The Official "Why you shouldn't trust Amazon rankings" Thread

reask

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reask on 04 August 2008

FishyJoe said:

I'm making this thread as the official response for people who use Amazon as a source for proving sales. While I do see some value in the Amazon rankings, I see far too many people misuse the ranks to push their own agenda. I'm only giving one example here, however feel free to add your own observations.

Now to the business. GTAIV should be outselling everything by several multiples. Yet on Amazon(US), it has never been a #1 seller. Some have said this is because sales are split between several versions, but even if you subdivide sales, it should be outselling Wii Fit and Mario Kart by a substantial margin. Yet Wii Fit hasn't budged from the top spot during the release of the biggest game of the year.

Amazon rankings while interesting should never be used as a source of reliable information. There are just too many variables that can effect an individual retailer, especially an online retailer.

I know you have said it on numerous occasions and I now take the amazon figures with a pinch of salt.

Leetgeek

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Leetgeek on 04 August 2008

Hmm. You have a point.

But then perhaps Amazon could be a good place to track things that sell so well that they are difficult to find in conventional stores like the MGS4 PS3 and the Wii are and GTA4 is not.