| Johnw1104 said: If you have an Amazon prime account it's easiest to order an amiibo from Japan where there's a supply surplus, they tend to be cheapest and the shipping is free. If you're not an "in the box" collector (it's in Japanese) they're not region locked. I've gotten most of mine that way. Otherwise, this amiibo problem was mostly due to Nintendo underestimating their popularity and, even more so, the problems of shelf space. Retailers have only so much room to dedicate to amiibo, so Nintendo planned to always be cycling through characters somewhat quickly so as to make shelf space for the new ones. What perplexes me is why Nintendo doesn't increase their supply and sell directly online from a warehouse. I suspect they're worried about creating and bursting a bubble, but it bums me out that a star fox amiibo costs around $30 at this point :( |
Actually, it makes sense for any producer of any product to err on the lesser side than flooding the market. Same reason that the PS4 was short supply or any other console that has went through the same thing. Or any product that is harder to keep the stock levels under control really. Part of it is planned without doubt, but they are in the market to make money, not to drive up prices that in no way helps them sell more product lol. They would have produced more of what they thought was going to sell more and less of what they thought was going to sell less.
For production like this, there is often a waiting period, especially when they already have other lines predetermined. Production companies and production lines almost always have waiting lists so much of this stuff is ordered a year ahead. There are certainly exceptions though, like if a certain production company that only produces something specific and there is less demand for it. It likely took a lot of extra money to create a second line for Marth in such a short time, but that is likely why it's only Marth instead of more of the rare characters.
They might be worried about bursting the bubble. It's hard to tell how big the bubble is when scalpers are so rampant and retailers aren't doing anything to control the situation, or at least, more of them aren't. It's basically a false bubble, but it would be a major loss in revenue if they were to flood the market because of all the extra stock sitting on store shelves and likely in boxes at the distributers...
Part of my job entails warehousing, I don't deal directly with it, but a very good friend of mine does and I am being trained in it due to my role/position and I have learned a bit of what all this entails. What the Nintendo rep said is very true.
Gotta figure out how to set these up lol.
