes less then 10,000 .... Amazon thinks to sell well it could help both of us out and since people are PAYING To access ECA there wont be many people using the codes... Then all of a sudden BOOM that less then 10,000 = 50,000 + amazon goes, no way in hell we are going to issue that many codes and that you allowed stacking that you mostly #$#$# us over... We dont need you, eca needs us,,,, Good bye.

Eca makes up a story about how this is all amazon fault so the people will say its amazon fault and ECA can do no wrong.

sorry but like i said as soon as the codes disappered.. amazon is long gone and eca mostly just #$#$# everyone over

i sort of find it FUnny that if amazon say NO to the codes then whey do the old codes Still work..... More like amazon said NO MORE NEW CODES and ECA is making this entire story up

if all codes would be removed Old codes would not be still working...
 
[quote name='basketbowler']Members of ECA still get 10% off. If your Amazon account email and Eca email are the same they automatically deduct 10% from the purchase price. At least that is what it is doing with my purchases.[/QUOTE]


Definitely not working for me
 
[quote name='slidecage']ummmm called this weeks ago when the discounts first disappeared.... Amazon probally wants nothing to do with ECA after the entire GI free account (no company is going to give all of these people 10% free on games) .... ECA will make up a story and blame it all on amazon (what they did ) amazon will never come back to ECA [/QUOTE]


True
ECA is fucking retarded.
 
My request has been sent to TheECA for a refund. I don't expect a reply but I think it is important they understand what they did was not right. Free memberships killed the only benefits that many people used.
 
course it could have had a bit to do with the fact that the free membership code was given out in GI... you know the magazine that's pushed by gamestop to go with their edge card...

all in all I think people are seriously overreacting over 10%... :roll:

as for people stacking... well once it hit then most people knew it was going to die or at least end in the way that it had worked in the past... look at all the other stacking coupons in the past... um WB comes to mind... just a month or so ago when people could stack like 5 coupons to get 9 blurays for roughly 5 bucks each... it died a quick death...

if it would have been before the free accounts maybe not cause not a lot of people would have taken advantage of it... but with all the free ones out there was definately going to change the program...
 
[quote name='fatpug']My request has been sent to TheECA for a refund. I don't expect a reply but I think it is important they understand what they did was not right. Free memberships killed the only benefits that many people used.[/QUOTE]

they will not send you a refund.. They might offer you a prize pack what you will Never see... I emailed them when the free GI thing first hit.... I got a nice email back saying blah blah blah but we will give you a prize pack for your troubles... No prize pack ever showed.. emailed them again and they never emailed me back...

now if they would replace the amazon code with a 15% off new games at gamestop then all would be forgiven (doubt they will


another thing i do not like is

Separately, several new merchant partners will be coming online this and next week with discounts and special promotions that they'd like to offer members.


if they had new partners coming why wouldnt they give names instead of saying we have these coming... to me that sounds like yea they are in talk with getting discounts but nothing has been worked out
 
[quote name='botticus']I find it mind boggling (or deceptive) that the stacking issue, that has now been eliminated, is being used as a reason for eliminating the discount altogether. I mean, at worst, in its most hackish, they could just generate a few hundred thousand (million?) of the same class of code, and release x number of those to ECA at a time.

Even saying they've lost too much money to the stacking somehow implies that they'll make more money by not offering the discount than reinstating the 10% - I find this somewhat debatable.[/QUOTE]

Are you a financial analyst at amazon?
 
[quote name='botticus']I find it mind boggling (or deceptive) that the stacking issue, that has now been eliminated, is being used as a reason for eliminating the discount altogether. I mean, at worst, in its most hackish, they could just generate a few hundred thousand (million?) of the same class of code, and release x number of those to ECA at a time.

Even saying they've lost too much money to the stacking somehow implies that they'll make more money by not offering the discount than reinstating the 10% - I find this somewhat debatable.[/QUOTE]

Are you a financial analyst at amazon? Because unless you are, I find it debatable whether you know a single thing about their profits. Empirical evidence suggests that the 10% (with or without stacking) wasn't helping their bottom line so they killed it. Hopefully not forever.


[quote name='SMITTYBLAZE']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:[/QUOTE]

Nope. I have never knowingly stacked. I found out about it when I cancelled one pre-order and had the discount apply twice to my Ghostbusters Slimer Edition.

Look folks, I've come to realize that there's no point yelling at the stackers like Jodou. They will always justify in their little mind why it was ok for them to stack and how this is Amazon/ECA's fault. It's never THEIR fault. You can tell them to fuck themselves but it won't make a difference. The next time something is to be exploited, they'll be first in line to exploit it and mock you for not being smart enough to do it yourself.
 
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Amazon seems to have had a huge increase in business b/c of the codes, can't believe they'd just walk away from that if it was at all profitable for them because of a glitch that can be fixed. Amazon is a huge corporation that desires one things: profit. It's feelings cannot be hurt by exploiters. It cant hold a grudge. If the 10 percent codes were profitable they'd implement them again. The way they were doing it before was broken and needed to be fixed regardless of exploiters. Maybe their just gonna see how their holiday sales are without the 10 percent codes and maybe they will come back in another form. Regardless I think all the finger pointing is missing the bigger picture, that Amazon has one concern-their bottom line. If they codes are profitable and they want the increased business an extra 10 percent off brings them they will find an exploit free way to do so.

Also, I wonder if the ECA was paying Amazon for the codes in some form. If they were not, maybe Amazon no longer liked the fact that a 3rd party was collecting money for distributing codes. I know the ECA has other stated purposes, but realistically for the vast majority of members, it served one purpose, to buy codes.
 
I think I'm the last person here that's still confused lol. What teh Bacon was done wrong!?!? Were people using multiple ECA codes on 1 order somehow? or Was putting multiple codes on a account for future use the problem? :whee:
 
[quote name='DefeatUForever']I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm receiving an automatic 10% off for any game in my cart.

btw I was a paid ECA member.[/QUOTE]

I paid and I'm seeing no such discount.
 
see blaming the stackers for singlehandedly ruining the deal doesn't make sense for atleast 2 reasons:

1) amazon would have figured out the problem eventually anyway? do you guys seriously think amazon would have never realized it with all the accidental stacks that happened (and would have happened in the future)? admittedly i'm sure it would have happened later instead of now, but they would have gone through the same process of shutting it down while they work on it.

2) if amazons only problem with the codes was stacking then they could have easily fixed the problem..and they actually did, since only J codes have been working for over a week. problem solved.

personally i think amazon decided on one of the following:

1) that they didn't want to give the discount to so many members, and possibly want to have their own discount program. which would be cool.

2) they decided that they really don't need the discount to entice buyers in the next few months since they will have an increase in sales anyway. i mean lately amazon has been matching competitors prices and sales left and right. is it a coincidence that the ECA codes were around during the spring and summer, when there are weaker game sales? maybe maybe not. but this might mean that they will have the program again after the holidays.

3) they had some other dispute with ECA and this was a final straw.

i think that option 2 is probably the most likely one. the only reason to think this was solely the fault of stacking is if you think that the problem wasn't fixable (which they already fixed) or Amazon decided that it would punish everyone for what a select few did....by not actually cancelling the orders that were made. not really the kind of actions a major retailer does with something that is profitable to them.

so before you curse out people, maybe think of the bigger picture first.
 
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[quote name='y2jasper']
2) if amazons only problem with the codes was stacking then they could have easily fixed the problem..and they actually did, since only J codes have been working for over a week. problem solved.
[/QUOTE]

This is what I've been saying all along. They DID fix the problem about 2 weeks ago. All they had to do was bring them back as 'J' codes since the stacking issue was over and done with (or expire those as well and bring out a new batch and stick with it instead of changing the codes all the time - the stacking was entirely Amazon's fault for coming up with all these different batches that acted like independent promos). It is an utter BS reason that they cancelled the program because of stacking. They didn't want it around for other reasons (what they are I have no idea but we can speculate on all sorts of reasons). Either ECA is BSing us about the real reason or Amazon is BSing them.
 
Well I'd complain about getting my $15 bucks back, but I saved A LOT of money with this and have games pre-ordered with ECA codes up to next year. Thank you ECA, it was fun while it lasted. If you didn't pay for the ECA membership you have no place to complain. I think the mistake was making the membership free, no doubt thousands jumped on that, that was a huge mistake.

It would be nice if they could get 10% to apply to specific membership only instead of this code generating business.
 
[quote name='io']This is what I've been saying all along. They DID fix the problem about 2 weeks ago. All they had to do was bring them back as 'J' codes since the stacking issue was over and done with (or expire those as well and bring out a new batch and stick with it instead of changing the codes all the time - the stacking was entirely Amazon's fault for coming up with all these different batches that acted like independent promos). It is an utter BS reason that they cancelled the program because of stacking. They didn't want it around for other reasons (what they are I have no idea but we can speculate on all sorts of reasons). Either ECA is BSing us about the real reason or Amazon is BSing them.[/QUOTE]

I'm more inclined to believe the ECA is BSing us since after all they have much more to lose

it's not like we'll stop shopping at Amazon since they still overall have the best deals and what would Amazon have to gain by BSing the ECA? it's not like they have anything to lose to them
 
[quote name='buckythekat']I'm more inclined to believe the ECA is BSing us since after all they have much more to lose

it's not like we'll stop shopping at Amazon since they still overall have the best deals and what would Amazon have to gain by BSing the ECA? it's not like they have anything to lose to them[/QUOTE]

I have, I live in Washington so I get charged 9.5% sales tax, ECA balanced it out for me. Since I lost that I've been doing a lot more shopping over at Newegg, which doesn't charge sales tax in my state. Still fun while it lasted though, and I did save a lot of money with it.
 
I dunno, the difference for me is splurging on some new games that I wouldn't have bought otherwise (though the trade-in program helped more than the ECA discount since I had trade credit plus things like the $30 promo codes). Now I'll go back to holding off on most new games and waiting for used copies via B2G1 at GS like I did before (and more often than not simply waiting out price drops since I can't play all this new stuff immediately anyway).

I have a lot of credit left at Amazon from the trade-in promo but I'll probably end up spending that on non-gaming stuff and then going back to ignoring them (for the most part except for the occasional DotD and BF deal) like I did before. I have a lot of preorders in the pipeline though that I used the $30 credits on (plus ECA discount of course) - stuff that I won't get for a long time like FF XIII so I'll continue to get packages from Amazon for a long time even if I don't spend another cent there ;).

In any case, I got my $15 worth out of ECA but they can be damn sure I won't be renewing unless the Amazon discount comes back.
 
Maybe Amazon told ECA to indicate the promo is no longer available because they're now sick of getting flooded with emails about people asking for them to apply the 10% manually? What's up with the conference call that is supposed to be occuring... You gotta love the people who kissed gypsyfly's ass when she commented here and are now claiming she made these extravagant lies. Most of em were stackers too :roll:. In the end I probably broke even on this whole goddamn fiasco.
 
Hey I just place an order with my 10% discount and I went and added another game to my cart to see if it was still in there and the 10% is still there. I have no explanation for why it is but I'm not going to complain especially since I paid 20 bucks for membership(even though I have a savings of way over 60 bucks)
 
good job ECA for screwing me out of $20 for some worthless membership that was only worthwhile due to Amazon's discount.....truth be told I got my monies worth : )

Savings

Demon Souls (2 Stacked ECA, $15 savings)
Borderlands (2x ECA, $11)
Smackdown Vs Raw 2010 (2x ECA $12)
Turtle Beach X4 (2x ECA $32)
NBA 2k10 (1x ECA $5.20)
HALO ODST (2x ECA $10)
Dragonage CE (3x ECA $21)
Modern Warfare 2 Prestiege (2x ECA $30)

Paid $20 for Membership, saved $126.50, so Im happy but it also got me to buy games I normally would not have.
 
[quote name='J7.']Maybe Amazon told ECA to indicate the promo is no longer available because they're now sick of getting flooded with emails about people asking for them to apply the 10% manually? What's up with the conference call that is supposed to be occuring... You gotta love the people who kissed gypsyfly's ass when she commented here and are now claiming she made these extravagant lies. Most of em were stackers too :roll:. In the end I probably broke even on this whole goddamn fiasco.[/QUOTE]

I don't know what you're talking about but I never kissed her ass

though I also am not aware of what happened in the thread that is apparently going on in your head
 
[quote name='buckythekat']I don't know what you're talking about but I never kissed her ass

though I also am not aware of what happened in the thread that is apparently going on in your head[/QUOTE]
I never singled you out did I... I'm wondering wth is going on in your head. As you might be able to grasp, the ECA claims the discount is "no longer available" & the issue was the stacking. People stacked & abused the system, then those people rub it in everyone's faces and don't take any blame for it instead throwing the blame on anything else they can. They bring it up and laugh about it still. While others did not stack and lost money & lost out on the deal. Maybe now you can understand?
 
[quote name='DefeatUForever']I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm receiving an automatic 10% off for any game in my cart.

btw I was a paid ECA member.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='DefeatUForever']Hey I just place an order with my 10% discount and I went and added another game to my cart to see if it was still in there and the 10% is still there. I have no explanation for why it is but I'm not going to complain especially since I paid 20 bucks for membership(even though I have a savings of way over 60 bucks)[/QUOTE]



Old code that you put in and never used, OR a canceled order that you had an ECA code tied to.



STOP spreading this crap about auto 10%. ECA and Amazon are completely different entities and wouldn't have any control in releasing any kind of information that would tie the discount together by those two accounts.
 
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