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Forums - Sales Discussion - Microsoft claims Xbox One sold out worldwide; Retailers beg to differ

thx1139 on 07 December 2013
BMaker11 said:
thx1139 said:


So you have these couple of pictures with no context. They could have been hours or days before the launch event. You also say they were hours or days after launch and this article and the quote from MS is from this week.  So what if they were hours or even days after the launch.  That was like 2 weeks prior to the article.  I mean look at one of those pictures is a pallet with the pallet jack still in it. They literlly didnt have time to pull the jack away and the pile was what 1/4 full.  Its like the retailer said dont bother pulling the jack out let them all sell off then take the pallet and all back to receiving.  Look how dark the other picture is. Looks to me like the store isnt even open yet.

How is a clerk that takes a phone call supposed to know when he walks back to the department that the customer service took in a return an hour or 10 minutes ago. All he/she knows is there is a unit on the shelf.  

You can extrapolate what you want, but so can we by looking at sites that track availability, by going to retailers sites that allow you to check stores for inventory and see that wow they dont have any to sell that the X1 is in a sold out status.

The first picture was from after launch, even though MS said they sold out when they launched. Then they'd do what they could to resupply. That second pic is another pile that was set up before Black Friday. It may be Black Friday, but that's a rather large pile for just one store when they're "just able to meet demand" and need to put units in other stores. So there's your context of those particular two pictures

And there are more like it all over the internet if you took a second to google it. I even saw one posted here from a user from a week after launched and there were rows upon rows stack on each other at a store a VGC user went to. I wish I could find that post, or at least the thread with the picture in it, And getting into the semantics of the pictures, the one that's still on the jack....have you never been to a big box department store? When they expect a product to just fly off the shelf, they don't actually put it on a shelf (since those only house like 5 or 6 units). They put it on a jack, a pallet, in a cart, etc to have as many out and as accessible as possible. And the other picture is dark? It's indoors, so that's just the lighting....and there's a kid on the left side browsing.

And yea, you can go to sites that track availability. Here, I did you one better. Amazon in stock,  so tell all your buddies that want to get one (and this is after Black Friday and Cyber Monday as well). You see, I too am up to date with tracking sites (thank you Zoolerts and Wiilerts). I'm not just pulling this out of my ass

edit: I took a screenshot of me making this here edit, showing the XBone in stock, just as a precaution, in case you think I'm BSing about them being in stock


No one is saying more arent arriving in stores. Is that what sold out means to you? That they are so sold out that they cant get more to stores. That is poor supply chain managment not sold out.  So yes 3 times this week Amazon got new shipments and 3 times the sold out again. Through the tracking site I shared you can see the shipment that Amazon got yesterday was sold out in 4 hours.  Yup sold out again.  

That first picture is a post from someone at a Best Buy store from the night of the launch. MS didnt comment on the launch until 24-48 hours after the launch started.  So do you have proof that those units (and you agreed they were on the pallet and with pallet jack because the retailer expected them to sell out very quickly) hung around all day? Week? Two Weeks?  

The other thing to say about those photos/stories. Just because they work at Best Buy doesnt mean those people may not be competitor fanboys and taking pictures and posting them out of context. Like take a picture before store opens and posting later.   No that has never happened.  Fanboys have never made up stories to support thier point of view now have they?



Its libraries that sell systems not a single game.

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thx1139 on 07 December 2013

BMaker11,

Hey you ever been to a movie where they say it was a sell out and then during the movie you see an open seat? Were they lying to people?

You can find all the anecdotal evidence (and claim even more) it doesnt make if fact. I am 100% certain that if these pictures you claim are out there were real in the magnitude you claim they would be posted all over VGChartz and the Sony faithful would be posting, double, triple posting them. We wouldnt need to search the internet as you claim to find them.



Its libraries that sell systems not a single game.

BMaker11 on 07 December 2013
thx1139 said:
BMaker11,

Hey you ever been to a movie where they say it was a sell out and then during the movie you see an open seat? Were they lying to people?

You can find all the anecdotal evidence (and claim even more) it doesnt make if fact. I am 100% certain that if these pictures you claim are out there were real in the magnitude you claim they would be posted all over VGChartz and the Sony faithful would be posting, double, triple posting them. We wouldnt need to search the internet as you claim to find them.

Of course not. But if they say it's a sell out, and I walk into an AMC, for example, and see 20 chairs open, then go to a United Artists and see 15 chairs open, then go into an IMAX and see another 15 chairs open, I would call shenanigans on it being a "sell out".

And the reason I saw pics of piles of XBones at other stores after it launched was from users at VGC. Then I saw them on /r/XboxOne. Then I could just do a google search and see articles reported on piles of XBones being available. 

And of course you would need to search the internet. Unless you took the picture personally, how else would you obtain it?



thx1139 on 07 December 2013
BMaker11 said:
thx1139 said:
BMaker11,

Hey you ever been to a movie where they say it was a sell out and then during the movie you see an open seat? Were they lying to people?

You can find all the anecdotal evidence (and claim even more) it doesnt make if fact. I am 100% certain that if these pictures you claim are out there were real in the magnitude you claim they would be posted all over VGChartz and the Sony faithful would be posting, double, triple posting them. We wouldnt need to search the internet as you claim to find them.

Of course not. But if they say it's a sell out, and I walk into an AMC, for example, and see 20 chairs open, then go to a United Artists and see 15 chairs open, then go into an IMAX and see another 15 chairs open, I would call shenanigans on it being a "sell out".

And the reason I saw pics of piles of XBones at other stores after it launched was from users at VGC. Then I saw them on /r/XboxOne. Then I could just do a google search and see articles reported on piles of XBones being available. 

And of course you would need to search the internet. Unless you took the picture personally, how else would you obtain it?

How else well for one there are plenty of people in the VGC forums that despise anything MS and would love to show how the X1 is not selling well. Like you for instance.  You are still claiming some photos from launch night and MS is speaking about the sellout nearly 2 weeks later.  



Its libraries that sell systems not a single game.

BMaker11 on 07 December 2013
thx1139 said:
BMaker11 said:

Of course not. But if they say it's a sell out, and I walk into an AMC, for example, and see 20 chairs open, then go to a United Artists and see 15 chairs open, then go into an IMAX and see another 15 chairs open, I would call shenanigans on it being a "sell out".

And the reason I saw pics of piles of XBones at other stores after it launched was from users at VGC. Then I saw them on /r/XboxOne. Then I could just do a google search and see articles reported on piles of XBones being available. 

And of course you would need to search the internet. Unless you took the picture personally, how else would you obtain it?

How else well for one there are plenty of people in the VGC forums that despise anything MS and would love to show how the X1 is not selling well. Like you for instance.  You are still claiming some photos from launch night and MS is speaking about the sellout nearly 2 weeks later.  

I don't despise MS (bought a 360 and had XBL. Look up gamertag VC Nocks. It's out there) and I never said that the Xbox One wasn't selling well. I was just addressing the topic of the article and agreeing with it. MS is just overexagerrating and they're being called out on it here. 

And with just those two examples, only one was from launch night. The second pick was from Black Friday, and that store had way more than the average store had on BF (meaning they still had a stockpile of them prior). The article in the OP is from December 4th. Black Friday was only 5 days prior.

Not to mention that the whole statement, not just the "sold out at retailers around the world" part you guys are clinging onto is: "[We are] seeing record breaking sales and [we] are selling every Xbox One we can make. Demand is far exceeding supply in the 13 countries we’ve launched and we are sold out at retailers around the world."

Oh, what's that? They're selling every single one they make? Demand is far exceeding supply? But that somehow doesn't mean "sold out" when he says "sold out", and I'm just spinning everything negatively, according to you, right? 



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thx1139 on 07 December 2013

BMaker11...As many have said before "sold out" at retailers doesnt mean you cant find one at a retailer (or several) somewhere. Your picture stating it is from BF and ms speaking 5 days later means that picture is useless. MS spoke days after. You dont even know when on BF that picture was taken. How do you know that store had more than the average store? Do you know how many the average BB had? Do you know when the picture was taken? You dont know any of that. So stop trying to invent some sort of conspiracy.



Its libraries that sell systems not a single game.

BMaker11 on 07 December 2013
thx1139 said:
BMaker11...As many have said before "sold out" at retailers doesnt mean you cant find one at a retailer (or several) somewhere. Your picture stating it is from BF and ms speaking 5 days later means that picture is useless. MS spoke days after. You dont even know when on BF that picture was taken. How do you know that store had more than the average store? Do you know how many the average BB had? Do you know when the picture was taken? You dont know any of that. So stop trying to invent some sort of conspiracy.

Funny how you ignored the whole context of the quote, stating that every unit they've made, they've sold and that demand is "far surpassing" supply. 

And the store is obviously open in that pic because there's a kid in the background. Here's another BF pic, this one from Toys 'R Us http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2013/12/05/433461.jpg, all the people around yet that stack is high. 

I may not know the exact hh:mm:ss that these pics were taken, but on the biggest shopping day of the year, on an item that's supposed to be in high demand, you'd expect them to be gone in minutes.

You're asking for impossible details. Btw, MS was speaking only 4 days after BF, actually. The article in the OP is actually a  day after the Ars Tech article that was originally reported, and is just a summarization. I'm not inventing a conspiracy. Yusuf said "we're selling every one we make" yet several are found on shelves in many places. Why can't you just accept that the MS rep made an incorrect statement? I mean, you said my photographic evidence was useless since it's a few days old....yet a few posts before, you guys were grilling me saying that MS doesn't have day to day inventory tracking with retailers. I've shown you that they haven't sold out, yet MS says they have, only 4 days later. So, what? Do they have this day to day inventory tracking, now that it's beneficial on your behalf? They would certainly need that in order to make the statement "we're selling every one we make" yet I've shown you that many of the ones they've made haven't sold. Hell, even Day 1 Editions at the Best Buy in Times Square aren't sold out yet. Now, you may be able to pull the "that's just one employee at a store" but the Best Buy in Times Square is HUGE. And that article was written the same day Yusuf made his comment.

And, btw, a fraternity brother of mine works at Target Corporate, and another friend works at Best Buy. My friend that works at Best Buy may not be the best source, since he can only represent one store, but he said his store got about 11 or 12 units. But my friend who works at at corporate said that most Targets got about 15 for BF. Only reason I asked them was because I was looking to get a PS4. Anyway, if a large retailer like Target is only getting about 15 units, I can take that as an average. Not to mention the ones I saw at my local Walmart for BF. 



firelink on 07 December 2013

Anecdotal evidence is baseless.

I have been to three different Best Buys, two Wal-Marts and about four GameStop in the last two weeks. They have all had both Xbox One's and PS4's. I was just at Monroeville Mall last night and the GameStop there had two Xbox One and four PS4 on the shelves. I didn't bother to ask if they had more in the back.

What I find people do a lot during this console war BS is they simply go on to these websites and see if the consoles are in stock at a location online. I realized that 99% of the time these are wrong, and you get more accurate stock if you either call or just go there.



thx1139 on 08 December 2013
BMaker11 said:
thx1139 said:
BMaker11...As many have said before "sold out" at retailers doesnt mean you cant find one at a retailer (or several) somewhere. Your picture stating it is from BF and ms speaking 5 days later means that picture is useless. MS spoke days after. You dont even know when on BF that picture was taken. How do you know that store had more than the average store? Do you know how many the average BB had? Do you know when the picture was taken? You dont know any of that. So stop trying to invent some sort of conspiracy.

Funny how you ignored the whole context of the quote, stating that every unit they've made, they've sold and that demand is "far surpassing" supply. 

And the store is obviously open in that pic because there's a kid in the background. Here's another BF pic, this one from Toys 'R Us http://img.ibtimes.com/www/data/images/full/2013/12/05/433461.jpg, all the people around yet that stack is high. 

I may not know the exact hh:mm:ss that these pics were taken, but on the biggest shopping day of the year, on an item that's supposed to be in high demand, you'd expect them to be gone in minutes.

You're asking for impossible details. Btw, MS was speaking only 4 days after BF, actually. The article in the OP is actually a  day after the Ars Tech article that was originally reported, and is just a summarization. I'm not inventing a conspiracy. Yusuf said "we're selling every one we make" yet several are found on shelves in many places. Why can't you just accept that the MS rep made an incorrect statement? I mean, you said my photographic evidence was useless since it's a few days old....yet a few posts before, you guys were grilling me saying that MS doesn't have day to day inventory tracking with retailers. I've shown you that they haven't sold out, yet MS says they have, only 4 days later. So, what? Do they have this day to day inventory tracking, now that it's beneficial on your behalf? They would certainly need that in order to make the statement "we're selling every one we make" yet I've shown you that many of the ones they've made haven't sold. Hell, even Day 1 Editions at the Best Buy in Times Square aren't sold out yet. Now, you may be able to pull the "that's just one employee at a store" but the Best Buy in Times Square is HUGE. And that article was written the same day Yusuf made his comment.

And, btw, a fraternity brother of mine works at Target Corporate, and another friend works at Best Buy. My friend that works at Best Buy may not be the best source, since he can only represent one store, but he said his store got about 11 or 12 units. But my friend who works at at corporate said that most Targets got about 15 for BF. Only reason I asked them was because I was looking to get a PS4. Anyway, if a large retailer like Target is only getting about 15 units, I can take that as an average. Not to mention the ones I saw at my local Walmart for BF. 

Last time and I am done.  

Store is open because there is a kid in the background. So what do you know how long it had been open? Could it be immediatly after opening? Could it be they let people in the store before they allowed purchases. I was at a Walmart in Arkansas last year that allowed just that. We could walk in and see all the stuff, but we could not purchase any of it until midnight.  You dont know so you dont know the context.  The TRU only shows me that for the BF event that TRU had great supply. Doesnt tell me they didnt sell out 20 or minutes later or 2 days later now does it?

I love the article about the Best Buy. Some employee says they have Day One editions still.  So they call and someone answers. You have no idea if that person even knows what the Day One edition is. They could simply think yea we have some Xbox Ones.  So yea we have them.  

Yeah an an ex-employee of mine works in the Xbox Division of Microsoft.  So what does that matter.  And why does it matter what the average is. Do you think that a Target/Best Buy/Walmart in an afluent area gets more allocated by the corporate office then a Target/Best Buy/Walmart in a poorer area? 



Its libraries that sell systems not a single game.